Chapter 3 - Design of Products and Services

Six Phases of the Generic Product Development Process

Phase 0: Planning

Phase 1: Concept Development

Phase 2: System-level design

Phase 3: Design Detail

Phase 4: Testing and refinement

Phase 5: Production ramp-up

The Stage-Gate Model

Quality Function Deployment

Designing for aesthetics and the user is generally termed industrial design

• Uses interfunctional teams from marketing, design, engineering, and manufacturing (using market research)

• Converts expectations and demands into clear objectives and specifications

• Customer requirements form the basis for the house of quality

QFD House of Quality

Value Analysis/Engineering (VA / VE)

Purpose is to simplify products and processes, objective is to achieve better performance at a lower cost while maintaining all functional requirements

• Does the item have any design features that are not necessary?

• Can two or more parts be combined into one?

• How can we cut down the weight?

• Are there nonstandard parts that can be eliminated

Ecodesign

Incorporation of environmental considerations in the design and development of products or services

• The whole life cycle is considered

• The product is considered as a system

• A multi-criteria approach is used

Designing Service Products

Direct customer involvement introduces significant variability in the process. Questions to address:

• How will this variability be addressed?

• What are the implications for operation cost and the customer service experience?

Complexity

the number of steps involved in a service and the possible actions that can be taken at each step

• Can help determine different resource requirements such as worker skills, layout, and process controls

Divergence

the number of ways a customer/service provider interaction can vary at each step according to the needs and abilities of each.

• Can help determine different resource requirements such as worker skills, layout, and process controls

Sensitivity Analysis to Understand Project Trade-Offs

• Longer product development time

• Higher/lower sales volume

• Higher/lower sales price

• Higher/lower development costs

Typical Measures of Product Development Success

Time to market

• The frequency of new product introductions and the time from initial concept to market introduction

Productivity

• Such measures as the number of engineering hours, the cost of materials, and tooling costs are used in these measures

Quality

• Measures that relate to the reliability of the product in use, the product’s performance features compared to customer expectations and the ability of a factory or service process to produce the product