MEP EP#266: The Expert

MEP EP#266: The Expert
Design for Manufacturing – Beyond the Digital Domain

Webinar that Chris Church (Co-Founder of MacroFab) will be co-hosting with Edwin Robledo of AutoDesk.

Building a Program and Testing procedure for your first production run

Take lots of pictures
Keep it up to date and version controlled
Hand off the procedure to a colleague and have them run through it
Work with your CM

MacroFab works closely to help flesh out procedures and fixture designs

What is you acceptable fall out from production

This is where scaling up production runs can help iron out QA procedures for your product
Find tolerancing issues with components

Keep in mind your target pricing

Elements of a good test procedure - THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND

It is almost impossible to have too much information in your test procedure - within reason.
Remember - Your CM can always distill your information down to something less than what you provide
Typically they have one “expert” who knows everything and multiple operators who execute the tasks.
You don’t know when your documentation is needed so be thorough

Things to include in the documentation - preferably at the top

Product/assembly name
Test procedure Rev
List of board revisions that this procedure applies to
Map or image of terms or items
List of ALL software required

Do not assume that your CM has anything
If software version is important make sure this is called out

List of ALL files required

Be explicit with the names
Do not be shy with file structure

Be consistent

If you call a board X then always call it X

Test procedure Meat and potatoes

List of required equipment

What can be expected of a CM to have?
Be granular here. All the way down to cables
Do not be afraid to call out amazon links to required items

Avoid parallel anything - Sequential steps are the best
Always have criteria and be reasonable!

consider how the operator will approach your target and adjust accordingly!
Failures - Let the operator know what to do with a failure

If anything is to be marked or saved be explicit how and where to do it. If there is a sticker or label to be applied show a picture where you want it to go.