Product Design and Development PDF

CHAPTER 3 PRODUCTS AND SERVICES PRODUCT DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT One of the early tasks of a new venture is the design and development of the new product. The entrepreneurial team wants to develop a new product or service that can establish a leadership p...

CHAPTER 3 PRODUCTS AND SERVICES PRODUCT DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT One of the early tasks of a new venture is the design and development of the new product. The entrepreneurial team wants to develop a new product or service that can establish a leadership position. In recent years, product complexity has dramatically increased. As products acquire more functions, the difficulty of forecasting product requirements rises exponentially. Furthermore, the rate of change in most markets is also increasing, thereby reducing the effectiveness of traditional approaches to forecasting future product requirements. As a result, entrepreneurs need to redefine the problem from one of improving forecasting to one of eliminating the need for accurate long-term forecasts. Thus, many product designers attempt to retain flexibility of the product characteristics as the development proceeds. A design and development project can be said to be flexible to the extent that the cost of any change is low. Then, project leaders can make product design choices that allow the product to easily accommodate change. Uncertainty is an inevitable aspect of all design and development projects, and most entrepreneurs have difficulty controlling it. The challenge is to find the right balance between planning and learning. Planning provides discipline, and learning provides flexibility and adaptation. Design of a product leads to the arrangement of concrete details that embodies a new product idea or concept. The design process is the organization and management of people, concepts, and information utilized in the development of the form and function of a product. The role of design is, in part, to mediate between the novel concept and the established institutional needs. For example, Thomas Edison designed and described the electric light in terms of the established institutions and culture. As a result, he succeeded in developing an electric lighting system that gained rapid acceptance as an alternate to the gas lamp. A new product needs to be advanced, yet it should not deprive the user of the familiar features necessary for understanding and using the product. Entrepreneurs must find the balance between novelty and familiarity, between impact and acceptance [Hargadon and Douglas, 2001]. Good, effective products or services are the outcome of a methodology based on solid, proven design principles [Brown, 2008]. Innovation is powered by a thorough understanding of how people want products made, packaged, marketed, sold, and supported. The overall development process is shown in Figure 3.1 [Thompke and Von Hippel, 2002]. The overall development process can include design of the product and its architecture, its physical design, and testing. The iPad and the Tesla Roadster sports car are examples of the outcome of a creative, artistic process of design. Part of the user experience is the look and feel of a product. A good product is attractive to see and easy to use and understand. Furthermore, customers want a product that does a few things really well. Fortunately, customers can participate fruitfully in the product design process when the innovations are incremental [Nambisan, 2002]. Good designers think about the qualities of a product as well as its soft benefits such as warmth, status, and community.  Figure 3.1 Overall Development Process Design includes aesthetics as well as basic needs. A beautiful glass must be functional as well as attractive. However, design also includes compromises and limits. Even the Maglite flashlight, which is widely acknowledged for its good design, is flawed by the spot in the middle of the light beam. Successful product design and development requires commitment, vision, improvisation, information exchange, and collaboration, as listed in Table 3.1 [Lynn and Reilly, 2002]. These five practices may be easy to achieve in a start-up where collaboration is the order of the day. The product team, which may be all of the employees of a start-up, needs to clearly understand the vision for the product and work together effectively. The product design process [step 2 in Figure 3.1] is shown in Figure 3.2. The first step is to establish the goals and attributes of the product expressed as the required performance and robustness of the product (step A). When possible, the potential customer should be included in the design process. The voice of the customer can communicate the insights needed for the best products [Lojacono and Zacoai, 2004]. Potential customers can suggest ideas for new products and can be involved throughout the product development process to provide continuous feedback [Ogawa and Piller, 2006]. Firms may also find that observing potential customers, rather than simply surveying or interviewing them, can yield important information about their product needs.  Table 3.1 Five Practices of Good Product Development ▪ Commitment of senior management to ▪ Improvisation and iteration to develop a the design process prototype ▪ Clear and stable vision and goals for the ▪ Open sharing of information product ▪ Collaboration of everyone on the team Source: Lynn and Reilly, 2002. Figure 3.2 Product Design Process (Step 2 of Figure 3.1) In step B of Figure 3.2, the components and parameters available for adjustment are identified, and specifications for the product are agreed upon. Specifications are the precise description of what the product has to do. In addition, the set of physical and social constraints should be determined. Next, the product configuration is established, and the components of the product are recorded. Finally, the parameters of the product are optimized to achieve the best performance and robustness at a reasonable cost [Ullman, 2003]. A robust product is one that is relatively insensitive to aging, deterioration, component variations, and environmental conditions. Preparing a robust design implies minimizing variation in performance and quality. All designs involve trade-offs between performance, cost, physical factors, and other constraints [Petroski, 2003]. The success or failure of any design is ultimately determined in the marketplace. Usability is a measure of the quality of a user’s experience when interacting with a product. Usability is a combination of the five factors listed in Table 3.2. Examples of a common product with poor usability are most DVR and DVD players. New products should pass the five-minute test, which requires that the product is simple enough to use after quickly reading the instructions and then trying it for a few minutes. Information technology products with excellent usability are the iPhone, Skype, Twitter, Gmail, and Wikipedia. Table 3.2 Five Factors of Usability 1. Ease of learning: How long does it take to learn the product’s operation? 2. Efficiency of use: Once experienced, how fast can the user complete the necessary steps? 3. Memorability: Can the user remember how to use the product? 4. Error frequency and severity: How often do users make errors, and how serious are these errors? 5. Satisfaction Does the user like operating the product? Many system designs use a combination of modules within a specified architecture. A module is an independent interchangeable unit that can be combined with others to form a larger system. In modular designs, changing one component has little influence on the performance of others or on the system as a whole. An example is the iPod, which Apple’s engineers first developed from a wide range of standard, interchangeable parts and modules. Design methods using independent modules make product design more predictable. Of course, the predictability inherent in modular design increases the chances that competitors can develop similar products. Realistically, most products consist of modules that possess some dependency between them. For example, an automobile is a product that consists of wheels, engine, body, and controls that are relatively interdependent. Products made up of modules with intermediate levels of interdependence are harder for competitors to duplicate and may also provide better performance than a design based on purely independent modules [Fleming and Sorenson, 2001]. Designers strive to create new products different enough to attract interest but close enough to current products to be feasible to make a market. Many new designs flow from changing the components, attributes, or integration scheme to create a new product [Goldenberg et al., 2003]. The designer asks what can be rearranged, removed, or replicated in new ways.  Over time a dominant design in a product class wins the allegiance of the marketplace. A dominant design is a single architecture that establishes dominance in a product class. An example is the Microsoft Windows operating system, used in the vast majority of personal computers. Eventually, a dominant design becomes embedded in linkages to other systems. For example, the use of Windows shapes hardware interfaces and the other software programs that computers can run. A product platform is a set of modules and interfaces that forms a common architecture from which a stream of derivative products can be efficiently developed and produced. For example, Google’s Android and Apple’s iPhone seek to be the leading platform for smartphone applications. Firms target new platforms to meet the needs of a core group of customers but design them for ready modification into derivative products through the addition, substitution, or removal of features. Well-designed platforms also provide a smooth migration path between generations so neither the customer nor the distribution channel is disrupted. A good example of a platform is Hewlett-Packard’s electronics and software used for its printers; although Hewlett-Packard offers a wide range of printers, these products draw upon relatively similar electronics and software. PRODUCT PROTOTYPES Whenever possible, new business ventures should create a prototype of their product. A prototype is a physical model of a proposed product or service that conveys the essential features but remains open to modification. Prototypes can be used to identify and test requirements for the product by eliciting comments from designers, users, and others. New ventures can use prototypes to redefine their business models and strategies. Prototypes can be pictures, sketches, mock-ups, or diagrams that can be collaboratively studied. They also can be physical, digital, pictorial, or some combination of media. The computer software industry uses prototypes called beta versions of software to elicit response from lead customers. For example, Microsoft made a beta version of Windows 8 available as a free download. Microsoft then used customer feedback to refine the product for its official release. In the creation of a movie or play, many innovators use sketches, storyboards, and videos to describe the product. The designers of a movie or play want to see how it works and engage in a collaborative redesign. The iterative procedure for prototype development is shown in Figure 3.3. Two or three iterations of the process may be sufficient to arrive at a satisfactory prototype.  Figure 3.3 Prototype Development Process New technologies such as computer simulations can make the creation of a prototype fast and cheap. Rapid prototyping is the fast development of a useful prototype that can be used for collaborative review and modification. An initial prototype can be rough since it enables the team to view the product and improve it. The ability to see and manipulate high-quality computer images helps create innovative designs. BMW uses computers to help engineers visualize automobile design and the results of crash tests [Thompke, 2001]. Personal fabrication systems, clusters of tools and software that function as complete job shops, are available [Gershenfeld, 2005]. Product-development firm IDEO believes that prototypes should be “rough, ready, right.” While working with Gyrus ENT to develop a better sinus-surgery tool, IDEO employees demonstrated the value of having a prototype to show customers. During one discussion, 10 surgeons struggled to explain the discomfort involved in using the existing tool. An IDEO manager picked up a film canister, a white-board marker, and a clothespin and taped them together as a prototype. The physical prototype helped to move the conversation along, allowing the surgeons to hold and adjust it. The rough prototype was just that— rough and unfinished—encouraging the surgeons to modify and tinker with it. Creating a rough prototype allowed customers to engage in the development of the product, and to enthusiastically adopt it in surgery. Eventually, IDEO and Gyrus produced a tool that is used in over 300,000 procedures in the United States every year. It is often best to carry multiple product concepts into the prototyping phase and to select the best of those designs later in the process [Dahan and Srinivasan, 2000]. Keeping multiple product concept options open and freezing the concept late in the development process affords the flexibility to respond to market and technology shifts. It is possible to create static and dynamic virtual prototypes that are displayed at a website for review and testing by suppliers, customers, and designers. Virtual prototypes cost considerably less to build and test than their physical counterparts, so design teams using Internet- based product research can afford to explore a much larger number of concepts. Furthermore, Internet- based prototypes can help to reduce the uncertainty in a new product introduction by allowing more ideas to be tested in parallel. SaltAire Sinus Relief provides a nose wash to relieve the symptoms of sinusitis and allergies (see www.saltairesinuswash.com). A bottle and pump are used to spray a supersalty solution into the sinus chamber and relieve the symptoms [Ridgway, 2003]. Two New York physicians founded the firm in 1997 and created a series of prototypes for people to try. Based on that knowledge, they showed a revised product to other physicians and launched the product in 2000. The patented dispenser bottle the firm developed won an award for innovative design. For the innovator, a prototype is a mechanism for teaching the market about the technology and for learning from the market how valuable that technology is in that application arena. Uses for robots in situations too dangerous for people have long been imagined. Many robotics companies tried and failed to create robots that could successfully enter and explore disaster zones and other dangerous environments. For example iRobot first demonstrated a prototype of the Urbie robot in 1997. This was the first commercially available robot that was able to climb stairs. This prototype showed the market that iRobot’s products had overcome many of the fundamental limitations of other contemporary robots. By 2013, iRobot’s revenue was over $430 million, and its products were available in over 7,000 retail outlets. Robots like the Urbie were used to explore the rubble of the World Trade Center, and have been used by the military to explore situations that would be extremely dangerous for troops. Over three million units of the Roomba, the consumer version of the Urbie, have been sold. The Roomba uses similar technology as the Urbie to sweep and vacuum floors. Many firms have developed their products by entering potential markets with early versions of the products, learning from the tests, and probing again. These firms ran a series of market experiments, which introduced prototypes into a variety of market segments. The initial product design was not the culmination of the development process but rather the first step, and the first step in the development process was in and of itself less important than the learning and the subsequent, better-informed steps that followed. Software products lend themselves to rapid prototyping and early tests with potential customers.