Using DFSS Tools with Axiomatic Design

Using DFSS Tools with Axiomatic Design

Integration with Complementary Techniques

There are a number of techniques used today in design such as QFD, TRIZ and robust design. The use of these techniques and others is completely consistent with axiomatic design. In fact, axiomatic design can help the designer apply these techniques better. This figure shows how they all fit together.

Using Other Design Tools Within the Axiomatic Design Framework

Some examples of what these techniques can do are:

• With QFD (Quality Function Deployment, “the voice of the customer”), designers gather information from customers about their requirements and the relative importance of each. This information helps the designer to choose which FRs must be present and which may be safely ignored.
• When a designer has selected an FR and wants to identify alternative DPs to achieve it, TRIZ (the theory of inventive problem solving) can be helpful in generating alternatives.
• After choosing a DP to satisfy an FR, the designer uses robust design to optimize the design of this particular DP, which helps to reduce the information content of the design.

The designer follows the axiomatic design process and uses the various techniques when appropriate. Axiomatic design helps the designer avoid mistakes such as unknowingly attempting to optimize a coupled design.