Design of Jigs & Fixtures/Design Requirement

In a jig design for manufacturing usage, the jig designer must consider the following points before starting to design the jigs:

1. Designs jig that are foolproof to prevent any misuses by production operator
2. Design jig that is easy to operate to increase efficiency
3. Design jig that can be manufactured at the workshop using lowest costs
4. Design jig that can withstand the tool life by select the appropriate materials
5. Design jig that consistently produce parts with consistent high quality
6. Design jig that will provide the safety to production operator that fulfills the customers OSHA requirement

Therefore for jig designers, it is important for them to be involved in concurrent engineering. Concurrent engineering allows the jig designer to be involved for the products design and productions where their expertise of jigs and manufacturing processes will result in fewer errors to be discovered in productions.

Concurrent engineering teams consist of following person in charge which each person contribute their expertise:

1. Product designers (The main person whose role is to clarify the products manufacturing requirement)
2. Process engineers (The person whose is to identify what parts are required during particular stages as well as how to assemble the products parts together)
3. Quality control engineers (The person who studies whether the parts produced by jigs are in consistent levels)
4. Machining technicians (The person who need to ensure the jigs design by jig designer are machinable)

The job title mentioned above are known by their generic names as many companies may have vary job titles and team compositions to suit their internal company structure.