| Process design is design. |
| The answer may be very simple. If you sell a stamping die, then the stamping die is your product. Therefore the design of the die is product design. |
| But if you sell metal parts that are made by a stamping die, then the design of the stamping die is a main parts of process design. |
| Anyway, in the both cases they are design activities, so they can be under design control (4.4 clause in ISO9001). |
| A problem will occur when an auditor does not admit process design as design activities and therefore he insist that 4.4 Design control cannot be applied to process design. |
| Then when you sell a stamping die, you should take ISO9001, because you have product design. But when you sell metal parts that are made by a stamping die you cannot take ISO9001 because you have not design activities. |
| The auditor's idea is contradictory, because sometimes a stamping design is handled as design work and another time it cannot be handled as design work, though the both design activities are identical. |
| I would say ironically a design of a stamping die is a chameleon design, if the auditor's idea were correct. |
| ISO9000-2: Generic guidelines for the application of ISO9001, ISO9002 and ISO9003 say, " In considering design control, it is important to note that the design process may apply to various activities in differing styles and timescales. Such aspects are related to products, as well as the process associated with product design. The supplier should consider all phases of the design associated with product design and all phases of the design process for which controlled procedures are necessary." in 4.4.1 clause. |
| Parts manufacturers generally do process design only. Therefore some certification bodies do not admit ISO9001 for them, because they do not have design process. But other certification bodies admit ISO9001 for the manufacturers because they have process design. Confusing! |
| Toyota production system and Taguchi method place strong emphasis on production processes, because quality of products is made in the processes. Accordingly design of the processes also is very important. |
| "Advanced product quality planning and control plan"; a reference manual of QS-9000 describes design of new manufacturing equipment, tooling, facilities and gages/test equipment are a part of product design. |
| There is no definition of design in ISO8402:1994. Then in ISO9000:2000 the definition has appeared. |
| In FDIS of ISO9000:2000, it is said that the definition will be "set of processes that transform requirements into specified characteristics or into the specification of a product, process or system". |
| This definition still remains a controversial element. That is "system". |
| Because design of a product is also design of its product system. |
| As for process design, design of a process equals to design of its process system. |
| Reading this definition, I reminded sentences in 8.1 clause of ISO9004-1:1994. The sentences are as follows. |
| "The specification and design function should provide for the translation of customer needs into technical specifications for materials, products and processes." |
| The sentences describe very clearly design function. |