THE PRODUCT DESIGN PROCESS

What is design?
- Webster's dictionary says that to design is "to fashion after a plan."
- To design is to create something that has never been.
- To design is to pull together something new or arrange existing things in a new way to satisfy a
recognized need of society.
- Design establishes and defines solutions to and pertinent structures for problems not solved
before, or new solutions to problems which have previously been solved in a different way.
-Good design requires both analysis and synthesis.
The Four C's of Design
Creativity
Requires creation of something that has not existed before or not existed in the designer's
mind before.
Complexity
Requires decisions on many variables and parameters.
Choice
Requires making choices between many possible solutions at all levels, from basic
concepts to smallest detail of shape.
Compromise
Requires balancing multiple and sometimes conflicting requirements.

Importance of Product Design Process

The engineering design process can be applied to several different ends:
- The design of products, whether they be consumer goods and appliances
- Complex engineered system such as an electric power generating station or a petrochemical
plant.
The importance of design is nicely summed up by the figure below. It shows that only a
small fraction of the cost to produce a product (5 %) is involved with the product design process,
while the other 95% of cost is consumed by the material, capital, and labor to manufacture the
product.
 The second major impact of design is on product quality. The old concept of product
quality was that it was achieved by inspecting the product as it came off the production line. But
today we realize that quality cannot be built into a product unless it is designed into it.
The third area where product design determines product competitiveness is product cycle
time. Cycle time refers to the development time required to bring a new product to market. The
design process should be conducted so as to develop quality cost-competitive products in the
shortest time possible.
Static Products vs. Dynamic Products
Static Products
-exist in a market where the customer is not eager to change, and fashion or styling plays little
role. These are markets characterized by a stable number of large producers, with high price
competition and little market research.
Examples: automobiles and most consumer appliances like refrigerators and dishwashers.
Dynamic Products
-with dynamic products, customers are willing to, and may even drive, change. It changes the
basic design concept fairly frequently, as the underlying technology changes.
Examples: telecommunications systems and software.

The Design Process-A Simplified Approach

System
- Entire combination of hardware, information, and people necessary to accomplish some
specified mission. A large system usually is divided into subsystems, which in turn are made up
of components.
Design is a sequential process consisting of many design operations. Examples of the operations
might be:
(1) Exploring the alternative systems that could satisfy the specified need.
(2) Formulating a mathematical model of the best system concept.
(3) Specifying specific parts to construct a component of a subsystem.
(4) Selecting a material from which to manufacture a part.

Basic Module in the Design Process (Morris Asimow)

Comparison between Scientific Method and the Design Method (Percy Hill)
A Problem-Solving Methodology
A problem-solving methodology that is useful in design consists of the following steps:
Definition of the problem
Gathering of information
Generation of alternative solutions
Evaluation of alternatives
Communication of the results

Considerations of a Good Design

Design is a multifaceted process. To gain a broader understanding of engineering design, we
group various considerations in good design into three categories:
(1) Design requirements
(2) Life-cycle issues
(3) Regulatory and social issues

Design Requirements
Performance requirements can be divided into functional performance requirements and
complementary performance requirements.
-Functional requirements address such capacity measures as forces, strength, energy or
material flows, power and deflection. They also are concerned with the efficiency of the
design, its accuracy and its sensitivity.
- Complementary performance requirements are concerned with the useful life of the
design, its robustness to factors in the service environment, its reliability, and ease,
economy, and safety of maintenance.
Physical requirements-these pertain to such issues as size, weight, shape, and surface
finish.
Environmental requirements deal with two separate aspects. The first concerns the
service conditions under which the product must operate. The extremes of temperature,
humidity, corrosive conditions, dirt, vibration, noise, etc., must be predicted and allowed
for in the design. The second aspect of environmental requirements pertains to how the
product will behave with regard to maintaining a safe and clean environment.
Aesthetic requirements refer to the sense of the beautiful.- They are concerned with how
the product is perceived by a customer because of its shape, color, surface texture, and
also such factors as balance, unity, and interest.
Every design has requirements of an economic nature. These include such issues as
product development cost, initial product cost, life cycle product cost, tooling cost, and
return on investment. In many cases cost is the most important design requirement.
Total Life-Cycle
Material selection is a key element in the total life cycle.
Material selection cannot be separated from producibility. There is an intimate connection
between design and material selection.
Durability is concerned with the number of cycles of possible operation (useful life of a
product).
Regulatory and Social Issues
Specifications and standards have an important influence on design practice. The
standards produced by such societies as ASTM and ASME represent voluntary agreement
among many elements (users and producers) of industry. As such, they often represent
minimum or least-common-denominator standards.
The requirements of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the
Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), and the Environment Protection Agency
(EPA) place direct constraints on the designer.

Detailed Description of the Design Process

Morris Asimow was among the first to give a detailed description of the complete design process
in what he called the morphology of design.
Phase I: Conceptual design
Recognition of a need
Definition of the problem
Gathering of information
Developing a design concept
Choosing between competing concepts (evaluation)

Phase II: Embodiment design

Product architecturearrangement of the physical functions
Configuration designpreliminary selection of materials, modeling and sizing of parts
Parametric design --creating a robust design, and selection of final dimensions and
tolerances

Phase III: Detail design

It is the creation of final drawings and specifications
While many consider that the engineering design process ends with detail design, there
are many issues that must be resolved before a product can be shipped to the customer.
These additional phases of design are often folded into what is called the product
development process.
Phase IV: Planning for manufacture
 Design of tooling and fixtures, designing the process sheet and the production line,
planning the work schedules, the quality assurance system, and the system of information
flow.

Phase V. Planning for Distribution

Important technical and business decisions must be made to provide for the effective
distribution to the consumer of the systems that have been produced.
The economic success of the design often depends on the skill exercised in marketing the
product.
Phase VI. Planning for Use
Important user-oriented concerns in the design process:
Ease of maintenance, reliability, product safety, convenience in use (human
factors engineering), aesthetic appeal, economy of operation, and duration of
service
An important phase VI activity is the acquisition of reliable data on failures, service lives,
and consumer complaints and attitudes to provide a basis for product improvement in the
next design.
Phase VII. Planning for Retirement of the Product
The final step in the design process is the disposal of the product when it has reached the
end of its useful life.
Useful life - determined by actual deterioration and wear to the point at which the design
can no longer function
Industrial Ecology concern with depletion of mineral and energy resources and with
pollution
Green design - design for environment
MARKETING
Two aspects:
1. Deals with the identification of customer needs, product opportunities, and an
understanding of market segments
Acquiring this information is called Market research
2. Deals with the introduction of the product into the marketplace and the development of
an ongoing relationship with the customer
Market - collection of people who refer to each other about their buying decisions
Focus Group a group of people with a prescribed knowledge about a product or service is
gathered around a table and asked their feelings and attitudes about the product under study
Adam Osborne's Computer
Adam Osborne
- created a basic computer in 4 months, and within the year had sales of several
millions of dollars
- failed to keep in touch with the market, which had been entered by the IBM within 2
years Osborne computer was history
Scenario analysis - persons familiar with a product are asked to write down actual scenarios for
the use of the product
Quantitative market research - involves careful statistical analysis of customer surveys
Customer classification:
o Early adopters: People who are intrigued by new things and find ways to adopt the
product despite the risk.
o Mainstream adopters: People who carefully evaluate what their peers in the same market
are doing.
o Laggards: People who want a product that is low -risk and easy to use. These people do
not buy until the product is at the commodity stage at a low price.
Market research should provide information of the following type:
Define the market segments
Identify the early adopters
Identify competitive products
Establish the market size ($)
Determine the breadth of the product line and number of versions
Determine the product price -volume relationships
Establish the customer needs and wants
Classification of Products Based on Market
Market pull product is being developed in response to an identified market need
Technology push company starts with a new propriety technology and looks for a market in to
apply this technology
Platform product built around a preexisting technological subsystem like Apple Macintosh
operating system or the Black & Decker
Process-intensive products automotive sheet steel, food products, semiconductors, chemicals
and paper
Customized products variations in configuration and content are created in response to a
specific order of a customer
Customization - requires consideration of modular design and depends heavily on information
technology to convey the customer's wishes to the production line
Organization for design
Links between individuals:
o Reporting relationships: A subordinate is concerned about who his or her supervisor is,
since the supervisor influences evaluations, salary increases, promotions, work
assignments, etc.
o Financial arrangements: Another type of link is budgetary. The source of funds to
advance the project, and who controls these funds, is a vital consideration.
o Physical arrangement: Physical layout, whether individuals share the same office, floor,
or building, can have a major impact on the spontaneous encounters that occur and hence
the quality of the communication.
Functional Organization focuses on the needed specialty talents on the attainment of the goal of
the project
Project Organization - very common in start-up companies, where indeed, the project and the
company are synonymous
Matrix Organization each person is linked to others according to both their function and the
project they work on
Lightweight project organization the functional links are stronger than the project links
Heavyweight project organization - the project links are stronger than the functional links
Concurrent Engineering
Starting in the 1980s. as companies met increasing competitive pressure,
this new approach to integrated product design evolved
A systematic approach to the intel, rated con-current design of products and their related
processes, including manufacture and support
Main Objective: to bring as many viewpoints and talents to bear in the design phase so
that these decisions will be valid for downstream parts of the product -development cycle
like manufacturing and field service
3 main elements:
1. Cross-functional design teams (heavyweight project organization)
o To work, they must be empowered by the managers of the functional units
with decision-making authority
2. Parallel Design (simultaneous engineering)
o
R efers to each functional area implementing their aspect of the design at
the earliest possible time, roughly in parallel.
3. Vendor partnering
o A form of parallel engineering where the technical expertise of the vendor for
certain components is employed as an integral member of the cross-functional
design team
Computer-aided Engineering
FORTRAN - the early applications chiefly were computationally intensive ones using
this high-level language
The first computer application cations were conducted in batch mode, with the code
prepared on punch cards.
Geometric three-dimensional modeling ties in nicely with the extensive use of finite-
element modeling (FEM) and makes possible interactive simulations in such problems as
stress analysis, fluid flow, kinematics of mechanical linkages, and numerically controlled
tool-path generation for machining Operations
Virtual reality - the ultimate computer simulation where the viewer feels a part of
the graphical simulation on the computer screen
Computers functions:
1. By organizing and handling time-consuming and repetitive Operations, it frees the
designer to concentrate on more complex design tasks.
2. It allows the designer to analyze complex problems faster and more completely.
CAD (Computer-aided Design) & CAM (Computer-aided Manufacturing)
BOEING 777 - The boldest example of the use of CAD; Started in fall 1990 and
completed in April 1994, this was the world's first completely paperless transport design.
Spreadsheet Programs useful because of their ability to quickly make multiple
calculations without requiring the user to reenter all of the data
Best-known equation solving programs TK Solver, MathCAD, and Eureka
Computational tools the symbolic languages that manipulate the symbols representing
the equation i.e. Mathematica, Maple, and MatLab
Designing to codes and standards
Code - a collection of laws and rules that assists a government agency in meeting its
obligation to protect the general welfare by preventing damage to property or injury or
loss of life to persons
Standard - a generally agreed -upon set of procedures. criteria, dimensions, materials, or
parts; it refers to generalized situations.
Specification - refers to specialized situations
Difference:
 Codes usually are legal requirements. as in the building code or the fire code.
Standards tell the engineer how to do it and are usually regarded as recommendations that
do not have the force of law.
Forms of codes:
1. Performance codes
o Stated in terms of the specific requirement that is expected to be achieved
2. Prescriptive codes or (Specification codes)
o States the requirements in terms of specific details and leave no discretion to
the designer
OSHA Regulations (Occupational Safety and Health Act)
3 Categories of Design standards:
1. Performance standard - for many products such as seat belts lumber, and auto crash
safety
2. Test methods standard - set forth methods for measuring properties such as yield strength,
thermal conductivity, or resistivity
3. Codes of practice standard - give detailed design methods for a repetitive technical
problem such as the design of piping, heat exchangers, and pressure vessels
4 goals of engineering design process:
1. Proper function
2. Optimum performance
3. Adequate reliability
4. Low cost
3D Model represents complete mathematical representation of a part which can be readily
modified with little design labor
Group Technology (GT) based on similarities in geometrical shape and/or similarities in their
manufacturing process
Design Review
Provides an opportunity for specialists from different disciplines to interact with
generalists questions and exchange vital information
A retrospective study of the design up to that point in time
Provides a systematic method for identifying problems with the design, aids in
determining possible courses of action, and initiates an action to correct the problem
areas
Product Design Specifications (PDS) a detailed document that describes what the
design must be in terms of performance requirements, the environment in which it must
operate, the product life, quality, reliability, cost and a host of other design requirements
Redesign
2 categories:
1. Fixes - a design modification that is required due to less than acceptable performance
once the product has been introduced into the marketplace
2. Updates usually planned as part of the product's life cycle before the product is
introduced to the market; may add capacity and improve performance to the product
or improve its appearance to keep it competitive
Modification of an existing product to meet new requirements
Technological Innovation
The advancement of technology has three phase:
1. Invention: The creative act whereby an idea is conceived
 2. Innovation: The process by which an invention or idea is brought into successful
practice and is utilized by the economy
3. Diffusion: The successive and widespread initiation of successful innovation
The steps in a technological innovation activity can be considered to be:

This model differs from one that would have been drawn in the 1960s, which would have
started with basic research in the innovation chain. The research results would have led to
research ideas that in turn would have led to commercial development.
Studies of successful products delineate four factors that lead to success:
1. Product planning caul research: Products where adequate time was spent in problem
definition and concept development achieved significantly higher success rate and
profitability.
2. Product superiority: Having a superior high-quality product that delivers real value to the
customer makes all the difference between winning and losing.
3. Quality marketing: High in importance is how well marketing activities were executed
from concept of the idea to the launch of the product in the marketplace
4. Proper organizational design: Successful products are most often developed by a cross-
functional team, led by a strong product champion, supported by top management, and
accountable for the entire project from beginning to end.
Business projects are placed in one of four categories:
Star businesses: High growth potential, high market share
Wildcat businesses: High growth potential. low market shale
Cash-cow businesses: Low growth potential. high market share
Dog businesses: Low growth potential, low market share
Studies of the innovation process by Roberts' have identified five kinds of people who are
needed for technological innovation.
Idea generator: The creative individual
Entrepreneur: The person who "carries the ball and takes the risks
Gatekeepers: People who provide technical communication from outside to inside the
organization
Program manager: The person who manages without inhibiting
Sponsor: The person who provides financial and moral support, often senior
management
Product and Process Cycles
 Introduction The product is new and consumer acceptance is low, so sales are low.
Growth Knowledge of the product and its capabilities has reached a growing number of
customers.
Maturity The product is widely accepted and sales are stable and are growing at the
same rate as the economy as a whole.
Decline Sales decrease because a new and better product has entered the market to
fulfill the same societal need.
This brief introduction should serve to emphasize that innovation leading to a new product is
a complex, costly, and time-consuming process.

Technological Development Cycle

 The development of a new technology follows an S-shaped curve (Fig.1.14a). In its early
stage, progress is limited by the lack of ideas. A single good idea can make several other
good ideas possible. and the rate of progress becomes exponential. During this period a
single individual or a small group of individuals can have a pronounced effect on the
direction of the technology. Gradually the growth becomes linear when at the fundamental
ideas are in place and progress is concerned with filling in the gaps between the key ideas.
This is the period when commercial exploitation flourishes.
The success of a technology-based company lies in recognizing when the core which
technology on which the company's products are based is beginning to mature and through
an active R&D program. transferring to another technology growth curve that time offers
greater possibilities (Fig. 1.14b).
Process Development Cycle
Three stages can be identified in the development of a manufacturing process.
1. Uncoordinated development: The process is composed of general-purpose equipment
with a high degree of flexibility. Since the product is new and is developing, the process
must be kept fluid.
2. Segmental: The manufacturing system is designed to achieve higher levels of efficiency
in order to take advantage of increasing product standardization. This results in a high
level of automation and process control. Some elements of the process are highly
integrated; others are still loose and flexible.
3. Systematic: The product has reached such a high level of standardization that every
process step can be described precisely. Now that there is a high degree of predictability
in the product, a very specialized and integrated process can be developed.
Product innovation is emphasized during the maturity stage of the product life cycle. In the
earlier stages the major emphasis is on product development, and generally only enough
process development is done to support the product. However, when the process
development reached the systematic stage, change is disruptive and costly. Thus process
innovations will be justified only if they offer large economic advantage.

Production and Consumption Cycle

Societal Considerations in Engineering

The first fundamental canon of the ABET Code of ethics states that
engineers shall hold paramount the safety, health and welfare of the
public in the performance of their profession.
The major social forces that have had an important impact on the practice
of engineering are occupational safety and health, consumer rights,
 environmental protection, the anti-nuclear movement, and the freedom of
information and public disclosure movement.
The following are some general ways in which increased societal
awareness of technology, and subsequent regulation, has influenced the
practice of engineering:
1. Greater influence of lawyers on engineering decisions
2. More time spent in planning and predicting the future effects of
engineering projects
3. Increased emphasis on defensive research and development,
which is designed to protect the corporation against possible
litigation
4. Increased effort expended in research, development, and
engineering in environmental control and safety-areas that
generally do not directly enhance the corporate profit but can affect
profits in a negative way because of government regulation.
The reorientation of business thinking toward environmental issues is
often called sustainable development, business built on renewable
materials and fuels.
The change in thinking, from fixing environmental problems at the
discharge end of the pipe or smokestack to sustainable development,
places engineering design at the heart of the issue.
Green design- product designed to make them easier to reuse, recycle or
incinerate. It also involves the detailed understanding of the
environmental impact of the products and processes over their entire life
cycle.
Characteristics of an Environmentally Responsible Design
1. Easy to disassemble
2. Able to be recycled
3. Contains recycled materials
4. Uses identifiable and recyclable plastics
5. Reduces use of energy and natural materials in its manufacture
6. Manufactured without producing hazardous waste
7. Avoids use of hazardous materials
8. Reduces product chemical emissions
9. Reduces product energy consumption.
The future is likely to involve more technology, not less, so that engineers
will face demands for innovation and design of technical systems of
unprecedented complexity.
Many of the challenges will arise from the requirement to translate new
scientific knowledge into hardware, many of these challenges will stem
from the need to solve problems in socialware.
Socialware- the patterns of organization and management
instruction necessary to effective functioning of hardware.
Such designs will have to deal not only with the limits of the hardware, but
also with the vulnerability of the any system to human ignorance, human
error, avarice, and hubris.
Systems Engineering- techniques for dealing with the complexity of large
systems.
Another area where the interaction between technical and human
networks is becoming stronger is in consideration or risk, reliability and
safety.
Engineers must recognize that design requirements depend on public
policy as much as industry performance requirements. This is an area of
design where government influence has become much stronger.
Five key roles of government in interacting with technology
 1. As a stimulus to free enterprise through manipulation of the tax
system
2. By influencing interest rates and supply of venture capital through
changes in fiscal policy to control growth of the economy
3. As a major customer for high technology
4. As a funding source (patron) for research and development
5. As a regulator of technology
Technology assessment- a methodology for systematically determining
the impact of technology on the social, political, economic, and physical
environment. It is defined as an attempt to determine to determine the
benefits and risk inherent in the range of technological alternatives.
Characteristics of Technology Assessment
1. It is mostly concerned with the second-, third-, and higher-order
effects or impacts that are rarely considered in engineering
analysis. Remote impacts often can be more important than the
intended primary variable in social issues.
2. It considers the needs of a wide range of constituencies.
3. It is interdisciplinary. There is a need to be able to integrate
different intellectual traditions and diverse methods of treating
data.
4. It probably is more closely related to policymaking than to technical
problem solving.