Mechanics design methods and customer experienced visual appearance in color and part interface combinations
Huittinen, Otto (2015)
Huittinen, Otto
2015
Konetekniikan koulutusohjelma
Teknisten tieteiden tiedekunta - Faculty of Engineering Sciences
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2015-05-06
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tty-201504231226
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tty-201504231226
Tiivistelmä
Visually problematic part interfaces form when manufacturing and assembling variation cause differentiation from nominal dimensions. Big variation in parts and products lead to poor visual quality and unsatisfying design. Visual appearance of part interfaces can be improved by minimizing interface gap and choosing the right colors and design.
Manufacturing and assembling processes can be improved with Six Sigma. Six Sigma is a statistical and scientific problem solving method that aims to reduce process defects to a minimum. Six Sigma is a flexible method that can be used in improving existing pro-cesses or designing new processes or products. Six Sigma in improving manufacturing processes consists of five steps: Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control. Varia-tion in manufacturing and assembling processes can be designed in the product with tolerance analysis. Tolerance analysis methods and tolerance management process were studied for this thesis to find out how they support product design process in designing part interfaces. Benefit is found in 3D tolerance analysis, variation in part interfaces can be graphically presented with it before production is started.
Besides gap size, colors in part interface play an important role in how the parts seem to fit to each other. Effect of color in part interfaces was studied in this thesis with cus-tomer survey. There are many different product development methods where customer can be included in decision making. Two methods were studied so customer survey could be designed: Kansei Engineering and Voice of the Customer. Kansei Engineering is a method where subjective feelings of the customer can be translated into product properties. Voice of the Customer method was found out to be powerful in making the customer survey. It includes statistical market-research –like methods and data analysis with Six Sigma tools.
13 customers and 15 mechanical design experts participated in the survey to find out the best and worst color combinations in part interfaces. 18 different color combinations were studied with 3 different gap sizes. Main findings from the survey were that the parts seem to fit best with big contrast between parts. Black and white, and red and black combinations managed to hide the gap between parts best. Gap was most visible and fit seemed to be the worst with light color combinations. Gap is sometimes high-lighted with different colors in order to reduce its visibility. Black highlighting of the gap did not seem to improve the fitting between parts in black and white combination as suspected.
Manufacturing and assembling processes can be improved with Six Sigma. Six Sigma is a statistical and scientific problem solving method that aims to reduce process defects to a minimum. Six Sigma is a flexible method that can be used in improving existing pro-cesses or designing new processes or products. Six Sigma in improving manufacturing processes consists of five steps: Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control. Varia-tion in manufacturing and assembling processes can be designed in the product with tolerance analysis. Tolerance analysis methods and tolerance management process were studied for this thesis to find out how they support product design process in designing part interfaces. Benefit is found in 3D tolerance analysis, variation in part interfaces can be graphically presented with it before production is started.
Besides gap size, colors in part interface play an important role in how the parts seem to fit to each other. Effect of color in part interfaces was studied in this thesis with cus-tomer survey. There are many different product development methods where customer can be included in decision making. Two methods were studied so customer survey could be designed: Kansei Engineering and Voice of the Customer. Kansei Engineering is a method where subjective feelings of the customer can be translated into product properties. Voice of the Customer method was found out to be powerful in making the customer survey. It includes statistical market-research –like methods and data analysis with Six Sigma tools.
13 customers and 15 mechanical design experts participated in the survey to find out the best and worst color combinations in part interfaces. 18 different color combinations were studied with 3 different gap sizes. Main findings from the survey were that the parts seem to fit best with big contrast between parts. Black and white, and red and black combinations managed to hide the gap between parts best. Gap was most visible and fit seemed to be the worst with light color combinations. Gap is sometimes high-lighted with different colors in order to reduce its visibility. Black highlighting of the gap did not seem to improve the fitting between parts in black and white combination as suspected.