Product development in the manufacturing industry follows a structured process that has various stages represented by acronyms. These are industry jargon as the engineers, designers, and manufacturers can understand these abbreviations, which will enable clear and precise communication among them.
The four critical stages in this process are EVT (Engineering Verification Test), DVT (Design Verification Test), PVT (Production Verification Test), and MP (Mass Production). In this process, each stage is very important in refining the product, in order to deliver quality and to be ready for mass production.
Design flaws are identified by EVT, performance and durability standards are met by DVT, mass production capabilities are confirmed by PVT, and MP is the switch to full-scale manufacturing.
The following stages are followed by companies to minimise risk, optimise production, and deliver high-quality products to market promptly. So, let’s get started.
The product development process is generally divided into five stages:
1. Planning (Product Concept Stage)
2. EVT (Engineering Verification Test Stage)
3. DVT (Design Verification Test Stage)
4. PVT (Production Verification Test Stage)
5. MP (Mass Production Stage)
EVT (Engineering Verification Test) Engineering Verification and Test Stage
The Engineering Verification Test (EVT) is the first phase of product development design verification. The product design is newly completed at this stage, and the possible issues may not have surfaced fully yet. The main objective is to find and fix design flaws early in the product life cycle to prevent product integrity.
Verification at the EVT level is concerned with verifying that the design meets the functional specification and that no critical details are missing. Rigorous testing of performance, weakness discovery, and component selection validation is conducted on all the engineers. The faults that can impact functionality or manufacturability are examined from mechanical, electrical, and thermal aspects.
EVT involves iterative testing and re-wrapping of the design before moving to the next stage. This phase addresses issues that, if not addressed, the product will be subject to costly revisions later and increase overall product reliability. EVT completion is deemed successful when the design is stable enough to advance to the next development stages and further refinement and validation.
Features of EVT:
• The product design exists as a finished concept, although essential specifications remain unfinished. Our goal is to confirm that the design is finished and that it meets the intended functional specifications.
• 3D printers mainly produce prototypes that display their unfinished state.
• At this initial testing phase, multiple product evaluations (EVT1, EVT2) will take place to refine the design until the final version is achieved.
• Basic system operation tests and electrical safety checks, along with reliability tests, make up typical tests at this stage.
• The testing phase starts with a small number of items, which range from one to several samples.
DVT (Design Verification Test) Design Verification and Test Stage
The Design Verification Test (DVT) phase starts after the product design reaches its final stage. Verification now checks if the design matches every required specification and meets both product standards and industry rules. The product goes through complete tests to verify its operating capabilities and durability before moving to the next stage.
Since the product will soon enter mass production, the tests must focus on both material materials thermal performance and product lifespan. The production team must fix all detected design problems to start manufacturing.
DVT confirms that the product remains dependable and follows safety rules throughout different operating conditions. When DVT tests succeed, the design meets all requirements and prepares for its final production phase.
Features of DVT:
• The product design team has finished their work and now needs to validate that all designs follow DFX standards especially.
• The product goes through extensive tests to check if its design works correctly and without significant problems.
• The product tests small production runs to check if it works well with manufacturing processes before line assembly.
• The product goes through official third-party testing during design verification, and this process often takes more time than internal tests.
• Product verification requires an increasing number of samples between 10 and 100 to confirm production scalability.
• When the product nears completion, the samples start looking more like what you will see during mass manufacturing with better surface quality and improved visual appeal.
PVT (Production Verification Test) Production Verification and Test Stage
Before starting mass production, the Production Verification Test serves as the last validation stage. After finishing the design wor,k the product moves forward after passing the Design Verification Test. The main purpose of PVT is to verify that the production system can reproduce products that meet design requirements every time.
The production line operates under actual manufacturing procedures during PVT to find production problems and weaknesses. Engineers check how the assembly process works with its accuracy levels plus production efficiency, and quality control steps to make sure manufacturing runs smoothly. All production problems need to be fixed before starting large-scale production.
The product moves to mass production when PVT testing ends because it proves the product works reliably and meets all quality requirements.
Features of PVT:
• Verification of Production Processes: The key purpose of this stage is to check if the production line works correctly and if manufacturing processes stay reliable. The company tests small production runs to verify that its production system matches design needs and protects against quality problems in full-scale manufacturing. The PVT stage checks production line stability to show if it delivers consistent results.
• Application of Injection Molding Services: The mold manufacturer works at PVT to make plastic component adjustments and improve molding performance. Injection molding services at this stage work to improve factory production methods and maintain exact and reliable molding results. The quality of the injection mold affects the production consistency and product quality when making complex casing parts. Adjustments to the mold help make fewer defective products and save materials.
• Small-Batch Production: The production stage at this phase produces between 50 and 200 units to test the manufacturing process and check if it delivers reliable results. The stage helps companies learn valuable lessons that improve their production systems for future large-scale operations.
• Quality Control: Besides verifying product design and production methods, the factories enhance both quality control and quality assurance to make sure that production processes meet specifications and avoid problems.
• Appearance Consistency with Mass Production: During PVT production, the product must look identical to what customers will buy in large quantities. The samples need to show minimal appearance issues while still demonstrating the final design of the mass-produced product.
MP (Mass Production) Mass Production Stage
The product design and production methods have been proven effective through three rounds of verification, including EVT, DVT, and PVT. The product is ready to enter large-scale production since all major problems have been fixed.
The factory starts mass production at this point to produce items efficiently and at a low cost. Our production lines produce the highest amount of products possible while following all quality management standards. Making last adjustments to the assembly line helps the production run without problems and reduces product flaws.
Mass production aims to produce many goods at maximum capacity while maintaining their exact quality and performance standards. Regular quality tests and production checks identify when items vary from their intended specifications. Once production runs smoothly, our product moves to distribution to provide constant availability to buyers.
Features of MP:
• Mass Production Launch: At the MP stage, the factory starts making many products ranging between thousands and millions of units. The production line needs to run smoothly and effectively to make each product. The factory changes how items are made and improves leadership to keep production steady and produce high-quality products.
• Continuous Production Optimization: During mass production, the factory works to reduce production expenses while making production more effective. As production scales up, the factory enhances mold and equipment effectiveness while refining injection molds with customer feedback to produce better products.
• Quality Supervision: Quality control remains the top priority even though the product now enters large-scale manufacturing. The production process receives close quality control, and every product batch needs testing to spot any quality problems before they happen.
• External Monitoring: Customers examine and approve products at this stage to make sure the factory delivers its promised quality level according to the contract.
Conclusion
The four main production steps, EVT, DVT, PVT, and MP, help companies bring their product ideas from start to commercial manufacturing. Every step checks product quality to make sure it meets market requirements before starting mass production.
High-quality products depend on the effective use of injection molding services and mold manufacturing together. During the PVT and MP production stages, businesses enhance their output efficiency by tuning their molds and production methods to make less product waste.
Looking at every development stage improves product quality and lowers production expenses while making manufacturing simpler. The method of structuring production lines helps businesses grow their operations while making their processes work better. Companies can successfully produce high-quality products to market at lower costs and run operations better through this process.