INTRODUCTIONLectures 1-2

Andrea Schiffauerova, PhD.

INSE 6411Product Design Theory and Methodology

Chapter 1 of the text book

Additional materials from The Mechanical Design Process by D. Ullman

Why study the Design and Development Process?

• Continuous need for new, cost-effective, high-quality products

• More complex products

• Faster to market

Effective and efficient product design and development

• 85% of the problems with new products are the result of a poor design process

• The goal: to learn the tools to develop an efficient design process

▫ Structured methodology

Makes decision-making is more explicit

Provides checklists

Is readily documented in a structured way

▫ The tools are the same regardless of the product

How successful new products are?

• For every 100 ideas:

▫ Fewer than 70 make it though initial screening

▫ Fewer than 50 pass concept evaluation and testing

▫ A little more than 30 make it through development

▫ About 30 make it through testing

▫ About 25 are commercialized

▫ 15 of these 25 are successful 60% success rate Success rate is lower in consumer goods (51%) and as high as

65% in healthcare.

Source: Comparative Performance Assessment Study, PDMA, 2003.1-6

How successful new products are?

• Successful design and product development process:▫ Successful product design and development is the one

which results in a profitable product▫ Other dimensions of success:

Product quality (satisfies the needs, robust, reliable)

Product cost (manufacturing cost, includes also development cost)

Development cost (efficiency)

Development time (time to market, responsive to competition, to technological development)

Development capability (design in future, develop/improve the process)

What does it mean “successful” ?

• Product cost

• Product quality

• Time to market

High performance along these dimensions should lead to economic success

Dimensions of successful product

• The right quality product, at the right cost and at the right time

• However, they conflict with each other!

How to optimize these relationship in a new product development process

• Design process plays an important role in developing a good product in terms of cots, quality and time to market.

• The cost of design is only a small part of the manufacturing cost

Effect of the design on Cost

• The effect of the quality of the design on the manufacturing cost is much greater• Good design cuts the cost by

around 35%

• The decisions made during the design process have a great effect on the cost of a product but cost very little

Design as fraction of manufacturing cost (Ford Motor Company)

The effect of design on manufacturing cost

• Product cost is committed early in the design process and spent late in the process

• 75% of the manufacturing cost is committed by the end of the conceptual phase

Effect of the design on Cost

• Quality cannot be manufactured into a product unless it is designed into it

• What determines quality?

Effect of the design on Quality

• Changes are essential in order to find a good design

• Early changes are easier and less expensive

• Company A had shorter design process than B

Effect of the design on Time to market

Engineering changes during automobile

development

Company A: ToyotaCompany B: US car producer

Chapter 2

Additional materials

Duration and cost of product development

Product design and development

• Product development is a set of activities starting with the perception of a market opportunity and ending with the sale of a product

• Product design is one aspect of the development process▫ Engineering design specifies how the technical systems will

work▫ Industrial design specifies the aesthetics, ergonomics, and

user interface• Other development activities include marketing and

manufacturing• Success of the product typically depends on the success

of all three development activities

Who designs and develops products?

• Marketing▫ Market opportunities▫ Customer needs▫ Target pricing▫ Promotion of product

• Design▫ Engineering design▫ Industrial design

• Manufacturing▫ Production system▫ Supply chain

Examples

• Archos 20GB▫ Released October 2001▫ 350 g, 1.3” thick▫ File-based organization system▫ Ugly interface

• iPod 5GB▫ Released November 2001

▫ 184 g, 0.78” thick

▫ ID3-based organization system

▫ Pretty interface

Good market research and bad design:Archos vs. Apple

Examples

CONCORDE

• Technological success

• Market failure

Good design and manufacturing, bad market research:

The history of the design process

• One person used to design (and produce) an entire product

• Mid 20th century:

▫ More complex products and processes different people responsible for marketing, design and manufacturing, and overall management

▫ Over-the-wall process

▫ One-way communication

▫ Inefficient, costly, may result in poor-quality products

How it was advertisedHow marketing

specialist understood it

How the customer

described it

How the designer

designed itHow the programmer

wrote it

How it was documented What was in the

manufacturing plan

How was the customer

billed

The final piece What the customer really

wanted

The history of the design process• Late 1970th

- Simultaneous Engineering• 1980th

- Concurrent Engineering• 1990th

- Integrated Product and Process Design

• Features of concurrent engineering:

▫ A method of designing and developing products in which the different stages run simultaneously rather than consecutively

▫ Focus on the entire product life

▫ It decreases product development time and time to market, leading to improved productivity and reduced costs

Sequential vs. concurrent engineering

Product development process• PD process is the sequence of steps or activities which an enterprise

employs to conceive, design and commercialize the product.• Each organization would have (at least slightly) different PD process• In a generic PD process, there are six phases:

▫ Planning▫ Concept development▫ System-level design▫ Detail design▫ Testing and refinement▫ Production ramp-up

PlanningConcept

DevelopmentSystem-Level

DesignDetailDesign

Testing andRefinement

ProductionRamp-Up

Product Development

• Planning : opportunities, strategy, technology, market, capabilities

project mission statement (market, goals, assumpt., constr.)

• Concept development: identification of the customers’ needs, alternative concepts, concept selection

concept (product form, function and features, specifications, competitive analysis, economic justification)

• System-level design: product architecture, assembly scheme

geometric product layout, specification of each subsystem, process flow diagram for the assembly

• Detail design: complete specification (geometry, material, tolerance) of all unique parts, parts to purchase, tooling)

control documentation (drawings, process plan)

• Testing and refinement: multiple reproduction versions

alpha prototypes (intended parts)

beta prototypes (intended production processes)

• Production ramp-ups: (intended production system)

learning and process improvement before final product launch

Concept development: the Front-End Process

• The Front-End Process is an expanded concept development process

• Many interrelated activities:▫ Customer needs identification▫ Target specifications▫ Concept generation▫ Concept selection▫ Concept testing▫ Final specifications▫ Project planning▫ Economic analysis▫ Benchmarking▫ Modeling and prototyping

Concept development: the Front-End Process

• Customer needs identification▫ To understand the customers’ needs

▫ To communicate the needs to the development team

Customer needs statement▫ Hierarchical

▫ Weightings

Concept development – ExampleTeenage Girl Cool Backpack

Customer needs

LEVEL 1 LEVEL 2 IMPORTANCE WEIGHTS (100%)

Looks cool Cool design Very important 18%

Colorful pattern Very important 18%

Bright colors Important 12%

Takes in a lot of things Roomy Very important 18%

Organized Important 12%

Lightweight Important 12%

Durable Slightly important 5%

Low cost Slightly important 5%

Concept development: the Front-End Process

• Target specifications▫ Precise description of what a product will do

▫ The translation of the customers’ needs into technical terms

▫ Later will be refined

A list of target specifications▫ Metrics (with marginal and ideal values)

Concept development – ExampleTeenage Girl Cool Backpack

Customer needs Target specification

LEVEL 1 LEVEL 2 IDEAL MARGINAL

Looks cool Cool design Cool feature(s)5 zippers/buckles/clips

Min 1Min 3

Colorful pattern 4-5 colors Min 3 colors

Bright colors Grade of dye color X Min grade Xmin

Takes in a lot of things Roomy Volume: 20 l Min 15 l

Organized 5 compartments Min 3

Lightweight Weight: 0.5 kg Max 0.7 kg

Durable Strength of material YGrade of dye color X

Min strength Ymin

Min grade Xmin

Low cost Cost: $20 Max $25

Concept development: the Front-End Process

• Concept generation▫ To explore the space of product concepts

▫ A mix of external search, creative problem solving, systematic exploration of various solutions

A set of 10-20 concepts▫ A sketch

▫ A brief description

Concept development - Example

Skeleton Floral Backpack Prickle Backpack Butterfly

Backpack

Tribal Aztec Backpack

Multicolor Buckle Backpack

Pink Floral BackpackBubble Backpack

Panda Backpack

Multi-dot Backpack

Hairy Backpack

Concept development: the Front-End Process

• Concept selection▫ Concept analysis, evaluation, elimination

▫ Iterations, additional concepts generation, refinement

▫ Design conflicts and constraints

Selected promising concept(s)

Concept development: the Front-End Process

• Concept testing▫ To verify whether the customers’ needs are met

▫ Assess the market potential

▫ Identify shortcomings

▫ Project may be terminated, or some activities repeated

• Setting final specifications▫ Target specifications revisited

▫ Reflect constraints, limitations and trade-offs

Specifications with exact metrics

Concept development: the Front-End Process

• Project planning▫ Detailed development schedule, strategy, the resources

A contract book: The mission statement, the customer needs, selected concept,

the product specifications, the economic analysis, the development schedule, the project staffing and the budget

• Economic analysis▫ Economic model for the new product

▫ To justify project continuation, to resolve trade-offs

▫ An ongoing activity during the project

Concept development: the Front-End Process

• Benchmarking of competitive products▫ Understanding of competitive products

▫ Critical for positioning of a product

▫ Rich source of ideas

• Modeling and prototyping▫ Various models and prototypes in every stage

“Proof-of-concept” models

“Form-only” models

Spreadsheet models

Experimental test models

Concept development process

• Rarely purely sequential process

▫ Overlaps

▫ Iterations

• Uncertain nature of progress

Product development process• PD process is the sequence of steps or activities which an

enterprise employs to conceive, design and commercialize the product.

• Each organization would have (at least slightly) different PD process

PlanningConcept

DevelopmentSystem-Level

DesignDetailDesign

Testing andRefinement

ProductionRamp-Up

Product Development

Variants of product development process

• Market-pull products (sporting goods, furniture, tools)

▫ Market opportunity

▫ Search for technologies that will satisfy customer needs

PD process: generic PD process

• Technology-push products (touch screen PC)

▫ New technology

▫ Search for appropriate market

▫ Unlikely to succeed unless:

The technology has a clear competitive advantage

Alternative technologies are not available

PD process: Planning phase involves matching technology and market

Variants of product development process

• Platform products (Apple iPhone operating system)

▫ Built around an established technological subsystem▫ Huge investments into platform▫ Introduce proven technology to related markets▫ Simpler development for platform products PD process: Concept development assumes a proven technology

platform• Process-intensive products (cereals, food, chemicals)

▫ Product characteristics constrained by the production process PD process: either• existing process specified from the start• both product and process are developed simultaneously

• Customized products (motors)

▫ New products are slight variations of existing configurations PD process: highly structured development process

Variants of product development process• High-risk products (pharmaceuticals, space systems)

▫ High risk of failure▫ Technical, market, budget and schedule uncertainties PD process:

• Risk identified very early and tracked throughout the process• Early analysis and testing

• Quick-build products (software, cellular phones)

▫ Rapid modeling and prototyping enables spiral PD process PD process:

• Design-build-test cycle repeated many times• Flexible and responsive process (due to rapid iterations)• Until time or budget runs up

• Complex systems (airplanes, jet engines, automobiles)

▫ Decomposition into several subsystems and many components PD process: many teams working in parallel, interactions, system

integration, testing and validation

Product development process flow

The challenges of product development

• Trade-offs Recognize, understand and manage trade-offs in a way

that maximizes the product success• Dynamics

Decision-making in an environment of constant change• Details

Decision-making in complex product development• Time pressure

PD decisions should be made quickly and without complete information

• Economics Large investment Products have to be appealing and inexpensive to produce

Product development organizations

• How do we organize the product development stuff to implement the process is an effective manner?

• Classification of workforce based on their function or projects:

▫ Function The area of responsibility Usually involves education, training and/or experience Marketing, design, manufacturing

▫ Project The set of activities in the development process for a particular

product

▫ These classifications overlap

Product development organizations

• Functional organization▫ The organizational links are primarily

among those who perform similar functions

▫ Groups/teams specialized in marketing, R&D, design, manufacturing, etc.

▫ Team members involved in many different projects (products)

▫ Fosters development of specialization and expertise

• Project organization▫ The organizational links are primarily

among those who work on the same project

▫ Teams include people from several different functions (marketing, design, manufacturing, etc.)

▫ Each team focused on the development of a specific product (or product line)

▫ Easier coordination and administration of projects

Product development organizations

Product development organizations• Matrix organization

▫ Hybrid of functional and project organizations – individuals are linked to others according to both the projects they work on and their function.

▫ Each individual would have two supervisors (project and functional)▫ Combines benefits of both functional and project organizations, but it is difficult

to balance functions and projects (requires more managers and administrators)

• Lightweight project matrix organization

▫ Functional manager dominates (budget, performance evaluation, hiring & firing)

▫ Project manager coordinates and administrates his/her specific project

• Heavyweight project matrix organization

▫ Project manager dominates (budget, performance evaluation, hiring & firing)

▫ Functional manager has little control

Chapter 1 from The Mechanical Design Process by D. Ullman

Design problem

All design problems are ill-defined

• An analysis problem▫ Clear need▫ Problem easily understood▫ Just find correct formula

“What size SAE grade 5 bolt should be used to fasten together 2 pieces of 1045 sheet steel, each 4 mm thick and 6 cm wide, which are lapped over each other and loaded with 100 N?”

• A design problem▫ Not enough information▫ Potential solutions not given▫ Constraints are incomplete

“Design a joint to fasten 2 pieces of 1045 sheet steel, each 4 mm thick and 6 cm wide, which are lapped over each other and loaded with 100 N.”

Design problem

Design problems have many satisfactory solutions and no clear best solution.

A design paradoxThe more you learn the less freedom you have to use what you know

• The goal is to learn as much as early as possible in the design process, because later the changes will be more expensive.

Types of mechanical design problems

• Selection design▫ Selection of one (or more) items from a list of similar items

• Configuration design▫ Assembling existing components into the completed product

• Parametric design▫ Finding values for the features that characterize the studied

objects • Original design▫ If the design problem requires the development of a new process,

assembly or component• Redesign▫ The modification of an existing product to meet new requirements▫ Mature design is a design which has remained unchanged over

long period of time (e.g. pencil sharpeners, staplers, hole punchers, etc.)

Mature design

?

Even mature designs change !

Next lecture

• Opportunity identification