Product Design & Development

Course Objectives:
To understand the basic concepts of product design and development process.

To learn the application of design rules for material selection, design for
manufacturability, design for assembly (DFMA)

To learn the various issues of product safety, risk, and reliability (DFSR)

To understand the basic principles of sustainable design. (DFS)

Topics:
Topic: Introduction to Product Design and Development
Topic : Design for Manufacturing and Assembly
Topic Design for Reliability and Safety
Topic Human Factors in Design (Design from Erogonomics point of view)
Topic Design for Sustainability
Topic: Modern Approaches to product design
 Text Book:
Ulrich Karl T, Eppinger Steven D, Product Design and Development , 4th Edition, 2009, Tata
McGraw-Hill Education
Chitale A.K.; Gupta R.C., Product Design and Manufacturing, Prentice Hall India.
Kevin Otto and Kristin Wood, Product Design: Techniques in Reverse Engineering and New
Product Development ,Pearson Education Inc.
TOPIC 1: Introduction to Product Design and Development

1.1 Definition of product design , types of design

1.2 Essential factor of product design

1.3 Product strategies

1.4 Analysis of the product

1.5 Designing to codes and standards

1.6 Product life cycle

1.7 New product development process

 Introduction to Product Design and Development

Introduction:
Product design and development is one of the most important activities of any business organization.
There is a need to develop existing product range continuously, so that ever going demands of the
customers can be satisfy to remain competitive in the market
The economic success of any firms depends on its ability to identify the needs of customers & to
quickly creates products that meet these needs & can be produced at low cost.
So achieving these goals is not solely a marketing problem, nor it is a solely design problem or a
manufacturing problem, it is a product development problem involving all of these functions.
Creating Value through product development: Its all about the product.
A product or service is considered to have good value if that product has appropriate performance
and cost. So we can say value can be increased by either increasing the performance or decreasing
the cost.
Changing Dimensions of
Competition

Manufacturing: Product Development:

Cost and Quality Features and Function

Competitiveness today is more than ever

based on product development capability.
Risky Business
Product:
Product can be defined with two ways:
(i) Narrow sense (Classical Apporach to product)
(ii) Broad sense (Modern Apporach to product)
(i) Narrow sense: A product is a set of basic characteristics assembled
in an identifiable form, or product is a set of tangible, physical and
chemical attributes assembled in an identifiable form.
(ii) Broad sense: Product means all those things offered by the
company to satisfies the customer
Basically, a product is the object of the exchange process, the thing
which the producer or supplier offers to a potential customers in
exchange for something (money) which the supplier thinks as
 A product is the item offered for sale.
A product can be a service or an item.
It can be physical or in virtual or cyber form.
Every product is made at a cost and each is sold at a price. The price
that can be charged depends on the market, the quality, the marketing
and the segment that is targeted.
Each product has a useful life after which it needs replacement, and a
life cycle after which it has to be re-invented.
Essential requirements of a product
A product needs to be relevant: The users must have an immediate
use for it. A product needs to be functionally able to do what it is
supposed to, and do it with a good quality.
A product should be adaptable: With trends, time and change in
segments, the product should lend itself to adaptation to make it more
relevant and maintain its revenue stream.
A product needs to be communicated: Users and potential users must
know why they need to use it, what benefits they can derive from it,
and what it does difference it does to their lives. Advertising and
'brand building' best do this.
Types of product:

Broadly two types: (A) Consumer products (B) Industrial product

(i)Convenience products: Those consumer goods which the customer purchase frequently,
and with minimum effort. For example, chocolate, tooth paste, pens, tea etc.
(ii) Shopping product: Those consumer goods which the customer in the process of
selection and purchase characteristically compares in terms of suitability, quality, price and
style. Example, cosmetics, TVs, PC etc.
(iii) Specialty product: Those consumer goods, on which a significant group of buyers are
habitually willing to make a special purchasing effort. For example, house, car, holidays etc.
The demand for industrial products is derived from that for consumer products.
(B) Industrial product: These are the high cost equipment's used for the production of
consumer goods. For example an ice cream making plant is an industrial product which is
utilized to produce consumer product ice cream. Industrial products are purchased by
purchase committees for firms.
Product Design
Product design deals with conversion of ideas into reality, or human activities aims at fulfilling's human
needs.
product design process is the set of strategic and tactical activities, from idea generation to
commercialization, used to create a product. In a systematic approach, product designers conceptualize
and evaluate ideas, turning them into tangible inventions and products. The product designer's role is to
combine art, science, and technology to create new products that people can use.
Importance:
A designer does not usually produce the goods or services that immediately satisfies the customer
needs, rather he produces a prototype which is used as a sample for reproducing the particular goods or
services as many times as required.
During the production, an error made by the manufacturer may lead to its rejection, but an error in
design, which will be repeated in all products, may lead to an economic misadventure of enormous
proportions. The designer responsibility is therefore serious.
Types of Design

(i) Design by evolution (Market Pull): The development of a new design or new product from the
earlier form over a long span of time or we can say small modification in an existing deign, is known
as design by evolution. Demand-pull happens when there is an opportunity in the market to be
explored by the design of a product. The design solution may be the development of a new product
or developing a product that's already on the market, such as developing an existing invention for
another purpose. This type of design is shaped by demands of time.
(ii) Design by innovation: following by a scientific discovery; a new body of technical knowledge
develops rapidly; the proper use of this discovery may results in an almost complete deviation from
past practice. Examples are
(a) Invention of laser beam which has brought about a revaluation in medical and engineering fields.
Laser based tools have made surgical knife in medical and gas cutting in engineering obsolete.
(b) Invention of solid state electric devices resulting in miniaturization of electronic products which
has made vacuum tubes obsolete.
Essential factors of Product Design
(i) Need: A design must be in response to individual or social needs, which can be
satisfied by the technological status to the times when the design is to be prepared.
(ii) Physical reliability: A design should be convertible into material goods or
services, it must be physically relizable.
(iii) Economic worthwhileness: The product, described by a design must have a
utility to the consumer which equals or exceeds the sum of the total cost of
making it available to him.
(iv) Communicable: A design is a description of an object & prescription for its
production; it will be exist to the extent it is expressed in the available modes of
communication.
The Product Design Process
Step 1 - Idea Development - Someone thinks of a need and a product/service design
to satisfy it: customers, marketing, engineering, competitors, benchmarking,
reverse engineering
Step 2 - Product Screening - Every business needs a formal/structured evaluation
process: fit with facility and labor skills, size of market, contribution margin,
break-even analysis, return on sales
Step 3 Preliminary Design and Testing - Technical specifications are developed,
prototypes built, testing starts
Step 4 Final Design - Final design based on test results, facility, equipment,
material, & labor skills defined, suppliers identified
Discrete steps involved in product design process

(1) Conceptual Design:

It is a process in which we initiate the design and come up with a number of design concepts and then
narrow down to the single best concept. This involved the following steps.
(i) Identification of customer needs: The main objective of this is to completely understand the
customers needs and to communicate them to the design team
(ii) Problem definition: The main goal of this activity is to create a statement that describes what all
needs to be accomplished to meet the needs of the customers requirements.
(iii) Gathering Information: In this step, we collect all the information that can be helpful for
developing and translating the customers needs into engineering design.

(iv) Conceptualization: In this step, broad sets of concepts are generated that can potentially satisfy
the problem statement

(v) Concept selection: The main objective of this step is to evaluate the various design concepts,
modifying and evolving into a single preferred concept.
Discrete steps involved in product design process

(2) Embodiment Design:

It is a process where the structured development of the design concepts takes place. It is in this
phase that decisions are made on strength, material selection, size shape and spatial
compatibility. Embodiment design is concerned with three major tasks product architecture,
configuration design, and parametric design.
(i)Product architecture: It is concerned with dividing the overall design system into small
subsystems and modules. It is in this step we decide how the physical components of the design
are to be arranged in order to combine them to carry out the functional duties of the design.
(ii) Configuration design: In this process we determine what all features are required in the
various parts / components and how these features are to be arranged in space relative to each
other.
(iii) Parametric design: It starts with information from the configuration design process and
aims to establish the exact dimensions and tolerances of the product. Also, final decisions on the
material and manufacturing processes are done if it has not been fixed in the previous process.
One of the important aspects of parametric designs is to examine if the design is robust or not.
Discrete steps involved in product design process

(3) Detail Design:

It is in this phase the design is brought to a state where it has the complete
engineering description of a tested and a producible product. Any missing
information about the arrangement, form, material, manufacturing process,
dimensions, tolerances etc. of each part is added and detailed engineering drawing
suitable for manufacturing are prepared.
Product Development Process
A product development process is the sequence of steps
or activities that an enterprise employs to conceive,
design and commercialize a product.
Product development is a set of activities beginning with
the perceptions of a market opportunity an ending in
the production.
Product development represents the process where the
product is conceived, developed, produced and tested.
A product development process consist of six phase as
shown in fig.
 Phase 0: Planning The planning activity referred to as phase
zero because it precedes the project approval and launch of the
actual product development process. This phase begins with
opportunity identification guided by corporate, strategy and
includes assessment of technology developments and market
objectives. The output of this phase is the project mission
statement which is the input required to began the concept
development phase and which serves as a guide to the
development team.
Phase 1: Concept Development Identify needs of the target
market, alternative product concepts generated and evaluated
and one and more concepts are selected for further development
and testing.
 Phase 2: System-level Design This phase includes the definition of the
product architecture and decomposition/ break-down of the product into
subsystems and components and preliminary design of key components.
The output of this phase includes a geometric layout of the product, a
functional specification of each of the products subsystem and a
preliminary process flow diagram for the final assembly process.
Phase 3: Detail Design This phase includes the complete specification of
the geometry, material, and tolerances of all the unique parts of the
product and the identification of all the standard parts to be purchased
from the suppliers. The output of this phase is the control documentation
of the product- the drawings describing the geometry of each part and its
production tooling, the manufacturing details and the specification of the
purchased parts, and the process plan for the fabrication and assembly of
the product.
 Phase 4: Testing and refinement This phase involves the construction and evaluation
of multiple preproduction versions of the product. Evaluation and assembly testing. Utilizes
prototype tooling
Early (alpha)prototype are usually built with production- intent parts- the parts with the
same geometry and material properties as intended for the production version of the
product but not necessarily fabricated with the actual processes to be used in production.
Alpha prototype are tested to determine whether the product will work as designed and
weather product satisfies the key customer requirements .
Later (beta) prototype are built with parts supplied by the intended production process but
may not be assembled using the intended final assembly process. The beta prototype are
tested to determine the performance and reliability in order to identify necessary
engineering changes for the final product.
Phase 5: Production Ramp-up in this phase, the product is made by intended
production system. The purpose of ramp-up production is to train the workforce and to work
out any remaining problems in the production processes. Products produced during
production ramp-up are sometimes supplied to preferred customers and are carefully
evaluated to identify the remaining flaws.
Characteristics of successful product development/
Measurement of the development process

From the perspective of the investor a successful product

development is that which results in a product that can be produced
and sold profitable. Following are the five dimensions, all of which
ultimately relates to profit, are commonly used to assess the
performance of a product development effort.
1. Product quality (features and value):
How good is the product resulting from the development effort?
Does it satisfies customer needs?
Is it reliable and robust?
Product quality is ultimately reflected in market share and the price that the customers
are willing to pay.
 (ii) Development lead time
How quickly did the team complete the product development
effort?
Development time determines how responsive the firm to
technological developments as well as how quickly the firm
receives the economic returns.
(iii) Product cost
What is the manufacturing cost of the product? This cost includes spending on
capital equipment as well as incremental cost of producing each unit of product.
The product cost determines how much profit will accrues to the firm for a
particular sales volume at a particular sales price.
 (iv) Development cost: It is the cost that the firm have
to spend to develop the product? It is usually a
significant fraction of the investment required to
achieve the profits.
(v) Development capability : Are the team and firm better
able to develop future products as a result of their
experience with a product development project.
(Accumulation of development capability). Development
capability is an asset the firm can use to develop
products more effectively and economically in the
future.
In addition to these, some other performance criteria
 (i) The degree to which the product creates jobs.
(ii) The product should be accountable to high safety
standards for both production workers and user of the
product.
(iii) Product make ecologically sound use of resources
and creates minimal dangerous waste products.
Who designs and develops
products?
Product development is an interdisciplinary activity requiring
contribution from nearly all the functions of firm, however, three
functions are almost always central to a product development project:
Marketing: The marketing department mediates the interactions
between the firm and its customers. They facilitates the identification
of product opportunities, the definition of market segments and the
identification of customer needs. Marketing people also sets target
prices and oversees the launch and promotion of the product.
Design: The design department plays the lead role in defining the
physical form of the product to best meet customer needs> in this
context, design department includes engineering design (ME, EE, CS)
and industrial design (aesthetic, ergonomics and user interface)
 Manufacturing: The manufacturing department is
primarily responsible for designing, operating and/or
coordinating the production system in order to produce
the product. It also includes purchasing, distribution and
installation (supply chain).
Product development team core
team
Marketing professional
Design professionals
ME
EE
Industrial designer
Manufacturing professionals
Manufacturing engineer (manufacturability)
Purchasing specialist (supply chain)

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Product development team
extended team
Legal, sales, finance professionals
Consulting firms
Government agencies
Universities
Environmental groups
Professional regulatory groups (such as the ASME)

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 Scope of development efforts
The team
Development time: 1-5 years
Development cost: US$100K-3B
Team size (internal): 3-10K
Team size (external): 3-10K
The product
Product cost: US$1-200M
Numbers of parts: 3-130K
Annual production volume: 50-50M
Sales lifetime: 1-40 years
Initial production cost: US$100K-3B

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Challenges of product development

Developing great product is hard and very few companies are

successful in this process. Following characteristics makes product
development process a challenging one.
(i) Trade offs: One of the most difficult aspects of product
development is recognizing, understanding, and managing trade
offs/ conflicting objectives in a way that the success of the
product. For example an airplane can be made lighter, but this
action will probably increases manufacturing cost.
(ii) Dynamics: technologies improve, customer preferences
evolve, competitors introduces new products and the
macroeconomic environment shifts. Decision making in such a
dynamic environment is a formidable task.
 Details: developing a product of modest complexity requires
thousands of decisions based on minute details. For example the
choice between screws or snap-fits on the enclosure of a computer
can have an economic implications of millions of dollars.
Time pressure: Any one of these difficulties would be easily
manageable by itself given plenty of time, but the product
development decisions must usually made quickly and without
complete information.
Economics: Developing, producing and marketing a new product
requires a large investment. To earn a reasonable return on this
investment, the resulting product must be both appealing to
customers and relatively inexpensive to produce.
Product Strategies
Product strategy begins with a strategic vision that states
where a company wants to go, how it will get there, and
why it will be successful.

Product strategy is like a roadmap, and like a roadmap

its useful only when you know where you are and
where you want to go.
 (i) Product pricing strategy: In this strategy the firm aims at offering products at a
minimum price, whatever be the quality. The company base this policy on the
assumption that the type of product it offers need not have a very long life and that, if
sold cheaply enough, the volume of sales is likely to be large, so that even a very
marginal profit per unit will lead to substantial gains.
(ii) Product quality strategy: In this strategy the firm define their aims as high
quality, whatever be the cost. The company believes that, product quality is the secret
of success.
(iii) Product luxuriousness strategy: In this strategy, luxury and comfort are the
prime consideration that cost becomes secondary, e.g. Rolls Royce vehicle. In this
strategy, the number of product produced is not very large, and in spite of the high
price, the firm cannot expect high profits.
(iv) Product utility strategy: In this strategy the firms aims to increase the utility of
the product by incorporating the some of the successful and popular features and
innovation of their competitive products by leaving the price unchanged or we can say
by improving the quality at no extra cost.
Analysis of the product
Every product is designed in a particular way. Many factors have to be analyzed in relation
to development and design factors which may vary in character and complexity of the
product .
- product analysis enables us to understand the important marketing, functional,
operational, economic and aesthetic decisions which are required before any product can
be manufactured.. Some of these may be grouped as follows.
1. Marketing aspects: First, it is necessary to establish that the proposed product will
fulfill a demand in the market, what it is suppose to do, and the services it can offer are
both desirable and acceptable. If no consumption is expected, it is futile to go ahead with
product design.
The demand for the product in the market may already exist, and its volume then be
assessed by sales figures for similar products. The demand can also be created with the
introduction of a new product, either by filling in a gap in the market or by offering some
new attributes. The volume of such a demand is more difficult to forecast. The volume of
demand is a function of several factors, such as trends, cyclic effects, seasonal effects, it is
therefore essential for an enterprise to keep in touch with the market.
 (ii) Functional Aspect: When the marketing possibilities have been
explored, the functional scope of the product has to be carefully
analyzed and defined. Presently there is a trend to offer functional
versatility of the product, thereby increasing the range of applications.
For example a mixture allows for a large number of attachments to be
added for a variety of duties.
(iii) Operational aspect: After determining the functional aspects, the
operational aspects has to be considered. Not only must the product
function properly, it must be east to handle and easy to operate.
(iv) Maintenance and durability aspect:
(v) Aesthetic aspect: In some case, aesthetic is the governing factor
in design and completely dominates it particularly for many consumer
goods or fashion goods. In such products, appearance is the sole
reason for purchase of the product.
(vi) Economic aspects:
(vii) Production aspects
 Product analysis can seem to follow a fixed pattern:
Think about the design from an ergonomic and functional viewpoint.
Decide on the materials to fulfil the performance requirements.
Choose a suitable process that is also economic.

Let's take the example of a bike:

What is the function of a bicycle?
How does the function depend on the type of bike (e.g. racing, or about-town, or child's
bike)?
How is it made to be easily maintained?
What should it cost?
What should it look like (colours etc.)?
How has it been made comfortable to ride?
How do the mechanical bits work and interact?
Product life cycle
A product is introduced among consumers, and if consumers
perceive it as meeting their needs and want, it experiences a
period of growth. Subsequently, it reaches the stage of maturity
and when it loses its appeal, its decline starts and eventually is
may be taken off the market (demise). The classical product life
cycle curves are depicted as S shaped and generally divided
in four stages: Introduction, growth, maturity, and decline.
 For a drinks container, a design specification would look something like:
provide a leak free environment for storing liquid
comply with food standards and protect the liquid from health hazards
for fizzy drinks, withstand internal pressurisation and prevent escape of
bubbles
provide an aesthetically pleasing view or image of the product
if possible create a brand identity
be easy to open
be easy to store and transport
be cheap to produce for volumes of 10,000+
Common Product Life Curves

Sales

Profits

Loss
Introduction Growth Maturity Decline
Time

(d) Classical Life Cycle Pattern

Introduction Stage

The introductory stage is viewed as fairly risky and quite expensive

because large amounts of money is spent on advertising and other
tools of marketing communications to create consumer awareness
in sufficiently large numbers, and encourage trial.

3D Televisions: 3D may have been around for a few decades, but

only after considerable investment from broadcasters and
technology companies are 3D TVs available for the home, providing
a good example of a product that is in the Introduction Stage.
 Introduction Stage of the PLC

Sales
Sales Low
Low sales
sales

Costs
Costs High
High cost
cost per
per customer
customer

Profits
Profits Negative
Negative

Marketing Create
Create product
product awareness
awareness
Marketing Objectives
Objectives and
and trial
trial
Product
Product Offer
Offer aa basic
basic product
product

Price
Price Use
Use cost-plus
cost-plus

Distribution Build
Build selective
selective distribution
distribution
Distribution
Advertising
Advertising Build
Build product
product awareness
awareness among
among early
early
adopters and dealers
adopters and dealers
Growth stage
The growth stage of life cycle is characterised by a sharp rise in sales.
Only a small percentage of new products introduced survive to reach the
growth stage.

Tablet PCs: There are a growing number of tablet PCs for consumers to
choose from, as this product passes through the Growth stage of the cycle
and more competitors start to come into a market that really developed
after the launch of Apples iPad. Another example is NANO car.
Growth Stage of the PLC
Maturity Stage

Most products after surviving competitive battles, winning customer confidence and
successful through growth phase enter their maturity stage. The sales plateau, and
this flattening of sales usually lasts for some time because most products in the
category have reached their maturity stage, and there is stability in terms of demand,
technology, and competition.

Laptops: Laptop computers have been around for a number of years, but more
advanced components, as well as diverse features that appeal to different segments
of the market, will help to sustain this product as it passes through the Maturity stage.
Maturity Stage
Decline Stage

Decline stage sets in when customer preferences change due

to the availability of technologically superior products and
consumers shift in values, beliefs, and tastes to products
offering more value