Resumen de The GAPT Model: Four Approaches to the Application of Design Tools

Svante Hovmark, Margareta Norell

• The GAPT model describes the application of design tools such as design for assembly (DFA), failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA) and quality function deployment (QFD). According to the GAPT model, design tools can be used on four different levels: guidelines; analysis of product features; product reviewing; and team-building. These four levels result—in the order given—in increasingly extensive consequences for the product development work. The implementation of the DFA method has been followed in three product development projects for two years. Designers, production engineers and project leaders were interviewed before, during and after the implementation. The findings demonstrate that the DFA method can be used for four different purposes, corresponding to the levels of the GAPT model. On the team-building level, the application of the method contributed to more cooperation between designers and production engineers, and better communication. Conditions and outcomes when using the DFA method are discussed with regard to the GAPT model.