I would add one thing to the list - in most cases compliance is a much a part of the customers functional specification as are the more traditional values for operating, intended environment, data rates, pixel size, fit and finish. That is the case whether it's a custom designed product where specifications are spelled out in the contract phase, or even in the more generalized case where you are selling to a market niche - internet routers and switches, computers, or camshawrinkback frackacycles with rotating Johnson rods. In this case and federal regulations such as FCC or national electrical codes or even just customer reliability concerns are the driver.
Gary From: Doug Powell [mailto:doug...@gmail.com] Sent: Thursday, March 29, 2012 12:23 PM To: EMC-PSTC@LISTSERV.IEEE.ORG Subject: Re: [PSES] receiving/approval processes under fire Excellent advice Rich. I am a proponent of "design for compliance" and have been for years. Getting involved early solves more than you can possibly know; if possible do it at the napkin design stage. Here is a list of ideas that immediately come to mind, there's probably much more. 1) Early involvement identifies markets, requirements, standards, and design risks. 2) "Involvement" means getting down in the trenches with design engineers, manufacturing engineers, procurement, operations, incoming inspection, everyone. Understand the designs, materials, suppliers. Be able to fully comprehend schematics and mechanical diagrams, know company processes, know the customer needs, and make suggestions. 3) Be an advocate for the company when facing the agency and work through the issues to mutual agreement. I've seen plenty of compliance engineers forget this and simply "go by the book". 4) Compliance is not a roadblock to productivity; it is an essential function in of the company and it opens market doors. Sales people know how to buy into this idea. 5) Don't simply say no and shut them down. If something is not right, offer a minimum of three alternative ideas. I once ran into a compliance engineer whose first idea was to go to the engineer's manager to try and force the issue. This is clearly the wrong answer; working through the tough problems together actually wins a compliance advocate on the engineering side of the house. I've had some great arguments and won some dear friends doing this. 6) If it is non-negotiable (and I mean really non-negotiable), be courteous and respectful while explaining the case. It means all the difference. 7) Complaint: Design people say "Compliance stifles creativity!" Answer: Designers already work within a set of rules called the laws of physics, materials properties, etc. What we really need is more creative designers and engineers that know how to apply ALL the rules. 8) "Compliance costs too much." Compared to what, not selling your products at all? This does not fly with me after I participated in the redesign of a line of "low cost" high power energy conversion products. By replacing all the general purpose and cheap components with those "too expensive" circuit breakers, fuses, optocouplers, transformers, etc. we achieved a 6% in the cost of goods sold (COGS). In addition, this product line was the history of the company that subsequently demonstrated six-sigma quality. 9) Compliance people have a big advantage in that they see all the departments of a company. A great design idea in one business unit is a great design idea in another business unit. Same goes for processes. Spreading these ideas around the whole business makes you look good too. My goal is to always, always develop great rapport, collaboration, and to be just as agile as the rest of the company. After all, the competition is not inside the company and if you miss the market, you missed it all. Enough for now, I'm on lunch and have to get back to work. -Doug On Thu, Mar 29, 2012 at 11:23 AM, Richard Nute <ri...@ieee.org<mailto:ri...@ieee.org>> wrote: Mr. Woodgate suggests: > What you do is make the design team leader *responsible*for the > compliance of the design. He/she doesn't do the tests but has to > understand the standards that apply enough to assess the test reports > and sign them off. Absolutely! I have successfully used this process for years! My designers have been very complementary. However, to do this, the compliance engineer must partner with the designer so as to offer various alternatives that complement his design, not just a one-size-fits-all. And, you must take some risk with the certification house so that your promises to the design engineer are fulfilled. To do this means you must also partner with the cert house at the same time to be certain that the design is certifiable. This means you join the design team in the very early stages of the design and jointly agree with the design team as to a safety design strategy -- BEFORE the design is developed to a physical model. This has another advantage: the very first prototypes comply with the requirements, and can be used for certification. This means that the certification timetable is not in the critical path to project completion. Good luck! Rich - ---------------------------------------------------------------- This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to <emc-p...@ieee.org<mailto:emc-p...@ieee.org>> All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieee-pses.org/emc-pstc.html Attachments are not permitted but the IEEE PSES Online Communities site at http://product-compliance.oc.ieee.org/ can be used for graphics (in well-used formats), large files, etc. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ Instructions: http://listserv.ieee.org/request/user-guide.html List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas <emcp...@radiusnorth.net<mailto:emcp...@radiusnorth.net>> Mike Cantwell <mcantw...@ieee.org<mailto:mcantw...@ieee.org>> For policy questions, send mail to: Jim Bacher: <j.bac...@ieee.org<mailto:j.bac...@ieee.org>> David Heald: <dhe...@gmail.com<mailto:dhe...@gmail.com>> - ---------------------------------------------------------------- This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to <emc-p...@ieee.org<mailto:emc-p...@ieee.org>> All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieee-pses.org/emc-pstc.html Attachments are not permitted but the IEEE PSES Online Communities site at http://product-compliance.oc.ieee.org/ can be used for graphics (in well-used formats), large files, etc. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ Instructions: http://listserv.ieee.org/request/user-guide.html List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas <emcp...@radiusnorth.net<mailto:emcp...@radiusnorth.net>> Mike Cantwell <mcantw...@ieee.org<mailto:mcantw...@ieee.org>> For policy questions, send mail to: Jim Bacher <j.bac...@ieee.org<mailto:j.bac...@ieee.org>> David Heald <dhe...@gmail.com<mailto:dhe...@gmail.com>> - ---------------------------------------------------------------- This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to <emc-p...@ieee.org> All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieee-pses.org/emc-pstc.html Attachments are not permitted but the IEEE PSES Online Communities site at http://product-compliance.oc.ieee.org/ can be used for graphics (in well-used formats), large files, etc. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ Instructions: http://listserv.ieee.org/request/user-guide.html List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas <emcp...@radiusnorth.net> Mike Cantwell <mcantw...@ieee.org> For policy questions, send mail to: Jim Bacher: <j.bac...@ieee.org> David Heald: <dhe...@gmail.com>
