Change Point Analysis and DRBFM: A Winning Combination

[Please note that the following article — while it has been updated from our
newsletter archives — may not reflect the latest software interface and plot graphics,
but the original methodology and analysis steps remain applicable.]

Guest Submission - Lisa Allan, Delphi Thermal Systems

Introduction

With the ever increasing pressure to improve quality, reliability and reduce warranty
costs, companies are utilizing many different problem solving tools and
methodologies such as Six Sigma, Design for Six Sigma (DfSS), Taguchi's Robust
Engineering, Shainin's Red X, etc. As a result, companies are spending a significant
amount of time preventing the recurrence of problems. However, the real gains are
in taking the next step: determining preventative action prior to the problem
actually occurring. This proactive problem prevention concept is what the
Japanese call Mizenboushi [1].

The need for product development teams to foresee a problem and prevent it from
happening led the Thermal Systems division at Delphi Corporation to adapt the
philosophy of Mizenboushi. Since the concept of problem prevention is the
cornerstone of reliability, we chose to lead our process as part of the Reliability
Engineering group. Two of the critical tools we have developed that are the main
topic of this article are Change Point Analysis and Design Review Based on Failure
Mode (DRBFM).

The first key tool is Change Point Analysis, which has the following objectives:

• Helps to identify the baseline design as well as focus the efforts on changes.
• Supports the product development team in better understanding the failure
modes and concerns (risk) associated with their design and manufacturing
process.
• Helps prioritize the changes by focusing on those items of highest risk first.
The second key tool is the proactive problem prevention method that is called
DRBFM [1]. This tool helps find problems through a forum of Good Discussion with
a cross-functional team.
Getting Started

The left side of Figure 1 shows how to move your organization from a continuous
improvement (fire fighting) culture to a problem prevention culture. It is important
to begin with a rock solid foundation that includes stable, robust product and
process designs, built on the standard work of design guides, standard test
procedures and Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA). If you do not have
stable and in-control designs with standard engineering work, you will end up with
too many changes to the product which won't allow the engineering team to
adequately deep dive them all. Toyota spent many years establishing the
foundation of high quality and reliable products for their customers before deciding
to go further and attempt to predict problems prior to their occurrence.

Figure 1: Problem Prevention Foundation

The Process

The problem prevention process consists of three action-based steps: Good

Design, Good Discussion and Good Dissection. The GD3 methodology is
represented in Figure 2 below [1].

Figure 2: Problem Prevention Process

Good Design means you have stable, robust products with a good FMEA. For
Good Discussion, Change Point Analysis and DRBFM are the key tools used by
the product teams to drive the deep and thorough discussion, concentrating on
change points and focusing on the weak links within the design. Because the
review begins with a good design, the team knows that their risk lies in where they
make changes. Once designs have been discussed and parts are built for
evaluation you move to the final step in the GD3 methodology, Good Dissection.
This step contains the Design Review Based on Test Results (DRBTR) and Design
Review Based on Design and Process (DRBD&P). The key for Good Dissection is
for engineers to look at and compare prototype or production design intent parts to
results from test and build, always looking for changes from the ideal state.
Road Map

Delphi Thermal has developed a road map (Figure 3) to aid us in executing the
GD3 process. This article will discuss in more detail each of the five steps
individually.

Figure 3: Delphi Thermal Road Map

Digging Deep

What constitutes a change point? You need to remember where change can occur,
in design, supplier, usage environment, customer or internal specifications, etc.
This is where the Discovery Checklist (Figure 4) is used. Delphi Thermal uses this
checklist as a brainstorming tool to aid in determining what the true changes are.
The beginning of problems lie where changes have been made, so if we pay close
attention to and manage the changes, we will have Good Designs.

Figure 4: Discovery Checklist

In Figure 5, we look at the ability to dig deep into these changes. When the number
of changes to a carry-over design have been minimized, the product development
team is able to increase the depth of their discussion. For instance, if you make 20
changes on your design, you will not be able to adequately dig deep into each one
of those changes. However, if you make three changes to your design, you will
have the ability to truly deep dive and thoroughly discuss each change. Again,
being able to minimize the number of changes gets you back to the original
premise that you are starting from a stable, robust design with a rock solid
foundation.

Figure 5: Minimizing Change

Change Point Analysis

At Delphi Thermal, Change Point Analysis is an initiative with a couple of goals. By

stressing the importance of the Change Point Analysis first, we are identifying our
areas of greatest risk. Secondly, the process helps to focus engineering personnel,
the use of resources and enables the prioritization of changes with all potential
concerns. Forecasting these problems begins with the skills of a Reliability
Engineer who helps facilitate team workshops by using reliability tools to predict
when and where problems will happen. The prevention of reliability issues is now
possible because we have made any potential problems visible.

To begin the process, Delphi Thermal starts by asking the lead Product Engineer
to list the changes in the Change Point Summary Sheet (shown in Figure 6). This
involves picking a baseline, comparing to the baseline and really understanding
what is different, documenting concerns/impacts and identifying the cross-
functional team members. To help with this activity, the Product Engineer can
utilize the Discovery Checklist (Figure 4). We have found this up-front work, prior to
the Change Point Analysis workshop, to be more effective than bringing a blank
sheet to the team as engineers prefer to critique at items people have missed or
incorrectly identified. This creates that forum of Good Discussion. This pre-work
allows the Reliability Engineer to lead the team into the Change Point Analysis
workshop with the identified cross-functional team, which includes subject matter
experts. Items that we ask the engineering team to bring with them consist of
drawings, parts, specifications, etc. for both the baseline design and the proposed
new design. During the workshop, we have found that assigning a risk level,
prioritizing and defining a risk reduction strategy has worked well for us. The
working level team will take this risk assessment to leadership for their approval
and understanding.

Figure 6: Change Point Summary Sheet

The purpose of the Change Point Summary Sheet is to identify the baseline design
and detail changes off of this selection. The Product Engineer should utilize the
Discovery Checklist to help avoid missing any changes. The Product Engineer
must also consider how changes relate and impact each other. For example, the
engineer needs to consider how a dimensional change potentially interacts with a
material change. In the concerns/impacts column, list all potential failure modes,
areas of risk and their impact. The last few columns of this worksheet go after the
risk priority assessment and justification. Delphi Thermal determines what strategy
we will utilize to mitigate the risk for all line items. For example, some risk reduction
strategies we might consider are Finite Element Analysis (FEA), routine
engineering validation, launching a DfSS project, DRBFM or FMEA. Those highest
priority DRBFM risk reduction strategy items, based on changes from the standard
baseline design, are then transferred to the DRBFM form. We have found
prioritization necessary as we generally make multiple changes and this helps to
truly deep dive those items most at risk.

DFMEA

Before getting into the DRBFM, I would like to point out that we have encountered
team members wondering how this process fits into the DFMEA process as the two
appear quite similar. At Delphi Thermal, we have incorporated both tools into our
risk reduction strategy (see Figure 7). Our customers still require DFMEAs and in
some cases now DRBFMs. Both tools are applicable during the product
development process but the DRBFM enables us to dig deeper on certain high risk
items. In Case 1, for a totally new design/product, with no current design guide or
FMEA, we begin with a DFMEA, which helps us to create those standards. We
work on building that solid foundation mentioned previously. In Case 2, for a next
generation product or a carry-over design, we begin with a DRBFM and update the
design guides, FMEAs or standard work to help create that new baseline design.

Figure 7: DFMEA or DRBFM Assessment

DRBFM

DRBFM is the second step on the Delphi Thermal road map (shown in Figure 3).
Here the focus is now on those vital few changes. The change object is identified
and a functional analysis around this object is created. The change object is one
level above the change point or the part name. For example, change points would
be painted versus unpainted, bent versus straight and the change object would
then be the heat exchanger frame. The functional analysis would be done on the
frame.
The DRBFM worksheet is a living, working document that has three separate
sections, as shown in Figure 8. The first section is a detailed FMEA on identified
change points. The second section is the results section. Results can be detailed
around the following:

• Design (specific design actions the engineer should take, engineering

changes, additional confirmation analysis to justify the design)
• Evaluation (specific test items to be improved, how the data should be
analyzed, whether a new test needs to be developed)
• Process improvements (process requirements or improvements necessary to
solve the root cause due to the change point)

Figure 8: DRBFM Worksheet with three separate sections

The third section is for management and control. Some tips that we have learned in
doing this DRBFM process are:

• Don’t start with a blank sheet of paper.

• Don't conference call in team members from other locations.
• Keep the cross-functional team to a manageable size (5 or 6 people).
• Minimize the number of change points (2 or 3) that are being evaluated within
the DRBFM process.
The immediate output of the Change Point Analysis and the DRBFM is to make
your designs and manufacturing processes better. The worksheets capture all the
good work and learning. Then at the end of the process, the worksheets can go
away as the learning has been documented in design, process or test standards.
The acquired knowledge must be shared across the organization so that others will
be able to appreciate your discovery. (For those with Japanese customers, the
concept of sharing your lessons learned is called Yokoten.)

DRBTR, DRBD&P and Closure

Going back to the Delphi Thermal road map (see Figure 3), the third step in the
process is Design Review Based on Test Results (DRBTR). This is the
examination of parts after test or a tear down analysis. The key to this step is to
accomplish Good Dissection. Parts need to be closely examined after testing and it
is very helpful to examine the parts while comparing to a reference part that was
not tested. In addition, take measurements with simple measurement tools such as
calipers, micrometers, rulers, etc.
The fourth step in the process is Design Review Based on Design and Process
(DRBD&P). This is the final design review comparing parts produced off of
production tooling to the parts made during prototype. During this step it is
imperative to fully define the detailed requirements of what yields a good design.

The fifth and final step in the process is the Closure phase. Delphi Thermal focuses
on two key elements in this phase:

• Have we put in place the controls to detect if the failure mode does arise?
• Have we updated the standard work so it doesn't happen and the failure
mode is truly prevented?
At this point, we close out the problem prevention activities for this particular
customer program or design.

Problem Prevention Timing

Figure 9 depicts our typical development process and the timing when the problem
prevention activities take place. Delphi Thermal looks to begin the Change Point
Analysis workshop right at the end of pursuit and award of business. At this time
everything comes together to understand change points and risk around the
design.

Figure 9: Development Process Timing

Summary

The key lessons learned from this process are:

• Focuses the discussion on change points using parts, prints and data.
• Has a goal to understand where the risk lies.
• Helps to understand the actions around design, evaluation and process that
can be taken.
• Requires a cross-functional team of individuals to complete.
• Final document controls should improve design, test and process standards.
In summary, the product development team needs to focus on a detailed Change
Point Analysis prior to beginning the DRBFM. In following this path, an organization
will be able to concentrate their efforts on those truly high risk items, which in turn
will allow the team to foresee potential problems and prevent them from occurring.
In addition, standardization of designs will take place, which supports the building
blocks of our foundation, including stable, robust product and process designs.

References

[1] Yoshimura, Tatsuhiko, Toyota Style Mizenboushi (Preventative Measures)

Method GD3, How to Prevent a Problem Before It Occurs, JUSE Press Ltd., 2002.

About the Author

Lisa Allan is currently working as a Sr. Reliability Engineer at Delphi Thermal

Systems. She joined Delphi in 1989. She holds a B.S. and M.S. in Industrial
Engineering from Alfred University. She is Delphi certified as a Design for Six
Sigma Black Belt as well as a DRBFM Expert. She can be reached at
lisa.a.allan@delphi.com (mailto:lisa.a.allan@delphi.com) for additional information.

© 2018 HBM PRENSCIA INC (HTTPS://WWW.HBMPRENSCIA.COM). ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

THIRD PARTY PRIVACY NOTICE (HTTP://WWW.HBMPRENSCIA.COM/THIRD-PARTY-PRIVACY-NOTICE) |
WEBSITE NOTICE (HTTPS://WWW.HBMPRENSCIA.COM/WEBSITE-NOTICE) |
COOKIE NOTICE (HTTPS://WWW.HBMPRENSCIA.COM/COOKIE-NOTICE)
HBM PRENSCIA (HTTPS://WWW.HBMPRENSCIA.COM) IS A STRATEGIC SEGMENT OF HBM (HTTP://WWW.HBM.COM/).