Transcript for EO403 - What are Selection Evaluation Methods.PDF

Graduate Apprenticeship - Engineering Design and Manufacture Class: EO403 - Design for X What are Selection Evaluation Methods In this video, we are going to look at what selection and evaluation methods are. So what is concept selection? Well, it's an iterative process very closely related to the c...

Graduate Apprenticeship - Engineering Design and Manufacture Class: EO403 - Design for X What are Selection Evaluation Methods In this video, we are going to look at what selection and evaluation methods are. So what is concept selection? Well, it's an iterative process very closely related to the concept generation stage and to the testing stage. It helps a team or a designer refine and improve the ideas that he or she has. And it leads to the choice of a final one for further testing. Concept selection takes place after a number of concepts have been generated. It is looking at an appropriate method that will help us narrow down the number of concepts that we have, which meet the needs of the customer and meet the requirements of the design. In a design methodology, concept selection normally comes after we have generated a large number of concepts and before we test a few of those. Concept selection is about using an appropriate method in order to get a solution to the problem that we had. So looking at all the needs of the customer or the user, looking at the requirements for the product, and then looking at the concepts that are based on those, we would use a concept selection method in order to reduce down to converge the number of concepts that we might take through to the next stage. We might look at them from the point of view of cost, in terms of functionality, and for that, we might build products. We might build prototypes to test them. We might also look at other competitors in order to see how our particular product solution can actually compare to them. There are lots of different types of concept selection methods. There are the decision matrices, the control convergence matrix, and weighting and rating matrices. There is multi-voting and prototype and testing of functionality of a product, for example. We can go to people outside the company, and we can get views and feedback from them in terms of an external decision. We can talk to product champions or look to product champions for advice and guidance, people who know and who value the qualities and functionality within particular products. We can use the very straightforward and simple pros and cons method, a list of what's positive and what's negative. And we can use de Bono's six thinking hats taking on a particular stance, a theme, emotion, benefits, and so on, and looking at a product, solution, a concept from that perspective. These are just a few of those concepts selection methods. So how do you know if the ideas that you come up with are good ideas? Well, we need to evaluate ideas. It's at this stage that we look at the evaluation of ideas. There are a number of things we have to look for. We have to look for the fact that all harmful features will no longer be in the concept that we're thinking of taking forward, that all the useful features that we have been working with are retained, and that any new benefits that we have designed appear and are incorporated into the versions that we're going to move forward Page 1/3 with. That as we're designing, we're not going to introduce any harmful features. And quite often, design can be a compromise. And as we design something, we might make the product less safe. We have to ensure that no harmful features appear within the design process. The system that we're designing doesn't get more complex, and that's something we need to look at. We should be designing and simplifying as we're refining and developing. Any of the primary trade offs and the contradictions that we've designed have been removed and are no longer there in the concept we're taking forward. That we have also looked at the possibility of any resources that are available to us, and how they might be used in the development of concepts. And we've also looked at other requirements related to the developed system and that they are also fulfiled. So there are seven different ways of checking and evaluating, if the ideas that we are coming up with are good. I'm now going to show you an example of this. I'm taking the traditional vacuum cleaner and comparing it with a new central vacuuming system often found in homes in North America. So looking at the evaluation of all the ideas, all the harmful features have vanished in terms of improving this product design. Yes, there is less user effort required. No longer do we have to carry the vacuum cleaner around or to drag it around whilst cleaning. And there is limited to no blowback of dust with this particular new product, the central cleaning vacuum system. All the useful features are retained, and that is the case. We can get increased suction, because we can have a bigger vacuum in the basement, which powers this particular new product. And the cable is no longer in our way when we're vacuuming. We just simply use the hose. New harmful features are not appearing. We've not designed anything in that has any risk or safety hazard. And the system isn't more complex than it was previously. It is the same vacuum principle that we're using. Let's look at the last three elements. The primary trade offs and the contradictions are removed. Yes, there is less human involvement in terms of the use of the vacuum, and there's also more health related benefits. Again, this is particularly beneficial in terms of allergies and so on. Have we used other resources that are around about? And the response to that is, yes, we've used the dead wall space, the cavity of the building or the house. We've used the basement, our loft spaces, which quite often are under utilised. We put a system that powers the new central vacum into the basement of a loft space. And finally, other requirements related to the development of the system that we're creating, the central vacuuming system, have they been introduced? And the answer is, yes, we have reduced the noise. The noise is taken away from source from inside the house and no longer becomes an issue, which comes along with traditional vacuum cleaners. So what selection and evaluation methods would you use at the very early concept development stage, at the embodiment stage when you're refining your concepts, or at the detailed design stage when you're actually down to one concept? And you're making it functional and workable. Try to justify your thoughts as to why you've chosen those particular methods. Page 2/3 Page 3/3