QMS Webinar Series: Product Life Cycle (PLC)
Speaker: Abdul Khalfan CQE, SSGB
Principal, Quality Assurance & Reliability Engineering Consulting Services
Product Life Cycle (PLC) refers to sequential phases from product planning to end of life. Generally, it comprises of six main stages, they are: i) Product Planning, ii) Design and Development, iii) Verification and Validation, iv) Production, v) Product Release/Field Follow/Sustaining Engineering and vi) End of Life of the Product.
i)
Product
Planning
Phase
–
Product
Planning
is
to
identify
customer
needs,
analyze
business
trends,
and
market
competition,
and
develop
product
proposals.
The
document
which
describes
and
details
this
phase
is
known
as
Marketing
Requirement
Document
(MRD).
ii)
Design
and
Development
Phase
–
This
phase
usually
begins
with
preparation
of
detailed
product
requirements.
These
detailed
requirements
are
documented
and
defined
in
a
Product
Requirement
Document
(PRD).
Based
upon
the
PRD,
Technical
Specifications
are
developed
to
conform
to
the
Product
Requirements
as
defined
in
the
PRD
and
that
truncates
upwards
to
the
MRD.
iii)
Verification
and
Validation
Phase
–
This
phase
consists
of
two
major
steps:
Design
Verification
(DV)
and
Design
Validation,
also
known
as
(DV).
Once
the
design
is
completed,
there
is
a
design
verification
process
which
is
paper
based,
i.e.,
Engineers
and
Technical
Teams
from
cross-functional
departments
provide
their
input.
If
there
is
a
consensus
that
the
Design
meets
the
Product
Requirements
as
defined,
a
small
no.
of
units
are
built
for
DV
testing.
These
units
are
known
as
Prototypes.
Based
upon
the
successful
results
of
the
Prototype
units
the
Design
Validation
process
commences.
In
this
phase
a
statistical
sample
size
of
units
are
selected
and
extensively
tested
in
accordance
with
the
product
requirements
to
ensure
that
the
product
will
comply
with
the
Reliability,
Availability,
Serviceability,
Useability,
and
Installability
better
known
as
RASUI
concepts.
The
intent
is
to
provide
a
minimum
of
80%
statistical
confidence
level
that
the
product
is
built
right,
i.e.,
as
per
its
defined
requirements.
iv)
Production
Phase
–
In
this
phase
the
Manufacturing
process
must
be
validated
for
Production
readiness
or
Mass
Production
(MP).
v)
Product
Release
Phase
–
Once
the
product
has
been
validated
for
its
design
and
manufacturing
processes,
and
the
product
is
officially
released
for
the
market
place
for
sales
and
service
sustaining
Engineering
or
Current
Engineering
Team
takes
over
from
the
parent
Design
Team
and
provides
Technical
and
Maintenance
support
to
the
external
customer
installations.
It
is
also
known
as
Field
Follow
phase.
vi)
End
of
Life
(EOL)
Phase
–
This
is
the
terminal
phase
of
a
Product
Life
Cycle.
The
product
is
discarded,
scrapped,
or
recycled
when
it
is
unable
to
continue
or
is
not
cost
effective.
About Abdul Khalfan:
Abdul
Khalfan
is
a
Quality
Management
Systems
Professional
(QMS)
with
extensive
experience
in
the
high-tech
industry.
His
hands-on
style
and
practical
approach
to
business
management
makes
him
a
natural
catalyst
for
improvement
initiatives.
His
unique
career
path
and
ground
up
experience
has
provided
him
with
business
and
process
insights
leading
to
greater
profitability,
value-add,
and
efficacy
for
small,
medium,
and
large
companies
and
organizations
such
as
NCR
Corporation,
Flextronics,
Ingenico,
Com
Dev,
Teledyne-Dalsa,
ITT,
Bell-Howell,
KA
Imaging,
Curriato
Inc.,
Schock
Metal
America
Inc.,
Durose
Steel,
Honda
Automotive,
Kaparel,
to
name
a
few.
Currently,
he
is
providing
Consulting
Services
for
ISO
9001:2015
and
ISO
13485:2016
Standards
to
Medical
Device
and
non-medical
companies
in
Kitchener-Waterloo
area.
Abdul
Khalfan
consistently
focused
upon
underperforming
processes
and
products
to
higher
levels
of
excellence
and
profitability.
Using
careful
statistical
analysis
and
a
keen
eye
for
value-add
and
process
improvements
he
has
been
able
to
transform
unproductive,
wasteful
practices
into
effective
and
value
added
process
improvements.
Additionally,
Abdul
Khalfan,
has
established
from
ground
zero
the
entire
infra
structure
of
QMS
resulting
in
ISO
9001
Certification
in
the
first
audit;
managed
continuous
improvement
projects
which
in
one
case
improved
the
‘Early
Life
Performance’
of
products
by
47%
resulting
in
savings
of
millions
of
dollars,
significantly
reduced
the
number
of
process
steps
and
data
consolidating
North
American
data
in
one
database
saving
10
man
days
of
work
and
savings
of
US$
100,000
annually.
Similarly,
significantly
streamlined
and
formalized
haphazard
and
broken
Engineering
Change
Request
and
Engineering
Change
Notice
processes
in
a
formal
consolidated
and
automated
process,
thereby
realizing
its
effectiveness,
efficiency,
reduced
number
of
errors,
timely
execution,
and
cost
savings.
Abdul Khalfan is an ASQ Certified Quality Engineer (CQE), SSGB, an Exemplar Global Certified Lead Auditor for ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 13485:2016 Standards, Certified Process Management and Improvement Trainer, holds Advanced Quality Assurance Diploma with an Electrical Engineering background.
He has been a frequent guest speaker at ASQ Meetings on Quality and Reliability subjects, part time instructor at Conestoga College on the subject of Total Quality Management (TQM), and is currently delivering Quality and Reliability workshops for UW CBB (Centre for Bio-Engineering and Biotechnology).
Abdul’s Consulting Services website address: www.qareconsulting.com.
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