General Flashcards
What is the generic design process?
- Product planning.
- Identify customer needs.
- Establish product specifications.
- Generate product ideas.
- Select product ideas.
- test and manufacture.
What are the stages of product design?
- Identify customer needs.
- Set product specifications.
- Generate appropriate ideas.
- Select ideas.
- Test and manufacture.
What are the stages of process design?
- Batch vs continuous.
- Input to output structure.
- Reactors and recycles.
- Separations.
- Heat integration.
What is a functional organisation structure?
A functional organisation structure is the separation of teams by process. e.g. design, manufacturing, marketing.
What is a project organisational structure?
A project organisational structure is where teams are responsible for the entirety of a product/project.
What is a matrix organisational structure?
A matrix organisational structure is a mixture of functional and project structure. e.g. lightweight and heavyweight.
What is a lightweight project organisational structure?
Functional structure with smaller teams/individuals responsible for carrying out a project/product throughout sectors.
What is a heavyweight organisational structure?
Project organisational structure with individuals/small teams responsible for individual sectors.
What are the typical characteristics of a functional organisation?
- Sequential procedure.
- Liked by large industries.
- Process intensive.
- manufacturing heavy investment.
What are the typical characteristics of a project organisation?
- Mission based.
- Projects have sector based support teams.
- Fast moving.
- Synergy.
What 5 steps are considered during product planning?
- Identify opportunities.
- Evaluate and prioritise projects.
- Allocate resources and plan timing.
- Complete pre-project planning.
- Reflect on results and process.
What should be considered when releasing a product?
- Timing of product introduction.
- Technology readiness.
- Market readiness.
- Competition.
What is included in a mission statement?
- Product description.
- Benefit proposition (why should people buy product).
- Key business goals.
- Target market.
- Assumptions and constraints.
- Stakeholders.
What stimulates need in the market?
Market pull and technology push.
What is a case of market pull?
Paracetamol
- Customers desired cheaper and more affordable products.
- Process intensification allowed for lower manufacturing costs.
What is a case of tech push?
Mobile phones
- Advancements in tech have meant smart phones can continuously improve.
- Smaller more powerful processors decrease phone size and increase product quality.
Who are the main stakeholders when considering customer needs?
People who 1. Use 2. Buy 3. Sell 4. Service the product.
Why are lead users important?
- Advanced needs.
- Ahead of the market.
- Have the most to gain.
- May have an understanding of possible product improvements.
What are the methods for gathering information?
- Face to face.
- Focus group.
- Expert test panel.
What should be considered when preparing for info gathering interviews?
- Project scope.
- Products target.
- Business goals.
- Depth of interview by following up leads.
How should information on needs be processed?
- Remove impossible or irrelevant needs.
- Cut down and simplify text.
- Express in terms of product output.
- Positive statements.
- Avoid assumptions.
How should information on needs be ranked?
Three levels of ranking 1. Essential 2. Desirable 3. Useful as well as redundant.
What are the possible sources for product ideas?
- Product development team.
- Customers (especially lead users).
- Trade literature.
- Scientific literature.
- Patents (building on current specs).
- Consultants.
What are the methods for the generation of chemical products?
- Combinatorial chemistry.
- Plasma chemistry.
- Natural product screening.
- Biomimetics.
What is combinatorial chemistry?
Libraries of reactions and compounds that can be used to propose theoretical synthesis routes.
Gives ranges of pH, T and P.
What is plasma chemistry?
Combine potential reagents in a plasma flame.
Highly reactive environment.
Analysis of product tar using NMR and test for pharmacological activity.
What is idea generation from natural products?
Screen products made by microorganisms.
Induce mutations for new products.
Isolate active molecules.
Can be inefficient.
What is biomimetics?
Products that mimic nature.
e.g. bullet proof polyamide is derived from spider webs.
Why should product ideas be sorted?
- May have complementing ideas.
- Remove ideas that don’t fit company profile.
- Usually only have resources for 5 ideas.
How can ideas be ranked?
Use of matrix; requirements (may be benchmark or novel) weighted with individual idea scores.
What are the main categories for idea selection?
- How does the idea give the product functionality.
- Satisfy customer needs.
- How does the idea line up with business needs.
What criteria might be used for initial selection?
- Analysis of chemistry (feasibility).
- Analysis of required technology/engineering.
- Comparison of attributes using product matrix.
- Assessment of tech and economic risk.
What are objective criteria?
- Chemical/thermodynamic criteria.
- Physical/kinetic criteria.
What are subjective criteria?
- Technical yet less exact e.g. comfort, safety.
- Matrix screening.
Why would you substitute ingredients?
Improve transport, kinetic and thermodynamic properties.
Remove toxic/non-environmentally-friendly chemicals.
What is the aim of ingredient substitution?
Equal or better performance with gains in safety, cost or environmental impacts.
What are possible chemical triggers?
- Temperature.
- Chemical reaction.
- pH change.
- Shear rate.
- Solvent addition.
What are the arguments for synthetic chemical production?
- No difference in pure compounds.
- Can often be produced in a more sterile environment.
- Often more cost effective.
What are the arguments for natural products?
- Greater marketability.
- Natural products may contain natural emulsifiers etc.
- Negative outlook on GM.
From a chemistry perspective, how should ideas be selected initially?
- Synthesis route feasible.
- Economically feasible.
What is the ‘disconnect approach’?
- Breaking down of target product into possible reagents for synthesis steps.
- Reduces target molecule into simpler, more available precursors.
- Work with chemists to rule out impractical routes.
How else can chemicals be produced?
Through GM microorganisms.
What are the main physical criteria for idea selection?
- Reaction rates.
- Mass transfer.
- Heat transfer.
How should matrix criteria be selected?
- Avoid related criteria.
- No repetitions.
- Complete and rounded list.
What are the main risks in chemical product development?
- Is scale up feasible.
- Are mass transfer values accurate.
- Reaction kinetics accurate.
What actions can be taken to address risk?
- Stop product development.
- Address risk (may be costly and time consuming).
- Accept risk and continue.
