Hierarchization of Characteristics Applied to the Component Approval Strategy

The ISO GPS standards define how to specify, and how to verify each specification. Other international standards define how to ensure the capability of a characteristic. But if capability studies are adapted to “CTQ”(critical to quality) or “key characteristics”, they cannot be applied to all. This paper presents the component approval strategy employed at Schneider Electric in order to verify all characteristics, with the appropriate effort, as well as mastering the design process and the robustness of the product.The functional characteristics have been ranked into four levels by their criticality.The criticality integers the severity of a failure, the contribution of the characteristic in the functional conditions, and the risk of non conformity due to the process.This process illustrates one use of the standard NF E 04-009 (“HCPP”)