Product Design Review: A Methodology for Error-Free Product Development

The goal of the world class company is to produce a product or service that offers customers the highest quality at the lowest cost and in the shortest time possible. Product Design Review describes a highly effective method for quality control in product design, as well as its applications in a wide variety of business settings.

Take care of the problems that erupt during product development by nipping them in the bud (during the design stage). Takashi Ichida describes a powerful tool insuring quality at concept stage, thereby eliminating redesign, retooling, rework, and error throughout the production process. The program he describes can be carried out through every phase of new product development - - from product planning to design, production, and marketing. Also explains how you can incorporate your customer feedback into the next production cycle.

You'll always need to modify any process improvement technology to suit your company's culture, product type, manufacturing approach, and customer needs. Product Design Review has taken case studies from a cross section of industries and describes each company's unique application of Ichida's process. You'll not only see the tremendous results these companies have achieved by using Design Review, but you'll also see the difficulties they've encountered.

Also included are five essays that compare Design Review with other innovations in manufacturing process such as artificial intelligence, checklists, quality function deployment (QFD), design of experiments (DOE), and configuration control.

The late Takashi Ichida was professor of industrial engineering and management at Kanazawa Institute of Technology from 1979 until 1991. A graduate of Waseda University in electrical engineering, he previously served as chief director of the electronics department for Mitsubishi Electric Co., specializing in product assurance. Prior to that he was chief director of reliability in the management department of the Japanese National Space Development Agency. Professor Ichida was coauthor (with Mr. Tetsuji Makino) of the 1981 book Design Review, which received the Nikkei Quality Management Literature Award.