I. Overview of DQA and DQE
In today's highly competitive market environment, product quality is the foundation for an enterprise to gain a foothold. DQA (Design Quality Assurance) and DQE (Design Quality engineer, also known as design quality engineer) play a crucial role in ensuring product quality. DQA gets involved from the concept phase of a project and runs through the entire product development stage. Its core objective is to enable quality engineers to integrate quality factors into the design to ensure the reliability of products. Take AAEON as an example. All products of the company must undergo safety and environmental tests in the laboratory to ensure compliance with standards such as CE/UL/FCC/CCC. At the same time, the products also need to go through a comprehensive and extensive test plan, covering multiple aspects such as compatibility, functionality, performance, and usability.
II. Professional knowledge and skills that DQE needs to master
(I) Process and Document Management
1. Continuously improving the product design and development process and work methods is one of the important responsibilities of DQE. An efficient and perfect product development process can improve development efficiency and reduce costs. DQE needs to conduct in - depth analysis of the existing process, identify its deficiencies, and propose improvement plans. At the same time, it is necessary to ensure the integrity and compliance of the product development process, documents, and records. This means that all development processes should have detailed documentation records. These records are not only proof of product quality but also important basis for subsequent improvement and optimization.
2. At each stage of project development, DQE needs to set APQP quality objectives (CTQ, SMI, Cpk) and quality plans. CTQ (Critical to Quality) defines the key requirements that the product must meet; SMI (Statistical Measurement Index) is used to measure the stability and capability of the process; Cpk (Process Capability Index) reflects the degree to which the process meets the quality requirements. Develop relevant quality technical documents for development. These documents serve as the guiding manuals for project development, ensuring that each link can be carried out in accordance with the established quality standards.
(II) Document review
Reviewing technical documents and record reports related to product development is an important means for DQE to ensure product quality. By reviewing technical documents, potential problems in the design can be identified, thus avoiding quality accidents in the subsequent development process. DQE needs to have keen insight and professional knowledge, be able to detect minor errors and irrationalities in the documents, and promptly put forward modification suggestions.
(III) Problem Solving
Following up, promoting, and ensuring the timely resolution of design issues (such as test problems, ART failures, PR/PiR/MP issues) is a key task for DQE. In the product development process, various problems are inevitable. DQE needs to promptly follow up on the progress of resolving these problems, coordinate resources from all parties, and promote the resolution of the problems. For test problems, it is necessary to analyze the causes of the problems and formulate solutions; for ART failures, it is necessary to find out the root causes of the failures and take corresponding measures for improvement; for PR/PiR/MP issues, it is necessary to ensure that the issues are properly handled without affecting the normal development and launch of the products.
(IV) Quality review
Organizing, planning, and implementing design quality reviews are important steps for DQE to ensure product quality. Quality reviews can be conducted at different stages of product development. Through a comprehensive evaluation of design plans, technical documents, test results, etc., potential quality issues can be identified and promptly improved. DQE needs to formulate a detailed review plan and invite relevant experts and personnel to participate in the review to ensure the objectivity and accuracy of the review.
(V) Complaint handling
Handling market and customer complaints related to product design is an important task for DQE to directly face the market and customers. Customer complaints are direct feedback on product quality issues. DQE needs to take every complaint seriously, promptly understand customers' needs and problems, and take effective measures to solve them. By resolving customer complaints, customer satisfaction can be improved and the enterprise's reputation can be maintained.
(VI) Case analysis and training
Collecting and organizing improvement cases related to product design, formulating reports, and organizing exchanges and training are important ways for DQE to promote the overall improvement of the team. Through the analysis and summary of successful cases, valuable experience and references can be provided for subsequent product development. At the same time, organizing exchange and training activities allows team members to share experiences, learn new knowledge and skills, and improve the overall quality and ability of the team.
(VII) Mastery of professional knowledge and standards
1. DQE needs to be familiar with the professional knowledge in the field they are engaged in and proficiently master the knowledge of the company's products and the application of production process technology. Only by having solid professional knowledge can they better understand the product design and development process, discover potential quality problems, and propose effective solutions.
2. Be familiar with relevant standards, such as GB (Chinese National Standards), IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission Standards), UL (Underwriters Laboratories Standards), etc. These standards are the basic requirements for product quality. DQE needs to ensure that products comply with these standards to guarantee the legality and competitiveness of products in the market.
(VIII) Market awareness and risk assessment
1. Having a very good market awareness and being able to evaluate and measure products from the perspective of customer usage is an important quality for DQE. In the product design process, full consideration should be given to customers' needs and usage habits to ensure that the product has a good user experience. Only by meeting customers' needs can a product succeed in the market.
2. Be familiar with testing, evaluate various possibilities, including risks under abnormal user usage conditions, etc., and be able to analyze the acceleration factors of accelerated aging tests. Through the evaluation of various possibilities, potential problems that may occur during the product's use can be discovered in advance, and corresponding preventive measures can be taken. Analyzing the acceleration factors of accelerated aging tests can help understand the aging laws of products under different environmental conditions, providing a basis for the reliability design of products.
In conclusion, DQE undertakes important responsibilities in the product design and development process. It is necessary to have rich professional knowledge and skills, as well as good communication and coordination abilities and problem-solving skills. Only in this way can the product quality be ensured and the enterprise's competitiveness be improved.