STEFAN HUBER - Offer, references and project examples

Steadily increasing product and process complexity and continuously shortening development cycles often lead to extraordinary costs and problems in production and in the worst case to field failures. In order to significantly reduce existing product, process and quality costs and to remain competitive, it is essential to implement a structured, fact-based problem-solving approach to identify the root cause and thus solve problems in a sustainable manner.

These can be symptoms of technical problems:

In production:
Scrap
Rework / Reprocessing
Excessive testing

In the field:
Guarantee and warranty costs
Recall actions / provisions
Insufficient performance

Which circumstances can lead to delayed problem resolution and long-lasting costs?

After series production, products fail at the end customer or do not achieve the specified performance characteristics, resulting in high warranty and guarantee costs and customer satisfaction suffers.
Non-existent or incorrect failure paretos mean that one does not focus on the main failures, making measures to increase productivity inefficient and ineffective.

Only when the actual root cause of a problem is found, you stop fighting symptoms and be able to solve the problem effectively and sustainably, eliminating the resulting costs.
Many problems can be solved through experience or brainstorming methods. However, if the problem is unknown or very complex, there is a high risk of not finding the actual cause if we do not "guess" the main cause in Ishikawa's, FMEAs or brainstorming.

Then a structured, fact-based and convergent approach is necessary:

The first step is to transform a, often subjective, description of the problem into a clear, physically measurable and objective measurement. For this purpose, various error patterns are analyzed and, if necessary, differentiated. This technical parameter then serves to distinguish between extremely good and extremely bad components. In this way, changes in the product or process performance and in test series can also be objectively assessed.

Depending on the nature of the problem, different analysis methods and tools are used to find the root cause. Instead of trying to guess the main cause of the problem, it is much more efficient to eliminate as many causes as possible by testing and data analysis. Is there scrap due to poorly produced products or does an inappropriate or unstable measuring system cause the scrap?

Does an assembly perform incorrectly because components are defective or is it due to the assembly of its individual components? The most important thing when analyzing the problem is that all decisions are fact-based. This ensures that the actual root cause is not compromised and is not further investigated. On the one hand, facts are generated through meaningful tests and investigations. On the other hand, a detailed data analysis often helps to exclude possible causes and find clues to the actual root cause. In most cases, product, quality and process data are linked, cleaned up, analysed and visually displayed.

Once a potential root cause has been identified, it is confirmed by a short test. As soon as the main cause is identified, sustainable solutions and immediate measures can usually be easily derived and implemented.

Do you have problems with products or in production? Or do you simply want to learn more about effective and efficient technical problem solving or process optimization? Contact me now for a free initial consultation by phone or on site.

Sample Projects and Tasks

Technical failure analysis of helium leakage of an AddBlue pump at a leading international automotive supplier

Definition of a test procedure on a laboratory scale to exclude a large number of possible causes
Development of a procedure to open and repeatedly test the ultrasonically welded assembly
Identification of the leakage path using CT scan and confocal 3D surface scan
Minimalistic, efficient production test to confirm the main cause
Recommendation of possible corrective actions as well as project documentation and communication from the shop floor up to the plant management

Identification of the root cause of the malfunction of the main loading ramp of a military aircraft during the final inspection at an internationally organized aircraft manufacturer

Creation of a structured summary of all, historical test documents
Identification of the affected aircraft and critical flight parameters
Development of a functional model and identification of critical process steps during the closing process of the loading ramp
Definition of a flight plan and test plan including efficient measurement technology
Identification of the root cause and interaction with suppliers through evaluation and presentation of test results
Working out an interim solution and a design change to ensure the functionality of the loading ramp in the long term

Technical risk analysis of field failures and warranty cases using Advanced Analytics at a leading manufacturer of household appliances

Import and linking of different data sources on one SQL server
Development of a non-linear risk assessment depending on the business area or product type
Development of a clustering logic to identify assemblies, models and model versions with a high security risk or continuing warranty risk
Preparation of a priority list per business unit including overviews with comprehensive technical details and notes on similar warranty incidents to accelerate the technical cause analysis
Presentation of the project results and the further procedure as well as transfer of the database and analysis logic

Optimization of throughput times of a highly automated test line for various performance characteristics of high-performance sensors at a global leading plant manufacturer

Identification of all relevant testing machines and robots
Preparation of a detailed process flow diagram including each testing and handling step of all machines
Definition, import and networking of all relevant process and test data
Identification of the process steps and interface that were the main cause of the inefficient throughput time
Development of a process and inspection concept for a more efficient optimization of the entire inspection line

Support in quality optimization and production optimization of a production line for an international rail vehicle manufacturer in Canada

Analysis of different data sources to identify the main problems and the stations that require the most rework
Development of a method to identify and digitize the processing times per station from archived documents
Elaboration of the procedure for the analysis of a technical production problem (steps and gaps between interior trim components)
Training of new employees in the project as well as coordination during the handover of various internal work packages

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