Globally, more and more organizations are now adopting the ‘Built in Quality’ approach in design and this is leading to eco-friendly products as well as processes.
January 2022: The engineering and development teams have a significant role in introducing and implementing new design concepts, new technologies and process improvements to tackle the sustainability challenges explains B. Thej Kumar, Associate Vice President – Operations, Product Development and Quality, Toyoda Gosei South India Pvt Ltd, in this exclusive interview with Niranjan Mudholkar, Editorial Director, Pro MFG Media.
What are the key aspects that the engineering and the design (E&D) team needs to take into consideration while innovating and during the New Product Development (NPD) process?
The ever-changing market dynamics, particularly post pandemic, have influenced the process of new product development with focus on some critical aspects. Let’s understand these aspects:
a) Innovation with disruptive thinking: This approach shall drive the global scenario with concepts related to design and development of new products. Due to this approach, challenging the impossible has become the new normal! And it is relevant across different industry sectors including automotive, consumer durables, F&B, pharma & medical devices, electricals & electronics, and so on.
b) Adaptability: Another key aspect is the adaptability to new technologies and the integration of these technologies into the development of product and the process. This includes the use of 3D printing, bio-friendly products and new materials (like E-rubber) with technical applications of IoT and Industry 4.0.
c) Customer-centricity: There has been an increasing focus on the creation of customer centric products that provide high quality, reliability and durability while providing maximum comfort, convenience, safety as well as also adaption to the local culture. Concepts of driverless cars, rear seat airbags, airbags for two wheelers, etc. are a few examples of products specific to customer needs.
Today, all responsible organisations are putting sustainability at the centre of everything they do. How is the E&D Team enabling this?
There has been a surge in the activities towards SDG (sustainability development goals) under the direction and guidance of the United Nations. In this context, the engineering and development teams across various functions have a significant role in introducing and implementing new design concepts, new technologies and process improvements to tackle the sustainability challenges.
Globally, more and more organizations are now adopting the ‘Built in Quality’ approach in design and this is leading to eco-friendly products as well as processes. The thrust is on maximising green energy usage, on recycling as well as reusing products and on processes with innovative technologies with the aim to reduce carbon foot prints. Other important contributions of the engineering and development team include the usage renewable energy concepts and process innovations leading to less waste generation.
Manufacturing success is always driven by quality and productivity. What role does the E&D Team play in ensuring quality as well as productivity?
The quality of a product is influenced by the inherent aspects built into the product from design, process and applications. At the same time, a strong mistake proofing (poka-yoke) system results in high quality, creation of defect free products and systems which do not allow flow of defective products.
The E&D team plays a key role in designing a product and in the manufacturing process with standards leading to quality products. These quality products are derived from the robust process designed by the E&D team, which uses new technologies like COBOTs, automation, and camera inspection. Today, the use of mechatronics, AI and ML in manufacturing has brought in a high level of quality along with better productivity and higher output.
