Additional Info For Exam 1 Flashcards
Why have corporate partners?
- access to real design examples
- real design engineers
- tackle “real-world” problems
- actual physical examples to apply analysis/testing developed through technical coursework
What a design should be
- well thought out, modeled and engineered
- best possible design options were considered and design choices properly selected and justified
- performance optimized using engineering analysis
- cheapest, most durable, easiest to assemble, lightweight, cheapest/easiest to maintain, most versatile, etc. (or some combination of these items)
Cost influence of product design
- cost during design phase is low, but decisions made have significant effect on overall product cost
- difficult to compensate for product weaknesses incurred during design phase in later phases
- want to ensure that development process is comprehensive and provides best possible solutions
When PDP may not be useful
- developing new technology
- when prototype development is rapid and cheap (software)
- when product release is rapid and cheap
- when updates/requirements are simply implemented and cheap
Design method
State of the art -> identification of need -> conceptualization -> feasibility analysis -> production
Design paradox between design knowledge and design freedom
As project progresses, design engineers know more about the problem but they have less design freedom (they’re making decisions that make them committed to solutions).
*Important to define the problem as much as you can in the beginning when you have the most design freedom.
Customer definition (total quality management viewpoint)
Customer - Anyone who receives or uses or has some stake in the product including:
- end users
- purchasers
- regulating bodies
- supervising personnel
- maintenance/installation personnel
Limiting target audience
Don’t be broader than necessary in your definition of customers or end users. Focus on a specific target group and satisfy their needs well.
Customer segmentation
- de-averaging customer base
- allows company to focus on most profitable segments
Successful product development
Successful product development requires a good continual awareness of customer needs as well as a way to incorporate these needs into the product design
Qualitative market analysis techniques
-in-depth understanding of >basic market/customer needs >leading trends and issues >emerging priorities -small set of customers, open format -build new hypothesis and gain new understanding
Quantitative market analysis
- test hypothesis
- forecast magnitude of demand
- large set of customers, structured questions
- generally applied after qualitative techniques to test concepts
Ethnography
- Study of users in live settings
- qualitative
Industry analogies
- comparison against solutions in other industries
- qualitative
Focus groups
- open discussion among target customers
- qualitative
Surveys
- simple questions to determine satisfaction
- ranking of preferences
- quantitative
Attribute experiments
- choosing between specific potential products or product attributes
- individual attributes or combination of attributes
- quantitative
In-market based research
- applying live changes to product and seeing how customers react
- high transaction market situations
- quantitative
Market research sequence
1) synthesize and discover
2) validate and sharpen
3) prioritize and develop
Survey question requirements
- unbiased
- unambiguous
- clear
- brief
Other background research
- warranty data
- customer complaints
- failure data
- injury data
Importance of solution neutrality
- allows for broader abstraction of design issue (“outside the box” creativity)
- allows designers freedom to develop and assess design options
- whole point of design/redesign is to do something not already done
Fishbone diagram
-cause and effect analysis
-bone headings
>machines - issues with existing structured machines or parts
>methods - intentional processes or method is use (intended to do but causes problem)
>materials
>man (people) - unintentional mistake/accidents or errors caused by humans
> Mother Nature -environmental factors
Fishbone diagram
- repeat causes may represent root causes
- look for causes where you can make quantifiable measures (used to track solution performance)
- identify areas where action is available (addressable causes)
What does a Fishbone diagram do?
- further refines a general problem
- helps flush out all possible causes
- highlights the hierarchy of potential causes
- gives some organization/justification for attacking certain causes
Scope of solution
- specific root causes to address
- scale of intended performance
Benchmarking
Opportunities for competitive advantage
Product dissection
- taking an object apart to see how it works
- top-down approach to understanding nature of device (reverse engineering)
Physical decomposition tree
- natural way to represent objects
- a graph representation is useful
- hierarch can define objects made of many parts or subsystems
Physical decomposition advantages
- popular engineering design learning activity
- great for existing object under designer’s control
- provide great info on connectivity
- one can gain experience with a class of artifacts
- physics of artifact’s operation can become clearer by examining component parts
Product dissection possibilities
- used to discover/uncover operational requirements product
- examine how existing product performs its functions
- determine relationship between product parts
- determine material, manufacturing, & assembly processes used to produce product
*Gain info that cannot be accessed any other way
Physical decomposition drawbacks
- requires existing design
- not all design decisions can be inferred
- can impose subtle constraints on designer
- lacks standardization as a process
- physical representation is good for thinking about the physical form of artifacts
- designers must focus on functions of artifacts
PDS
- compilation of design planning process that governs engineering design tasks
- describes intended output of entire design process
- basic tool for design and manufacture of product
- provides minimal info about how requirements are met (solution neutral)
- evolutionary and will change during design process
PDS template
- product identification
- market identification
- key project deadlines
- physical description
- financial requirements
- life cycle targets
- social, political, legal requirements
- manufacturing specifications
PDS importance
- defines target intentions of design (based on costumer preferences & market research)
- keeps engineering aspects focused
- documents and outlines goals upfront
- should be defined early on in process
- live document
- can be thought of as a “contract” outlining what the design team is supposed to be producing
Functional decomposition
- breaking down entire task into functional requirements (FR)
- min set of independent functions that together completely accomplish the overall product function
- set of actions required to satisfy customer requirements
- may be non-unique (several different combinations can represent overall function)
- solution neutral
- any measurable aspect of FR is an engineering characteristic
Why/when functional decomposition performed?
- allows abstract perspective of product or necessary functions for a problem solution (allows design freedom)
- forces designers to think through necessary function of solution (& potential order/arrangement)
- useful for concept generation of new products
- useful reverse engineering of existing products (aka redesign)
- can determining product architecture
- can aid in organizing design process
- can aid in justification of design choices
Functional decomposition advantages
- provides solution neutral representation of task/product
- don’t need an existing product
- uses standardized language to describe functions
- understanding and focusing on functions will highlight important design considerations
Why use statistics
- we deal with variance and uncertainty in design
- market analysis (customer preferences, demand forecasting)
- variation in performance (of artifact and human interaction with artifact, environmental factors)
- use in practice by many engineers
ANOVA
Used to determine if there are statistical differences between means of samples from more than two populations
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.
- Can include standards
Standard
- A generally agreed-upon set of procedures, criteria, dimensions, materials, or parts
- design standards specify acceptable levels of technical requirements
Chief aspects of designing to codes and standards
- efficiency
- safety
- standardization (interchangeability, compatibility)
- to meet laws/regulations
Performance codes
State the requirement that is expected to be achieved but the method is not specified (“what” performance is needed, not “how”)
Prescriptive codes
State the requirements in terms of specific details and leave less discretion to the designer (specifications may focus more on the “how”)
Industrial design/product design/ergonomics
-concerned with visual appearance of product and the way it interfaces with the customer
>aesthetics appeal -interaction of product with human senses; subconscious but satisfies one of our basic needs
>ergonomics -user interactions with product and making sure it is easy to use and maintain
Human factors design
- study of interaction between people, products and systems they use, and the environment in which they work & live (aka human factors engineering or ergonomics)
- applies info about human characteristics to creation of objects, facilities, and environments that people use
- focus on ease of use of products
- also includes cognitive loads
Anthropometrics
-field of human factors that deals with measurement of the human body
