PRODUCT DESIGN AND PROCESS SELECTION
PRODUCT DESIGN
INTRODUCTION
Designing the new products and launching them in the market is the biggest challenge facingorganizations irrespective of the size, or complexity of the product. The needs and expectations ofthe customers are on the rise.
Product design deals with conversion of ideas into reality. Every business organization has todesign, develop and introduce new products as a survival and growth strategy. The purpose of anyorganization is to provide products or services to its customers. An organization can gain acompetitive edge through designs that bring new ideas to the market quickly, can satisfy customerneeds in a better way or are easier to manufacture, use and repair the existing products.Organizations are required to design the new products for the following reasons;
•To be in business on a continuous basis, believing a fact that business is a long lastinginstitution.
•To satisfy unfulfilled needs of the customers.
•Company’s existing product line becomes saturated and the sales are on the decline.
•To enter into new prospective business through related or unrelated diversification.
•Fierce competition in the existing product line.
•Profit is on the decline.
PRODUCT STRATEGIES
There are three fundamental strategies that guide the new product introduction. They are;
Market Pull
According to this strategy, company “should make what it can sell”. The market determines newproducts with little regard to existing technology and operations and processes. Customer’s needs arethe only basis for new product design and introduction. The organizations through extensive marketingresearch and customer feed back should determine the needs for types of products and then designand manufacture them.
Technology Push
This approach suggests that company “Should sell the products what is can make”. Accordingly newproducts should be derived from production technology, with little regard for the markets. It is themarketing department’s job to create the market for the product and sell the products that are made.Company with strong manufacturing base and R & D capability can adopt this strategy.
Inter Functional Approach
In this approach, new product introduction is inter functional in nature and requires co-operationamong marketing, engineering and other functions. The new product is an outcome of coordinatedeffort between the functions. But this is difficult to achieve because of interdepartmental rifts andrevelry. The team approach consisting of task force is used to integrate the diverse organizationalelements.
PRODUCT POLICY OF AN ORGANISATION
Product policy is the top management (Strategic) decision. Every organization has their own productstrategies or policies, which form the basis of competing in the market. They become the uniqueselling proposition (USP) of the company.
As per the requirements of the company, it may choose product policies. The same company canopt for different policies for the different products. The various product policies are;
Lowest Price -The Company will be the price leader and the company is going to offer the product atthe cheapest price than its competitors.
Highest Quality.Some organizations offer highest quality products irrespective of the cost. They arecatering to the needs of special class of customers who value quality as the only criteria to purchasethe product.
Compromise between Cost & Quality.
Some Organizations in order to capture the larger sections of the customers, offer products with theoptimum blend of quality and cost. The products are reasonably of good quality in proportion to itsprice. These organizations try to give good value to the customers for his money.
Safety.
Some Organizations give maximum importance to safety. Safety is the criteria on which theycompete in the market, ex - All home appliances, electrical gadgets etc. Thus Organizations have tochoose the policies suitable for them. This policy is going to influence the design to the large extent
PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE
The product once introduced into the market will undergo definite phases. The various phases of lifecycle of a product are representedbelow
A-INTRODUCTION
B-GROWTH
C-MATURITY
D- DECLINING
Product life cycle
Characteristics of Phases in product life cycle (PLC)
The demand for a product generally tends to follow a predictable pattern called product life cycle(PLC). Products go through a series of stages beginning with start-up or introduction of productfollowed by rapid growth, maturity or saturation and finally the decline of demand. The time spans ofstages of these products vary considerably across industries. These time spans vary from few weeksor months (for novelty and fashion goods) to years.
Introduction Stage
This stage marks the introduction of the product into the market. It may be an entirely new production the market or old product to the new market. The demand is low as customers do not know muchabout the product.
So, the Organizations have to invest heavily in advertisement to make the product familiar to thecustomer. The volume of sales will be low and if proper care is not taken, the chances of productfailures are high.
•Growth:
Once the product is through the introduction stage, the sales starts increasing because of theacceptability of the product by the customer. The sales growth rate is high because of limited or nocompetition.
•Maturity (Saturation):
The sales growth reaches a point above, which it will not grow. This is due to the market sharetaken by the competitor’s products. Thus the sales will be maintained for some period.
•Decline:
The competitors will enter the market with better product features, advanced technology andreduced prices. This is a threat to the very existence of product and sales start declining. If proper carelike addition of special features, design changes is not incorporated there comes time when theproducts are to be taken back from the market. Characteristics of Phases of PLC are shown in table2.1.
Characteristics of Phases of PLC.
Particulars / Introduction / Growth / Maturity / Decline1. Product
Variety
2. Volume
3. Industry
Structure
4. Form of
Competition / High Variety
Low Volume
Small
Competitions
Product
Characteristi
cs / Increasing
Standardizatio
n
Increasing
VolumeCo n s o lid a tio n
Medium scale
Companies
Product
Quality
a v a ila b ility / Dominant
Design
feature product
High volume
Few large
companies
Price
dependability / High
standard
c o mmo d ity
Decreasing
Volume
Survivors
Price
PROCESS OF PRODUCT DESIGN
The steps involved in design process are as follows
1. Idea Generation
The design process begins with understanding the customers and their needs. Ideas for newproducts can come from a variety of sources both within and outside the firm. Internal sources includeemployees, research and development, market research sales force and reverse engineering. Theexternal sources include customers, legislation, environment, technology and strategic position of theorganization. Competitors are also the source of ideas for new products or services.
2. Screening Ideas
The purpose of screening ideas is to eliminate those ideas that do not appear to have highpotential and so avoid the costs incurred at subsequent stages.
3. Feasibility study
Initial screening of the ideas is designed to stop the ideas, which are unsuitable for furtherconsiderations. Feasibility study consists of a market analysis, an economic analysis, and technicalanalysis.
4. Preliminary Design
Design engineers take general performance specifications and translate them in to technicalspecifications. The process of preliminary design involves building a prototype, testing the prototype,revising the design, retesting and so on until a viable design is determined. Design incorporates bothform and function.
Form design refers to the physical appearance of a product, its shape, size, color, styling etc.Aesthetics aspects such as image, market appeal, special identification, finish etc. will also form a partof the form design.
Production design is concerned with how the product will be made. Design, which are difficult tomake result in poor quality products. During the design stage itself the manufacturing aspects shouldbe considered. The production design or design for production include simplification, standardizationand modularity. Design simplification attempts to reduce the number of parts, subassemblies andoptions into a product. Standardization refers to use of commonly available and interchangeable partsand subassemblies.
Modular design consists of combining standardized building blocks or modules in a variety of waysto create a unique finished product. Modular design is common in electronics and automobile industry.
5.Pilot Runs and Testing
In the preliminary design stage, prototypes are built and tested after several iterations, pilot run ofthe manufacturing process is conducted. Adjustments are made-as needed before finalizing thedesign. Apart from continuously testing the product for performance, market testing is also carried outto check the acceptability of the product in the defined market and customer group. This helps to knowin advance, whether customer will accept and buy this product on launching in the market. Thus, testmarketing is a powerful tool.
6.Final Design and Process Plans
The final design consists of detailed drawings and specifications for the new product. Theaccompanying process plans are workable instructions for manufacture including necessaryequipments and tooling, component sources job descriptions, work instructions and Programs forcomputer-assisted machines.
7.New Product Launch
Launching the new product or service involves co-coordinating the supply chain and rolling outmarketing plans. Marketing and production will work in a co-coordinated way during this phase.
Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DFMA)
It is a process of designing a product so that it can be manufactured with ease and economically. Itis also called design for production. Designing for production is a concept by which a designer thinksabout how the product will be made as the product is being designed so that potential productionproblems caused by design and can be resolved early in the design process. This concept believes insimplifying design and standardizing parts and processes used. The basic principles of DFMA are :
•Minimize the number of parts.
•Use common components and parts.
•Use standard components and tools.
•Simplify assembly.
•Use modularity to obtain variety.
•Make product specifications and tolerances reasonable.
•Design products to be robust.
Design Review
Before finalizing a design, formal procedures for analyzing possible failures and rigorouslyassessing the value of every part and components should be followed.
The techniques such as Failure Mode Effect and Criticality Analysis (FMECA), Value Engineering(VE) and Fault Tree Analysis (FTA). FMECA is a systematic approach to analyzing the causes and effects of product failures. Itanticipates failures and prevents them from occurring.
Value analysis is a design methodology developed by Lawrence Miles in the late 1940s thatfocuses on the function of the product, rather than on its structure or form and tries to maximize theeconomic value of a product or component relative to its cost.Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) emphasizes the interrelationship among failures. It lists failures and theircauses in a tree format.
Design for Environment
Design for Environment (DOE) involves designing products from recycled materials, usingmaterials or components, which can be recycled. It promotes the concept of green products cleanenergy and environment friendly products.
Quality Function Deployment (QFD)
Making design decisions concurrently rather than sequentially requires superior co-ordinationamongst all the participants involved in designing, producing, procuring and marketing. QFD is apowerful tool that translates voice of the customer into design requirements and specifications of aproduct. It is uses interfunctional teams from design, marketing and manufacturing.
QFD process begins with studying and listening to customers to determine the characteristics of asuperior product. Through marketing research, the consumers product needs and preferences aredefined and broken down into categories called “Customer Requirements” and they are weighedbased on their relative importance to die customer. Customer requirements information forms thebasis for a matrix called house of quality. By building house of quality matrix, the cross functional QFDteams can use customer feed back to make a engineering, marketing and design decisions. Thematrix helps to translate customer requirements in to concrete operating or engineering goals. QFD isa communication and planning tool that promotes better/understanding of customer demands,promotes better understanding of design interactions, involves manufacturing in the design processand provides documentation of the design process.
PROCESS SELECTION
PROCESS SELECTION refers to the strategic decision of selecting
The different types of production are
1.Job work
2.Batch production
3.Mass production
4.Continuous production
JOB WORK
FEATURES
1.As the name implies, the production facility is for taking up job work
2. Jobs are mostly of similar nature – eg sheet metal jobshop does only that job
3.the orders are for different type with varying quantities for different customers
4.quality and delivery requirements also vary
5.the production shop usually has all facilities needed for that category of jobs
6.it should have skilled workmen
ADVANTAGES
1.less investment
2.high profit margin for quality work
3.sometimes raw material is supplied by customers, thus reducing cash requirements
4.overhead expenses less
5.man power requirement is less
DISADVANTAGES
1.High dependence on the skill of workmen
2.need close supervision and management
3.not possible to do regular planning and scheduling
4.some machines will be under utilized
5.delayed payment from customers will affect business
APPLICATION
Small industries doing job works in sheet metal fabrication, stitching, electroplating etc
BATCH PRODUCTION
FEATURES
1.This type is most commonly used
2.the products are manufactured in batches, machinery, textile, garments
3.plant lay out is usually process type or group technology type.
ADVANTAGES
1.Better utilization of production facilities
2.batch size can be increased for larger orders increasing profits
3.flexibility to produce any product mix
4.product design changes can be incorporated easily
5.computerizedproduction control can be implemented
DISADVANTAGES
1.MANNUAL control is difficult
2.special attention required for machines
3.high work in process inventory
4.higher overhead expenditure
APPLICATION
Most of the medium scale industries in machinery, textiles, garments, leather goods are batch production items
MASS PRODUCTION
FEATURES
1.useful for large volume production of items like automobile, two wheelers, TVs, refrigerators,fasteners etc
2.investment is very high
3.machines and equipments are laid out as per sequence of operation.
4.flow of material is uniform and as per plan
5.operation skill requirement is low
6.inspection can be built into the production line itself, eliminating human error in qualitycontrol
7.JIT inventory management system can be implemented
ADVANTAGES
1.Cost of production per unit is low
2.eliminate human error in production as far as possible by automation
3.consistency in quality
4.high volume production
5.production control is easy
6.small work in progress inventory
DISADVANTAGES
1.Require large investments
2.difficult and expensive to implement product design changes
3.products should have long product life cycle to get back the investment with profit
APPLICATION
1. Medium and large industries in automobile, home appliances, mobile phones, electronicgoods, consumer goods etc come under mass production
CONTINUOUS PRODUCTION
FEATURES
1.The production is a continuous process. Eg. Cement, refinery, fertilizers etc
2.specialized machinery and equipment are required
3.investment is high
4.the through put capacity of the line decides the production capacity of the plant
5.the production process cannot be normally stopped.
6.once stopped, it is expensive and time consuming to restart the process
7.preventive maintenance is very important
8.a breakdown of any one of the equipment may stop the entire production
9.Operation skill requirement is less.
10.product quality is built into the production process
11.high investment is required to increase the capacity even marginally
ADVANTAGES
1.Cost of production per unit is low
2.production and quality control are automatic
3.manpower requirement is less
DISADVANTAGES
1.Require large investments
2.production cannot be normally stopped or reduced if market off take is low
3.restart will be expensive and time consuming
4.preventive maintenance is very important
5.breakdown of one equipment lead to temporary disruption of the process
6.production volume cannot be increased
APPLICATION
Continuous production is used for products with very long product life cycle and consistency indemand, eg petroleum and petrochemicals, cement, fertilizer etc.
A process is necessary to shape, form, convert and join materials andcomponents with the help ofmachine and labor in order to convert the raw material into salable products.
Process selection involves
- MAJOR TECHNOLOGICAL CHOICE
- MINOR TECHNOLOGICAL CHOICE
- SPECIFIC COMPONENT CHOICE
- PROCESS FLOW CHOICE
MAJOR TECHNOLOGICAL CHOICE
•Please check the following facilities
•Does technology exist to make the product
•Are there competing technologies among which we should choose
•Should the technology be developed in the country itself or be licensed from foreign countries
MINOR TECHNOLOGICAL CHOICE
•Once the major technological changes are made , there may be a number of minortechnological process alternatives available. The operations manager should be involved inevaluating alternatives for costs and for consistency with the desired product and capacityplans.
•Should the process be continuous, which is carried out for 24 hours a day in order to avoidexpensive start ups and shutdowns as used by steel and chemical industries.
•An assembly line process on the other hand, follows the same series of steps as production butneed not run for 24 hours a day, eg automobile and ready made garment industries,
•Job shop processes produce items in small lots, perhaps custom made for a givencustomer/market
•Suppose we make a job shop choice. The alternatives do not end here. For example, in afactory, the fabrication, joining together and finishing of two pieces of metal may represent onlya small part of creating a finished product. There may be numerous ways of casting andmolding and finishing