ABSTRACT
Recognizing Design Review (DR) importance in ensuring quality and reliability, department staff instituted the K-DR System. “K” is the first letter in both the Japanese word for “exhaust fan” and the name of the manufacturing facility. The sense of ownership in this system has boosted interest in making DR work, as well as department morale. Information from market studies and surveys, manufacturing processes, and various experiments and simulations can be used to uncover problems and prevent their recurrence. That is why the exhaust fan department keeps all this information on file for ready access. The typical exhaust fan customer is a retail store, so the product review office evaluates a prototype for ease of use, versatility, function and performance, ease of installation, serviceability, simplicity, and clarity of user documentation. The more subjective elements are confirmed by market study and survey data from actual users and by competitive comparisons.
