How I went from the manufacturing shop floor and design engineering to loving Quality and promoting Quality Thinking throughout the design cycle

You want to design products that are awesome and helpful...things people need and want to use.

But, design is not a silo activity. There are a lot of interfacing departments that you need to coordinate with and activities required by regulations.

Timeframes are tight, and you need to avoid surprises during development and costly redesigns.

Your customer's voice might be getting lost in the technical stuff.

I understand, and I'm here to help you use Quality Thinking during your design process to help!

Podcast Host / Co-host

Contributing Author

Blogger

Speaker

Trainer

Becoming a process engineer in a manufacturing facility didn't feel foreign because I grew up in that environment, working with my dad in his tool and die shop and injection molding high-precision parts. I graduated with an engineering degree and headed out to forge my own path. I did process and tool design, pilot to production, design for manufacturability, facility transfers, gage R&R studies, process validation...it was fun work.

I took an opportunity to work on a cutting-edge project and it was there I learned about the power of quality and reliability, and I was hooked. This wasn't design (product or process); this was optimizing design. I found awesome mentors in that group, studied hard, practiced the teachings and earned my ASQ Certified Quality Engineering certificate.

Back to the daily operations of the larger corporation, I forged forward with the tools and techniques I learned because I saw what was possible. It wasn't only sitting in a cubicle running scenarios, it was pulling people together to form a brain trust for a time, taking a systematic approach, driving better results, and using it to make better decisions.

I facilitated FMEA meetings for hazards, use, design and process which were productive, improved communication, and helped teams act proactively. An engineer told me that our FMEA session was the most productive facility visit they'd ever had and he thought it improved relations between the facility and corporate. What a powerful example of Quality Thinking!

I helped with ALT testing during design verification, audited suppliers, and was part of a group to help re-define the quality management system...more proven values and three more ASQ certifications.

Dianna forward facing

DIANNA DEENEY

ASQ Certified Senior-Level Quality Professional

Engineer-BSME

IEEE Senior Member

My core values

Results-oriented

Collaborative

Practical

Customer-Focused

Efficient

over
years experience
years CQE, since 2003

A world of products that are safe, dependable, and easy to use would be a wonderful thing, and it can be achieved with Quality methods.

Everyone understands the concept of quality. What's evolving are the tools and initiatives to promote quality thinking earlier and in more places. There is a mountainous amount of quality topics, tools, certifications, and jargon. And, they've evolved from military standards to manufacturing to all processes: hospital procedures, schools, service industries, and large and small companies. 

I hear the Quality-career folks say, "I wish they had involved me earlier." And, I hear product development leaders and designers say, "Oh, I didn't know I could ask for that analysis to get me that information." I want to help bridge that gap between product developers and proven quality methods and techniques.

Quality Thinking sometimes needs a champion, and that could be you!

For more than 10 years, I've advised product development in the use of quality and reliability methods, showing how they can be integrated into the design process to achieve that clarity in making decisions, ways to apply risk-based thinking, and using reliability analyses to achieve design success. I want to broaden my reach, to help product development leaders and designers in more companies (like you!) and help them to affect positive changes.

Through free content, online training courses, consulting, and whatever else I might offer - my company was built on a desire to help others create their designs that are safe, reliably designed, and have great user experiences. I'm here to help you create your best.

customer star icon