Designing Products and Processes with a Future

What does it take? Involve the customer Meet with the customer Listen to customer Educate the customer Incorporate quality function deployment (QFD) Design for robustness

What is a customer? l The person who buys the product? l The federal regulator? l The consumer reporter? l The marketing and sales department? l Engineering? l Manufacturing? l Suppliers?

How do you hear the customer? l Needs l Wants l Satisfaction l Perception Features Quality Value Importance Competitors Detractors ABOUT

Product Design What the Customer wanted What Marketing described What Engineering designed What Manufacturing built

–Idea generation –Assessment of firm’s ability to carry out –Customer Requirements –Functional Specification –Product Specifications –Concept Generation –Concept Selection –Engineering Design –Engineering Evaluation –Prototype and Testing l Manufacturing Design What is Design? A Decision Making Process Flexibility Cost

Few Successes Development Stage Number Product specification Market requirement Ideas 1750 One success! Functional specifications 500 Design review, Testing, Introduction 25

QUALITY FUNCTION DEPLOYMENT QFD: An approach that integrates the “voice of the customer” into the product and service development process. l Quality Function Deployment – Uses the voice of the customer to build a design tool: » House of quality

Quality Function Deployment l Identify customer wants l Identify how the good/service will satisfy customer wants l Relate customer wants to product hows l Identify relationships between the firm’s hows l Develop importance ratings l Evaluate competing products

House Of Quality Technical assessment and target values Customer requirements Relationship matrix Product characteristics Importance Competitive assessment Tradeoff Matrix

Idea Generation Stage l Provides basis for entry into market l Sources of ideas –Market need (60-80%); engineering & operations (20%); technology; competitors; inventions; employees l Follows from marketing strategy –Identifies, defines, & selects best market opportunities

Customer Requirements Stage l Identifies & positions key product benefits – Stated in core benefits proposition (CBP) – Example: Long lasting with more power (Sears’ Die Hard Battery) l Identifies detailed list of product attributes desired by customer – Focus groups or 1-on-1 interviews House of Quality Customer Requirements Product Characteristics

House of Quality Customer Requirements Product Characteristics Functional Specification Stage l Defines product in terms of how the product would meet desired attributes l Identifies product’s engineering characteristics –Example: printer noise (dB) l Prioritizes engineering characteristics l May rate product compared to competitors’

l Determines how product will be made l Gives product’s physical specifications – Example: Dimensions, material etc. l Defined by engineering drawing l Done often on computer –Computer-Aided Design (CAD) House of Quality Product Characteristics Product Characteristics Component Specifications Product Specification Stage

Quality Function Deployment l Product design process using cross-functional teams –Marketing, engineering, manufacturing l Translates customer preferences into specific product characteristics l Involves creating 4 tabular ‘Matrices’ or ‘Houses’ –Breakdown product design into increasing levels of detail

To Build House of Quality l Identify customer wants l Identify how the good/service will satisfy customer wants. l Relate the customer’s wants to the product’s hows. l Develop importance ratings l Evaluate competing ideas and concepts Ultimately you choose the design Not the customer!

You’ve been assigned temporarily to a QFD team. The goal of the team is to develop a new camera design. Build a House of Quality. © T/Maker Co. House of Quality Example

What the customer desires (‘wall’) Customer Requirements Customer Importance Target Values Light weight Easy to use Reliable

House of Quality Example Customer Requirements Customer Importance Target Values Light weight Easy to use Reliable Average customer importance rating

House of Quality Example Customer Requirements Customer Importance Target Values Light weight Easy to use Reliable Choose engineering characteristics to satisfy the customer requirements Aluminum Parts Steel Parts Auto Focus Auto Exposure

House of Quality Example Customer Requirements Customer Importance Target Values Light weight Easy to use Reliable Relationship between customer attributes & engineering characteristics (‘rooms’) Aluminum Parts Steel Parts Auto Focus Auto Exposure

QFD Cascades

ROBUST DESIGN Design that results in products or services that can function over a broad range of conditions

What does Robust Design mean? l Plan for variability l Assess your capabilities l Design for Manufacturing l Reduce Costs l Practice! l Improve RAM-D

Variability: The Taguchi Approach to ROBUST DESIGN  Design a robust product − Insensitive to environmental factors either in manufacturing or in use.  Central feature is Parameter Design  Determines − factors that are controllable and those not controllable − their optimal levels relative to major product advances

ASSESS CAPABILITIES Identify Core Strengths Match Products To Processing Capabilities –Design for Manufacturing (DFM)

DESIGN FOR MANUFACTURING The designers’ consideration of the organization’s manufacturing capabilities when designing a product. Materials Processes Assembly

REDUCE COSTS Focus on simplification & standardization − Design for Assembly (DFA) − Increase emphasis on component commonality Study how products are designed & built Eliminate duplicate design & processes Strategically control capital spending

INVOLVE OPERATIONS Practice concurrent engineering Establish technical exchange programs Use collaborative styles Look for continual improvement

IMPROVE DURABILITY, RELIABILITY, & SAFETY 1) Improve component design 2) Use redundancy 3) Improve production and/or assembly techniques 4) Improve testing 5) Use robust design 6) Use modular design 7) Improve preventive maintenance 8) Educate customers

Good Luck with your designs!