Closed Loop Tolerance Engineering – A Relational Model Connecting Activities of Product Development

Product development (PD) includes multiple activities and actors. Tolerances and process variations are key elements within most of these activities. This paper suggests a model to describe the relations between four activities within a product development process (PDP) with a focus on Closed Loop Tolerance Engineering (CLTE). The CLTE model, is based on results from a survey (n=155), of both design and manufacturing employees. This model fills a research gap as it holds a relational focus on how actors, tools, and communication flow in collaborative design between the different main activities in PD. The model serves the identification of an unbalanced CLTE process.