DRBFM

From Elsmar Cove Quality Assurance and Business Standards Wiki

Design Review Based on Failure Mode (DRBFM):

If a proven good design is applied to future products, then the risk of failure is low; however, if changes are made to the existing design, then the potential for failure exists; therefore, if a design changes, the change should occur in small increments.

Disturbance to a design is caused by the discontinuity of implementing changes affecting the interfaces between parts. The design should not be changed in two different places simultaneously, because making too many changes too fast has the potential to result in failures faster than our capacity to detect them. One key to successful change is to make changes visible.

DRBFM - Design Review Based Failures Modes encourages the designer to discuss potential design problems or weaknesses from a cross functional multi-perspective approach, and to share this information. DRBTR - Design Review Based Test Results has the designer observing actual test pieces and discussing test results in open discussions during design reviews. Furthermore, when dissecting test results, one must use the results to determine if it is the most effective means to find problems.

DRBFM Approach

DFMEA existent component + Potential known design problems + known design weakness + DRBTR (feedback test pieces / result) + Plants feedback + Customer feedback

Likely in the DFMEA, entering data in the DRBFM spreadsheet:

• To avoid abstract expressions such as “bend” or “deformation”, but use numeric.

• To avoid expression “defective”, but express “By what and how the defect was caused, and what symptom is produced”.

• Don’t make anything that will not be easily understandable to the other persons’ eyes. Use expressions understandable to everybody

So, once with this base, according to TOYOTA there are some files to fill in to make a proper DRBFM to ensure recap most of the characteristics” Point of concern related to change (failure mode)” with some rows to be entered at the time of designing and the rest will be entered after DR. There are scoring columns like in FMEA with frequency, importance and priority.

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Also see this discussion thread in the forum: DRBFM (Design Review Based on Failure Mode) - Toyota method