Mass production (MP) is the final stage in the NPI and represents sustaining production of the new product in meaningful quantities.
In MP, the bulk of the responsibility shifts from engineering to the CM and operations team.
Ideally, at this stage, there will be no changes to the product or process. In practice, there will often be ongoing efforts to reduce costs and improve yields (even if only by loosening limits). New tools or vendors will likely need to be qualified at some point (through a Post Ramp Qualification) – often due to cost advantages, supply problems, or end-of-life issues. Minor design changes and test coverage improvements may occur, especially as a result of Early Field Failure Analysis (EFFA) activities.
NPI Process Flow
- Ramp transitions into Mass Production once sufficient assembly lines have been brought up and quality/throughput have stabilized.
- Eventually, engineering resources cycle off of the project and the factory manages successive mass production runs. Quality usually degrades when the factory is left unsupervised.
- At some point, the project will reach end-of-life (EOL).
Related Concepts
References
- Manufacturing
- Hardware engineers speak in code: EVT, DVT, PVT decoded by Anna-Katrina Shedletsky
PVT flows immediately into the phase of the program called Ramp, where parallel assembly lines are being brought up to increase daily output volume. Mass Production is a superset of Ramp and the sustaining production that follows.
Purpose:
- Bring up multiple lines in parallel to support high volume
- Continue to improve ongoing yield
- Qualify additional tools or vendors
- Make design changes based on returns, Early Field Failure Analysis (EFFA), or cost down efforts
Things that Go Wrong:
- Vendors change processing parameters or take down tools for maintenance, resulting in dimensional or quality shifts that can cause line failures
- Parts from unqualified tools are allowed on the line and cause failures
- A single-sourced part becomes the supply gate, usually due to ongoing yield issues
- Quality tends to decrease as engineering is pulled away and factory is left unsupervised
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