Product Fitness for Use, 1992 Nonwovens Conference Proceedings

For technological changes to be meaningful, suppliers must be focused on their customers and must be responsive to meeting their needs.

In order for new products to be successful, the development activity must insure that (1) the new product meets the customer’s needs and expectations, (2) the manufacturing processes are in a state of statistical control and (3) the manufacturing processes are capable of producing a product that meets the engineering tolerance.

To avoid failure when developing new products and to insure fitness for use, the developer must employ a systematic approach. A technique that yields good results is a system that secures answers to the following questions:

(1) Who is the customer? (2) What are the customer’s needs and expectations? (3) What are the characteristics of a product that govern what a product does when it is used? (4) What are the variables in the manufacturing process that govern product characteristics? and (5) Is the process manufacturing the product in-control and capable?

When this systematic approach is employed, (1) problems with missed or unexpected goalposts are avoided, (2) manufacturing capability is not exceeded, and (3) products are developed correctly the first time resulting in stronger customer-supplier relationships.