Q 449. Both APQP and DFSS are used for new product development. What are the differences between the two? What is the decision criteria for using one approach over the other?

 

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Advanced Product Quality Planning

 

APQP is a structured tool for the design, development of the product/process in order to meet the customer’s expectations and requirements. The first Advanced Quality Planning handbook for suppliers was published by Ford Motors in the early 1980s. The success of this handbook led to the North American Automotive OEMs collectively bringing out the APQP process in 1994. This was then updated in 2008.  The intention of APQP was to aggregate the common planning activities of all OEMs.

IATF 16949:2016 Standard and Objectives. It is part of the five tools of the IATF 16949:2016 Standard. The other tools of the standard are MSA (Measurement System Analysis), FMEA (Failure Mode and Effect Analysis), SPC (Statistical Process Control), and PPAP (Production Part Approval Process). The objectives of APQP focus on communication, timely completion, minimal quality complaints, quality assurance, and customer requirements and expectations with a focus on risk mitigation associated with a change in the development of new products or processes. APQP uses cross-functional teams to understand the voice of the customer and translate it into clear technical specifications and characteristics.

 

APQP - Phases

APQP has five phases. They are plan and define program, product design and development, process design and development, product and process validation and the final phase is feedback, assessment, and corrective action.

In “plan and define program” the customer’s needs and expectations are clearly understood. In “product design and development”, design features are developed. DFMEA (Design Failure Mode and Effects Analysis) and DFMA (Design for Manufacturability and Assembly is included). In “process design and development”, effective management systems to assure customer needs and expectations are built into the system. PFMEA (Process Failure Mode Effects Analysis) and control plans are part of this phase. In the “product and process validation” phase the manufacturing process is validated through a production trial run and production control plans are finalized. In the “feedback, assessment and corrective action” phase, continual improvement is undertaken in order to improve the customer satisfaction level.

Benefits. The benefits of APQP are increased customer satisfaction and service performance. It helps in directing resources by identifying the vital few from the trivial many, on-time delivery of the quality product at a lower cost, reduction in variability, changes identified early in the development and avoiding changes after launch, mitigating risk, etc.

 

When to use APQP?

APQP involves the entire supply chain. It helps in communication between the supply chain, the organization, and the customer. The customer’s expectations are translated and understood throughout the entire supply chain. APQP hence brings the entire supply chain on one page with regard to the customers’ needs, and expectations.

 

Use Cases.

The use cases of APQP are below: -

·       New Product Introduction. APQP uses risk-based tools that focus on the entire range of aspects of the product and process such as design, quality control, service, packaging, continuous improvement, etc. APQP focuses on risk as a substitute for failure.

·       Product or Process Change (post-release). The change is done independently of the product development. The problems created by the change and its associated risks are prevented by using this approach.

·       Develop requirements from Voice of the Customer (VOC) and Quality Function Deployment (QFD).

·       Develop Product Quality plans, test plans, project timelines.

·       Linking DFMEA to PFMEA

·       Conduct Performance stability and capability studies in tandem with Statistical Process Control.

 

Design for Six Sigma

DFSS is a proven proactive approach to design used for translating the customers' and business needs into a well-designed product or service. It is used in process design and not process improvement for which the DMAIC methodology is used. DFSS incorporates the efficiencies of the six sigma methodologies in the new design. The DFSS team is cross-function to include all aspects of the product or service. The goal is to minimize the defects and variations at their root. DFSS not only reduces the time to market by between 25 to 40% but also ensures a high-quality product that meets customers' expectations.

 

When to use DFSS?

DFSS is used in the design of a totally new product or service. It is generally used when you replace a product instead of improving a product. This happens when the existing product or service is beyond improvement to meet the customers’ expectations. It is not used for incremental change to a process or product design. When designing a new product the DFSS methodology is used to prevent quality issues. It is used to optimize the design, shorten the time to market, meet the end users’ actual expectations, to provide a product or service at a very high-quality level for the first time.

As in APAQ, it uses a Cross-Functional Team that focuses on what is Critical to Quality and the customers' requirements. The steps that DFSS could follow depend on various factors. DFSS could follow the DMADV, IDOV, or the DCCDI steps. In DMADV, the first three phases are similar to the DMAIC. In the Design phase of the DMADV, the Design of Experiments, Failure Mode and Effect Analysis, etc are undertaken. In the Verify phase of DMADV, Process FMEA is performed to evaluate the risk. Prototypes or pilots are undertaken and a Control Plan is developed. DFSS could also use DMADOV, which uses Optimization between the Design and Verify phases. Another variation to DFSS is Define Customer and Concept, Design, Implement (DCCDI) or the Identify, Design, Optimize, Verify (IDOV)

 

APQP Vs DFSS

·       APQP is the product development process used as default to support supplier engagement. It is used to collaborate with suppliers.

·       DFSS is focused on high-value requirements or specifications that are different from past products.

·       APQP and DFSS share development tools and goals.

·       APQP is broader in scope than DFSS

·       APQP scales to the perceived risk that each supplier, design, or process contributes towards the success of a program.

References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_for_Six_Sigma

DFSS and Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP) in ISO/TS16949", Asian Journal on Quality, Vol. 8 No. 3, pp. 173-187. https://doi.org/10.1108/15982688200700031

https://quality-one.com/dfss/

https://quality-one.com/apqp/#:~:text=DFSS%20is%20a%20highly%20focused%20effort%20reserved%20for,%28OEM%29%20is%20preparing%20a%20new%20end%20user%20product.

APQP, stands for “Advanced Product Quality Planning” it is a framework of techniques and procedures to develop new products in manufacturing and extensively used in the automotive industry. Basically, it is a structured approach to the new process or product development which ensures that the voice of customer is clearly translated into technical specifications.  

 

It is Implemented in 5 Phases, which are as follow:

Phase 1: Planning.

Planning is directed at understanding the customer’s requirement and includes gathering data to define what the customer wants and then using the information to create specifications. The output of this phase is product design and quality goals.

 

Phase 2: Product Design and Development.

This phase is directed at finishing the “product design” followed by defining material specifications, equipment requirements, doing FMEA and then finally establishing product prototype.

 

Phase 3: Process Design and Development.

This phase focuses on planning the manufacturing “process” that will produce the new product keeping product specifications, product quality, and production costs in mind.

 

Phase 4: Product and Process Validation.

This is the test phase for validating the manufacturing process and the final product. This involves performing trial runs for testing product output, reconciling adjustments before moving to the final phase.

 

Phase 5: Feedback and Continuous Improvement.

This Phase focuses on the full-scale production, with emphasis on evaluating and improving processes by reducing process variations, identifying issues, and implementing corrective actions.

 

Where as DFSS, stands for Design For Six Sigma. It is more of an approach than a defined methodology used to develop new processes or products at Six Sigma quality levels. It focuses on gaining a deep insight into customer requirements and using them for creating new product or service. The aim is to design products and processes by minimizing defects and variations in the process.

 

There are multiple methodologies for implementing DFSS, one of the most common technique is DMADV which is as follow:

1. Define

The Define stage is meant for defining the Project Charter, Communication Plan and Risk Assessment / Management Plan.

 

2. Measure

In measure stage the focus is on collecting customer requirements.

 

3. Analyze

In measure stage the focus is on understanding customer requirements and then translating them into measurable design performance or functional requirements which is then converted to develop multiple concept level design.

 

4. Design

In measure stage the preliminary “design is determined”, few tools used in this phase are Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA), Tolerance Stack Analysis, Design Of Experiment (DOE)

 

5. Verify

In this stage, the team introduces the design of the product or process and performs the validation testing to verify if it meets the customer requirements.

 

Both APQP and DFSS are used for new product development but the aim is bit which becomes the reason for using one approach over the other and the difference in the aim is as follow:

 

The primary goal of DFSS is to “reduce variation”, it is intended for use when you must replace a product instead of redesigning. Its application is in various industries like finance, marketing, basic engineering, process industries, waste management, and electronics

 

The primary goal of APQP is to create a “product quality plan” which will support development of a product or service for customer satisfaction. It is primarily used in automotive industry

The answers by Satinder Singh and Johanan Collins are very well structured and hence both have been selected as winners.

If you’re not from the automotive industry, then you’ve most certainly not heard of the APQP before, and perhaps, you’re curious to delve into the answer to the question.

 

Brief History

APQP: Developed by the Ford Motor Company, that published the first Advanced Quality Planning handbook for suppliers in the 1980’s.

DFSS: Developed in the 1980’s by Motorola and became popular worldwide from there.

 

APQP is a quality framework for developing new products, evolved from and typically utilized in the automotive industry. Having said that, APQP can be applied to any industry and is similar to DFSS in many ways. However, let’s understand how they’re different.

DFSS	APQP
PRIMARY GOAL To reduce defects and deliver high quality products that fulfil customer needs.	PRIMARY GOAL To mitigating possibilities of risks or failure during the entire life cycle, while delivering high quality and competitive products that fulfil customer needs.
APPLICATIONS Largely used across industries (basic engineering, process industries, waste management, and electronics) and functions (finance, marketing).   o   Designing or re-designing a New Process, Product or Service from the scratch. o   Replacement of a current product/ process that needs complete re-design or has reached redundancy	APPLICATIONS Typically utilized in the automotive industry can be applied to any industry.       o   Designing or re-designing New Process or Product o   Change/ replace a current in Product or Process o   Continuous Improvement of Product /Processes
FRAMEWORK o   Utilizes the DMADV cycle to determine the needs of customers and then design a solution to meet those needs.     Picture source: https://www.pwc.com/	FRAMEWORK o  Utilises the PDCA cycle across 5 NPD phases, also referred to as the Product Quality Planning Cycle.       Picture source: https://www.vhancevalencia.com/posts/six-sigma-frameworks
TOOLS & TECHNIQUES o   Requires tools such as QFD, FMEA, TRIZ, Design for X, DOE, Taguchi methods, etc.	TOOLS & TECHNIQUES o   Requires the use of quality tools, such as FMEA, MSA, SPC, PPAP.
SCOPE o   Largely a design scope and internal to an organisation.     o   Limited to a single organisation with cross functional collaboration       o   Highly focused on customer needs and specifications to deliver high value product/ services.	SCOPE o   Largely a scope across the entire product lifecycle viz. design conceptualisation to production and development of comprehensive control plans. o   Intended to aggregate goals and planning activities of suppliers across the product development value chain into a single process and program.   o   An end-to end scope essentially scaled across functions, the entire value chain (viz. the company and its suppliers)
o   Implementation is not regulatory requirement, the expected process Sigma level for a product or service should be no less than 4.5 (can even be 6 or higher depending the product)	Mandatory implementation requirement for Tier I automotive suppliers (APQP process standards are published, controlled and maintained by the AIAG)

 

As mentioned above, while DFSS is has laser focus on designing, APQP is a much larger scope and scale; hence the application of DFSS methodology in APQP makes it more aligned to overall product planning and goals that are measurable and robust.