Manufacturing Parameter Redesign Using Consumer Feedback Loops
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Solution Overview
Problem
Manufacturers face challenges in setting optimal product and process specifications that balance consumer satisfaction and manufacturing costs, as existing methods lack effective integration of consumer feedback for refining quality standards, leading to inefficient rework and scrap rates.
Innovation Solution
A method that associates unique identifiers with manufactured articles, captures and correlates process data and consumer feedback, and adjusts manufacturing parameters to improve the quality of subsequent articles by using a controller to apply new parameters to a converting apparatus, specifically for absorbent articles like diapers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If specification breadth between upper and lower limits is set too wide, then manufacturing costs decrease, but consumer satisfaction decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback loops where quality data from finished products and consumer satisfaction data are continuously collected and used to adjust process parameters. This allows the system to dynamically optimize specifications based on actual performance, balancing manufacturing efficiency with consumer satisfaction rather than relying on static wide specifications.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically changes process parameters and specification limits based on collected quality data and consumer feedback. By continuously adjusting parameters such as target values and control limits, the system can narrow specifications when quality is high (reducing costs) while maintaining consumer satisfaction, rather than using fixed wide specifications.
2Reliability
If specification breadth between upper and lower limits is set too narrow, then consumer satisfaction increases, but manufacturing costs increase due to increased rework, recycle and scrap rates
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses feedback from quality measurements and consumer satisfaction data to continuously refine process parameters. This allows the manufacturer to implement tighter effective control limits without proportionally increasing rework and scrap, because the feedback loop enables proactive adjustments that prevent defects rather than requiring extensive post-manufacturing correction.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies preliminary actions by adjusting process parameters based on trends detected in quality data before defects occur. By using statistical process control and consumer feedback to make proactive adjustments, the system prevents out-of-specification products from being manufactured in the first place, reducing rework and scrap rates even with narrower effective specifications.
3Manufacturing precision
If quality assurance measurements are made on finished products in a quality assurance laboratory, then product quality can be verified, but production time increases and productivity decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs quality assurance measurements at intermediate stages during the manufacturing process rather than only on finished products. By conducting measurements and making adjustments during production, the system verifies quality continuously without requiring separate post-production laboratory testing, thus maintaining quality verification while reducing production time.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements continuous quality monitoring during the manufacturing process rather than discrete end-point inspection. Quality measurements are taken continuously at various stages, allowing real-time verification and adjustment, which eliminates the need for separate laboratory testing phases and maintains continuous production flow, thereby improving productivity.
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention relates to a method for redesigning one or more product or process parameters of a first manufactured article, in order to provide different product or process parameters of a second, transformed, manufactured article, wherein the method comprises the steps of: i) associating a unique identifier with individual first manufactured articles, or with groups of first manufactured articles; ii) capturing and recording product data and/or process data relating to the first manufactured articles; iii) soliciting and recording consumer feedback relating to in use performance of the first manufactured articles; iv) correlating consumer feedback with product data and/or process data of a specific, individual, first manufactured article by means of the unique identifier; v) determining different product or process parameters for a second manufactured article; and vi) applying one or more different product or process parameters to the first manufactured articles to transform them into second manufactured articles, the second manufactured articles being better adapted to meet consumer needs than the first manufactured article.