NDF (No Defect Found) is a phenomenon in which defects have been found in the manufacturing, operation and use of a product or facility, but phenomenon of defects is not reproduced in the subsequent investigation system or the cause of the defects cannot be identified. Recently, with the development of the fourth industrial revolution, convergence of hardware and software technologies in various fields is spreading to products such as aircraft, home appliances, and mobile devices, and the number of parts is increasing due to functional convergence. The application of such convergence technologies and the increase in the number of parts are major factors that lead to an increase in NDF phenomena. NDF phenomena have a significant negative impact on cost, reliability, and reliability for both manufacturers, service providers and operators. On the other hand, due to the nature of NDF phenomena such as difficult and intermittent cause identification and ambiguity in judgment, it is common to underestimate the cost of NDF or fail to take appropriate countermeasures in corporate management. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a methodology for estimating NDF costs by the PAF model which is a quality cost analysis model and ABC (Activity Based Costing) technique. The methodology of this study suggests a detailed procedure and the concept to accurately estimate the NDF costs, using ABC analysis, accounting system information, and IT system data. In addition case studies have validated the methodology. We think this could be a valid methodology to refer to when estimating the cost of other parts. And, it is meaningful to provide important judgment information in the decision-making process based on quality management and ultimately reduce NDF costs by visualizing them separately by major variable factors.

Recently, with the development of technologies for the fourth industrial revolution, convergence and complex technology are being applied to aircraft, electronic home appliances and mobile devices, and the number of parts used is increasing. Increasing the number of parts and the application of convergence technologies such as HW (hardware) and SW (software) are increasing the No Defect Found (NDF) phenomenon in which the defect is not reproduced or the cause of the defect cannot be identified in the subsequent investigation systems after the discovery of the defect in the product. The NDF phenomenon is a major problem when dealing with complex technical systems, and its consequences may be manifested in decreased safety and dependability and increased life cycle costs. Until now, NDF-related prior studies have been mainly focused on the NDF cost estimation, the cause and impact analysis of NDF in qualitative terms. And there have been no specific methodologies or examples of a working-level perspective to reduce NDF. The purpose of this study is to present a practical methodology for reducing NDF phenomena through data mining methods using quantitative data accumulated in the enterprise. In this study, we performed a cluster analysis using market defects and design-related variables of mobile devices. And then, by analyzing the characteristics of groups with high NDF ratios, we presented improvement directions in terms of design and after service policies. This is significant in solving NDF problems from a practical perspective in the company.