Challenges that a design engineer faces in a day
Watch this presentation narrated by APQP4Wind Board Member Jens Schulze-Wondrak from Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, or read the article to learn how APQP4Wind helps engineering teams tackle challenges during a day:
Risk reduction in a competitive environment is a crucial success factor
We will use ‘Eric’ as an example. Eric is a design engineer that needs to introduce a new hydraulic station into his wind turbine to seize an opportunity in a new market. Time to market is of the essence, and the market intro needs to be smooth to establish a good reputation.
Customers have more requirements in the new markets, and Eric is about to push the limits of what today’s technology can deliver. His new hydraulic station needs to perform better, more reliably, and at a lower cost than the competitors. At the same time, climate change calls for an accelerated transformation to renewable energy.
Increased reliability through awareness of potential failures and their active elimination
Eric has maintained D-FMEAs on all levels of his turbine, so he has a solid picture of critical features of the hydraulic station that can affect turbine performance. He has already changed the design to minimize the impact of issues with these features.
The continuous use of D-FMEAs during the design process provides Eric with clarity about the functional breakdown of the product, the resulting requirements for each component, and the anticipated failure modes early on. They can either be eliminated entirely or at least limited in their impact as the design matures. The D-FMEAs also enable Eric to highlight critical properties on drawings and specifications for the supplier.
APQP4Wind enables early engagement
Eric engages with a hydraulic station supplier trained in APQP4Wind. Let us call the representative of the supplier ‘Sarah’. Sarah has been using APQP4Wind for a couple of years and values her early involvement in the design process, which allows her to point out issues with the manufacturability, required tests, or quality checks before the specifications are final.
APQP4Wind allows Sarah’s employer to stay competitive and become an important and reliable partner in the renewable energy industry.
APQP4Wind offers a common language
Eric engages with the established supplier of the hydraulic station. He uses an extract of his D-FMEA and the critical characteristics to explain the requirements. Sarah responds with detailed D- and P-FMEAs and confirms that she can deliver to the requirements through a team feasibility commitment. In parallel, she draws up a control plan to establish proper control over the production processes.
APQP4Wind provides a structured qualification process and enables minimized quality costs
Eric and Sarah celebrate a successful product launch despite the ambitious timeline. The mitigation actions derived from the FMEAs eliminated failure modes with severe effects, and the process capability and measurement system analysis assure stable production and effective control of critical properties.
After the close collaboration, trial production, and assessment of all records, Sarah submitted the PPAP documentation package, and Eric was happy to sign the part submission warrant. The methods and structure behind APQP4Wind helped both to accomplish their mission of serving a highly competitive product to the market in record time, of good quality, and within budget.
A method and a mindset
As we have seen, APQP4Wind offers a proven method to ensure flawless product launches through active risk reduction, mutual understanding of requirements and critical properties, as well as a structured qualification process.
The principle of concurrent engineering at the heart of APQP4Wind enabled a smooth product launch, minimized quality cost, and satisfied customers.
APQP4Wind is both an Advanced Product Quality Planning method that aims to be the quality assurance methodology used by the entire global wind industry as well as a non-profit organization whose vision is to align and mature the supply chain.
The organization’s mission is to provide standards, tools, and methods based on the commonly accepted APQP principles and guidelines from the automotive industry and enable collaboration within the wind industry to help stakeholders improve quality and minimize risk.
The commitment to APQP4Wind keeps growing
APQP4Wind was founded in 2018 and is endorsed by world-leading utility companies, manufacturers, and suppliers. Since 2018, the support for the organization and the implementation of the APQP4Wind method has grown tremendously.
More than 5.800 employees from 46 countries have participated in APQP4Wind training courses within just four years. And 110 companies have already signed up for a Company Membership to show their support to APQP4Wind and send a clear message that they are committed to quality assurance.
The main reason for this high commitment to the APQP4Wind methodology seems to be that the suppliers, manufacturers, and utility companies have realized that it is essential to have a common quality assurance method across the entire supply chain to align and mature the wind industry, so that it can keep pace with the ongoing trend towards decreases in the Levelized Cost of Energy.
Does your company also want to advance your business by improving customer collaboration, preventing risks, and lowering the cost of quality?
Learn more about how to get started with implementing the APQP4Wind in your quality assurance procedures on the APQP4Wind website, or contact one of our approved training providers: Bureau Veritas Certification, DNV, or TÜV Rheinland to get started.