Product defects are not only frustrating to the customer, but also to the manufacturing company. Defective products are not just a considerable cost factor, they can lead to a great image damage as well. Accordingly, defect prevention is of essential economic importance for companies.
Approximately 75 % of all defects are caused during product design or development, but are only discovered and corrected in later phases of production or quality assurance. As a matter of fact, the later a product defect is detected, the higher the costs for rectifying it. Companies must therefore aim to avoid product defects as early as possible in order to minimize subsequent costs. Thus, the findings of quality assurance must be incorporated into the process as early as possible, ideally during product development.