How to Prevent “Teething Problems”?

Quality in the production ramp-up significantly affects the success of new product introductions. At the same time the number of restarts in producing companies grows with more divers and specific customer requirements and less vertical range of onsite manufacturing. The resulting complexity is difficult to manage and often leads to quality issues. This article tackles the problem by focusing on quality aspects of the ramp-up management. Based on a holistic understanding of quality the authors present „PAM“, a model for production ramp-up. PAM structures the highly complex topic of ramp-up management and at the same time represents all relevant interdependent elements. The model provides a basis to systematically improve quality in production ramp-up.