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Success story

Truck Door Subsystem – Automotive client

Challenge: A truck was plagued by “slow glass” movement. Failure modes differed from passenger to driver side, front to back, and included uncommon slow “down” characteristics. The problem had resisted examination by individual subsystem teams.

Discovery: Under severe time pressure, ICG gathered all mechanical and electrical component door vendors plus assembly teams to perform a combined systems analysis and FMEA (Failure Modes & Effects Analysis). A variety of issues were at root cause: stamping and hemming processes between suppliers, excessive regulator loading on the glass, and, most important, a regulator design that permitted the spring to be installed in multiple ways which proved to be the “slow down” cause.

SYSTEMS VALUE ENGINEERING

ICG draws on value engineering/value analysis, failures modes and effects analysis (FMEA), commonality, and family of parts design (platform design) to craft improved engineering processes. Quality (how well products are made) and customer satisfaction (how those same products are viewed by consumers) data are integrated throughout these processes.

ICG’s value target setting validates the clients’ process for determining if combined cost targets and functional requirements are rational.

With input gathered by our Business Intelligence/Competitive Intelligence tools the client understands what solutions are in the market now and what is likely to appear when their product enters the market.