Promoting the application of DFM training outcomes and driving R&D efforts to a new level—A follow-up report on the implementation of STEP Academy’s DFM training program.
2022-12-01
July 11, 2021, was an unforgettable day. As the launch lever was pushed, the grand unveiling of the STEP Academy plaque took place, marking the official commencement of operations for STEP Academy on that very day.
Over the past year and a half, STEP Academy, guided by the philosophy that “talent is strategy” and adhering to the educational mission of “customer satisfaction, employee pride, and realizing dreams,” under the leadership of Mr. Ji Defa, founder of STEP and Chairman of the Board of STEP Academy, has consistently integrated theory with practice and launched a series of high-quality, practical, and forward-looking courses, continuously empowering the company to build a comprehensive and outstanding talent system for R&D and management.
According to statistics, as of November 2022, STEP Academy has organized multiple training sessions, with a total participation exceeding 300 person-times. The training topics ranged from specialized technical lectures on products such as intelligent programmable automation controllers and machine vision theory and applications, to training programs tailored for grassroots cadres and newly-graduated recruits of 2022, as well as practical training on DFM principles aimed at enhancing the manufacturability of R&D projects. After completing these trainings, participants have successfully integrated the new concepts, knowledge, and skills they’ve learned into their daily work, striving to think critically and apply what they’ve learned effectively. The initial results of the training have been promising.
Take DFM training as an example: As the company continuously introduces new projects and technologies, the development and introduction of new products often encounter insufficient analysis of manufacturability, leading to poor product and process designs. This, in turn, results in quality issues during production launch and cost losses due to subsequent design changes.
In September, after thorough research and understanding by STEP Academy, a two-day course was specially launched. DFM—Reliability Design for Manufacturing Training is provided to guide participants in considering all stages of production during the design phase and in planning the process route in advance, thereby improving the first-time success rate of product design projects, accelerating the transition to mass production, and enabling products to be quickly launched onto the market in large volumes.
All participants in this session are R&D elites from the company’s five major business divisions, totaling 90 people. After the training, the R&D engineers have developed a conceptual framework for designing manufacturing processes and have proposed many valuable ideas and perspectives. The STEP Academy has carefully analyzed and summarized these contributions, selecting PCBA design and structural design as pilot projects to be implemented first.
In the subsequent detailed implementation, each PCB file and structural design must undergo an audit before being sent out for manufacturing. To prevent audit errors and omissions, we have specifically adopted a checklist approach: all previously encountered mistakes have been compiled into a checklist, which is then used to conduct a thorough, item-by-item review. Only after confirming that everything is accurate and error-free will the files be sent out for board fabrication. This approach significantly reduces process-related issues during the pilot production phase. Currently, this checklist is gradually being rolled out and widely adopted throughout the entire R&D system of the STEP Group.
This is STEP Academy, which plays a vital role as a “power source” on STEP journey of development. In the future, STEP Academy will continue to shoulder its glorious mission, forge ahead with courage and determination, and, through integrated resource utilization, build professional and comprehensive training centers and programs to cultivate diverse talents in various fields, thereby supporting corporate transformation and the achievement of strategic goals.
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