Vehicle Air Vent Operation Force Optimization Design Study With DFSS Methodology

The Six Sigma management is kind of methodology for continuouslyimproving business processes and customer satisfaction, which contains Processand Design for Six Sigma. Design for Six Sigma, DFSS, usually contains identify,design, optimize and validate phases in product designing process. It is amethodical approach to robust design, which focuses on customer requirements.Company S is the largest automotive corporation in A Stock Market in China,which performs excellent in automotive R&D and business model innovationdomestically. This paper came from the real problems of product designand quality management encountered by company S, and we introduced a specificoptimization design of air vent operation force. The product design metthe customer needs and meanwhile the quality prevention. And finally achievesthe expected aim of operation force value. The first step is to identify and collectcustomers’ needs, and then convert demands into design requirements by Houseof Quality. The second step is to use various innovative methodologies, such asIFR and TRIZ, to definite parameters for engineering simulation, so as tocomplete the concept design. The following step went to the experimental design.We established mathematical model and optimize the parameters, nominal settingand tolerance of it. The model and product design were then validated byactual product tests, and the optimization design of air vent operation force wasfinally accomplished.This research shows great meaning and significance for other similar DFSSapplication cases in shorting R&D period and approving quality.