product design, then manufacturing engineering, process control and lastly
testing. Quality assurance efforts too often focus on inspection and testing
(error-detection) rather than on error-prevention.
Two critical aspects of design are the prevention of voltage and thermal
failures. To prevent voltage failure, you must determine the various
gradients throughout the design and check each voltage stress, strike and
creepage against the safe design limits for the materials used.
Similarly, to prevent thermal failure, the various thermal stresses must be
evaluated and design changes made until all areas are within reliable limits.
Through shape optimization, units can often be made to operate well within
thermal limits and still be very cost competitive. Fits and clearances are
also managed to assure necessary design features and simplify
manufacturing.
Manufacturing Engineering and Process Control for quality assurance is all
about the details of material selection, equipment and tooling design, and
prevention of human error on things not already prevented through design,
materials, equipment or tooling.
Lastly, to certify that each product meets it's functional requirements they
are 100% tested. Serialized test results can be provided either with the
shipment or upon request at a later date.
