05.
FAIL PROOFING :
A MANDATORY PART
OF THE DESIGN
PROCESS
FAIL PROOFING :
A MANDATORY PART
OF THE DESIGN
PROCESS
What’s better than fixing something when it’s broken?
Stopping it from breaking in the first place.
Fail-proof means resistance to failure. To put it another way, designers should
create things that will not fail during usage since they affect broader
elements than we realize, such as Economic factors, Sustainability,
and Durability. People often get confused between fail proofing and fool
proofing. Fool proofing implies preventing a fool from making a mistake
by including the features.
What’s better than fixing something when it’s broken?
Stopping it from breaking in the first place.
Fail-proof means resistance to failure. To put it another way, designers should
create things that will not fail during usage since they affect broader
elements than we realize, such as Economic factors, Sustainability,
and Durability. People often get confused between fail proofing and fool
proofing. Fool proofing implies preventing a fool from making a mistake
by including the features.
How does it affect sustainability?
A decade ago, items were manufactured in various components; but, as time has passed, everything has begun to coalesce/integrate. People's ability to repair products has gotten more difficult as a result of technological innovation.
The only way to escape is to buy a new product. The cycle of purchasing a new product continues. Purchasing new products increases supply, which increases manufacturing demand. This entire procedure wastes more energy and materials.
Product
housing
From childhood, I have had the freedom to repair any electrical or mechanical products in our house. In this process of repairing, I used to find what caused the problem and then used to find different ways of solving that problem from my end in a way like some internal components with user touchpoints, which didn't have proper housing supports (ribs, bosses) which caused the components to break easily. To solve this problem, I had to make an entirely 3D printed component, but due to lack of availability. I made parts using hot glue, adhesives, M-seal, or super glued the components to avoid breakage failure, so that it won't occur again. Most of the products I have worked on had a housing problem or were not fail-proofed.
Are
manufacturers
doing it
Yes, it is correct. Companies employ a variety of tactics to expand their operations .
'Planned Obsolescence'
Planned obsolescence means a strategy of deliberately ensuring that the current version of a given product will become out of date or useless within a known period for business - economical growth.
100 percent carbon neutral by 2030
Advancing sustainability is at the heart of everything we do.
Why is the industry making promises like going carbon neutral, advancing sustainability, and so on while continuing to follow the Planned Obsolescence strategy?
How To Tackle
this problem?
01.
Product user testing.
The first batch of products should be given to a certain number of people. This will help designers to understand different ways in which customers can use the product and find out problems.
02.
Multiple time uses testing.
Once a product is designed it should be tested multiple times, which will help the designer to figure out different ways to use the product.
03.
Wear and stress testing.
Wear and stress testing should include durability testing, what will be the lifetime of the product after 100 uses, how many times the product could be repaired etc.
04.
Redesign based on results.
Once all the above points are followed note down the insights and particular changes, And redesigning the product according to them.
Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) is a systematic, proactive method for
evaluating a process to identify where and how it might fail and to assess the relative impact of different failures, to identify the parts of the process that are most in need of change.
Even though the focus of this study is on industrial designers, fail proofing or the FMEA Method can be applied objectively to any
design process.
Even though the focus of this study is on industrial designers, fail proofing or the FMEA Method can be applied objectively to any
design process.