This article addresses problems, such as “in spec” dilemma and on-target key, associated with traditional approaches to quality. It discusses major robust design techniques, tools, and concepts, such as quality loss function, parameter design, tolerance design, signal-to-noise ratio, technology development, and orthogonal arrays.

Concurrent engineering is product development that is done by concurrently utilizing all of the relevant information in making each decision. This article discusses the three aspects that must be taken into account for all product development decisions. The aspects include product functionality, production capability, and field-support capability. The concurrent process is carried out by a multifunctional team that integrates the specialties. The article schematically illustrates product design team configurations with subsystem teams and team of subsystem leaders. It discusses the three-step decision-making process, such as requirements, concepts, and improvement, followed by multifunctional product development teams. The article describes the two types of requirements development by multifunctional teams, namely, quality function deployment and functional analysis. It schematically illustrates the integration of product requirements and concept development. The article concludes with a discussion on the improvement of concepts in terms of robust design and mistake minimization.

The use of an effective control design, along with high-performance hardware and software for controller implementation, allows the use of feedback process control for manufacturing processes to improve part quality and consistency. This article provides an overview of control system design and its application to various manufacturing processes. It presents various examples of control system applications to show that appropriate control strategies increase the robustness of the processes by eliminating process sensitivity to system variations and external disturbances.

This article discusses the development of a welding procedure for friction stir welding (FSW), including the process of defining a preliminary procedure, the optimization of parameters, the development of supporting data, and other key features to ensure a successful procedure. The critical features of FSW tool design, initial process parameters, systematic welding trials, and robustness testing are reviewed. The article provides information on the common features of welding procedure qualification. It also includes a table that lists the procedures used in the production of sound friction stir welds in various aluminum alloys.

This article describes the presses, transportation equipment, and manufacturing processes associated with cogging. It discusses the practical and metallurgical issues encountered during the conversion of ingot to billet. The article explains the use of numerical modeling as part of the continuing efforts to reduce the cost and time associated with developing new cogging sequences, increase the yield, make the processes more robust, and increase the quality of the produced product.

This article presents an overview of an engineering design process. Though the process is extremely complex, distinct stages of design activities are identified and described. The article illustrates guided iteration methodology that helps in problem solving in design. It describes the engineering conceptual design and configuration design of special-purpose parts. It discusses the parametric design methods of the parts and best practices that are used by successful firms to achieve the goals of quality, cost, time-to-market, and marketing flexibility.

This article presents an approach to manage the uncertainty present in materials design. It describes inductive and deductive approaches to deal with uncertainty. The article focuses on providing an understanding of the opportunities for managing uncertainty and the decisions that influence the accuracy of the results. A design of experiments (DOE) represents a sequence of experiments to be performed, expressed in terms of factors set at specified levels. The article discusses the two types of DOEs: the full factorial design and the fractional factorial design. It explains the factors to be considered when selecting a procedure for propagating uncertainty. The article lists the categories of the popular types of uncertainty propagation methods, including simulation-based methods, local expansion methods, and numerical integration-based methods.

The process of optimization involves choosing the best solution from a pool of potential candidate solutions. This article provides a description of some classes of problems and the optimization methods that solve them. These problems include the deterministic single-objective problem, the deterministic multiobjective problem, and the nondeterministic, stochastic optimization problem. The article presents several complementary approaches to solve a wide variety of single-objective and multiobjective mechanical engineering applications. Multiobjective optimization study and stochastic optimization studies are also discussed.

This article explains the key features of the manufacturing techniques for polymer composites. It describes the selection of a technically and economically feasible manufacturing technique for a composite design. The article discusses widely accepted and emerging techniques to manufacture polymer composites such as open-mold techniques.

This article describes strain analysis techniques for troubleshooting formability and process discrepancies throughout a tooling development and production stamping cycle. The techniques include strain calculations of a flat blank, forming limit curve, and forming limit diagram. The article describes the types of strain analysis, namely, thinning strain analysis and circle grid strain analysis. It also provides information on the applications of the thinning strain analysis.

This article describes grade designations of the various sheet steels used for draw forming. It discusses the specifications associated with most sheet draw forming materials. The article examines the behavior of stress- and strain-based forming limit curve (FLC). It provides a discussion on three separate frictional conditions acting in a draw die. The frictional conditions include the metal passing through a draw bead, the metal clamped in the binder, and the metal sliding across a die radius. The article also explains the basic steps in the vehicle development process. The steps involved in the thought process of direct engineering for formability are also explained. The article places considerable emphasis on the need for the designer to clearly define the die/tooling faces in the computer-aided design (CAD)/computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) system before the data are passed on to the construction functions.