Concept Validation showed us that we were able to meet our product technical goals, but didn’t really test the “design” of the product.
In Design Validation, we’re going to be building works-like looks-like versions of our eventual product. We may still use prototype manufacturing processes in non-critical areas, but most features are now using the “real” process so that we can confirm it looks and works like it should.
Our test scope is maturing along with the design. Instead of focusing only on key technical requirements, now we’re also looking at testing thermal extremes, water ingress, shock and vibration, durability, and other informative testing that isn’t directly related to the product’s functionality. This is also typically the step where any regulatory certification work would occur.
As has been the theme throughout the development process, this phase requires even more documentation and engineering rigor, and a team that excels at this kind of work. The flexibility and light process that was so useful during POC and CV starts to become a liability at this point, so we need more control over the process.
The amount of time and money spent on testing is ramping up quickly, and if we don’t know exactly what we’re testing, the results may end up useless. What if we find a failure on a month long durability test, but during teardown we realize we don’t know which design revision of the failed part was in this test article? Not good!
When we finish the DV phase, we should be pretty confident that we’ve found any big issues we’ll see during production or sale of the product. All we have to do now is get set up to make them at production volumes!
Do we have the right processes in place to know what we’re building and testing? Does our team use them? These are important questions!
-Brian Schoolcraft
Comments