Product Design and Process Selection

PRODUCT DESIGN AND PROCESS SELECTION PRODUCT DESIGN INTRODUCTION Designing the new products and launching them in the market is the biggest challenge facing organizations irrespective of the size, or complexity of the product. The needs and expectations of the customers are on the rise. Product Product design design deals with conversion of ideas into reality. reality. Every business business organization organization has to design, develop and introduce new products as a survival and growth strategy. The purpose of any organi organizat zation ion is to provid provide e produc products ts or servic services es to its customer customers. s. An organi organizat zation ion can gain gain a competitive edge through designs that bring new ideas to the market quickly, can satisfy customer needs needs in a bett better er way way or are are easi easier er to manuf manufac actu ture re,, use use and and repa repair ir the the exis existi ting ng prod produc ucts ts.. Organizations are required to design the new products for the following reasons; •

To be in business on a continuous basis, believing a fact that business is a long lasting institution.

•

To satisfy unfulfilled needs of the customers.

•

Company’s existing product line becomes saturated and the sales are on the decline.

•

To enter into new prospective business through related or unrelated diversification.

•

Fierce competition in the existing product line.

•

Profit is on the decline.

PRODUCT STRATEGIES There are three fundamental strategies that guide the new product introduction. They are; Market Pull According to this strategy, company “should make what it can sell”. The market determines new products with little regard to existing technology and operations and processes. Customer’s needs are the only basis for new product design and introduction. The organizations through extensive marketing research research and customer customer feed back should determine determine the needs for types of products products and then design and manufacture them. Technology Push This approach suggests that company “Should sell the products what is can make”. Accordingly new products should be derived from production technology, with little regard for the markets. It is the marketing department’s job to create the market for the product and sell the products that are made. Company with strong manufacturing base and R & D capability can adopt this strategy. strategy.

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Inter Functional Approach In this approach, new product introduction is inter functional in nature and requires co-operation among marketing, engineering and other functions. The new product is an outcome of coordinated effort between the functions. But this is difficult to achieve because of interdepartmental rifts and revelry. The team approach consisting of task force is used to integrate the diverse organizational elements.

PRODUCT POLICY OF AN ORGANISATION Product policy is the top management (Strategic) decision. Every organization has their own product strategies or policies, which form the basis of competing in the market. They become the unique selling proposition (USP) of the company. As per the requirements of the company, it may choose product policies. The same company can opt for different policies for the different products. The various product policies are; Lowest Price - The Company will be the price leader and the company is going to offer the product at the cheapest price than its competitors. Highest Quality. Quality. Some organizations offer highest quality products irrespective of the cost. They are catering to the needs of special class of customers who value quality as the only criteria to purchase the product. Compromise between Cost & Quality. Quality. Some Organizations in order to capture the larger sections of the customers, offer products with the optimum blend of quality and cost. The products are reasonably of good quality in proportion to its price. These organizations try to give good value to the customers for his money mone y. Safety. Some Organizations give maximum importance to safety. Safety is the criteria on which they compete in the market, ex - All home appliances, electrical gadgets e tc. Thus Organizations have to choose the policies suitable for them. This policy is going to influence the design to the large extent.







PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE The product once introduced into the market market will undergo undergo definite phases. The various phases of life cycle of a product are represented below

A-INTRODUCTION B-GROWTH C-MATURITY D- DECLINING Product life cycle Characteristics of Phases in product life cycle (PLC) The demand for a product generally tends to follow a predictable pattern called product life cycle (PLC). Products go through a series of stages beginning with start-up or introduction of product followed followed by rapid growth, growth, maturity or saturation and finally the decline decline of demand. demand. The time spans of stages of these products vary considerably across industries. These time spans vary from few weeks or months (for novelty and fashion go ods) to years.







Introduction Stage This stage marks the introduction of the product into the market. It may be an entirely new product in the market or old product to the new market. The demand is low as customers do not know much about the product. So, the Organizations have to invest heavily in advertisement to make the product familiar to the customer. The volume of sales will be low and if proper care is not taken, the chances of product failures are high. •

Growth:

Once the product is through the introduction stage, the sales starts increasing because of the acceptability of the product by the customer. The sales growth rate is high because of limited or no competition. •

Maturity (Saturation):

The sales growth reaches a point above, which it will not grow. This is due to the market share taken by the competitor’s competitor ’s products. Thus the sales will be maintained for some period.

•

Decline:

The compet competito itors rs will will enter enter the market market with with better better produc productt feature features, s, advanc advanced ed technol technology ogy and reduced prices. This is a threat to the very existence of product and sales start declining. If proper care like addition of special features, design changes is not incorporated there comes time when the products products are to be taken back from the market. market. Characteristic Characteristics s of Phases of PLC are shown in table 2.1. Characteristics of Phases of PLC. Particulars

Introduction

Growth

Maturity

1. Product Variety

High High Var Varie iety ty

Incr Increa easi sing ng Domi Domina nant nt Desi Design gn High Standardizatio feature product standard

2. Volume

Low Volume

Increasing Volume

3. Industry Structure

Small Mediu Medium m scal scale e Few large Competitions Companies companies

4. Form of Competition

Product Product Characteristi Quality

High volume

Price & dependability

Decline

Decreasing volume Survivors & Price







PROCESS OF PRODUCT DESIGN The steps involved in design process are as follows 1. Idea Idea Gene Genera rati tion on The design process begins with understanding the customers and their needs. Ideas for new products can come from a variety of sources both within and outside the firm. Internal sources include employees, research and development, market research sales force and reverse engineering. The external sources include customers, legislation, environment, technology and strategic position of the organization. Competitors are also the source of ideas for new products or services. 2. Scre Screen enin ing g Idea Ideas s The purpose of screening ideas is to eliminate those ideas that do not appear to have high potential and so avoid the costs incurred at subsequent stages. 3. Feas Feasib ibil ilit ity y stu study dy Init Initia iall scre screen enin ing g of the the ideas ideas is desig designed ned to stop stop the idea ideas, s, whic which h are are unsu unsuit itab able le for for furt furthe her r considerations. Feasibility study consists of a market analysis, an economic analysis, and technical analysis. 4. Prel Prelim imin inary ary Desig Design n Design Design enginee engineers rs take take genera generall perfor performan mance ce specif specifica icatio tions ns and transl translate ate them them in to techni technical cal specifications. The process of preliminary design involves building a prototype, testing the prototype, revising the design, retesting and so on until a viable design is determined. Design incorporates both form and function. Form design refers to the physical appearance of a product, its shape, size, color, styling etc. Aesthetics aspects such as image, market appeal, special identification, finish etc. will also form a part of the form design. Production design is concerned with how the product will be made. Design, which are difficult to make result in poor quality products. During the design stage itself the manufacturing aspects should be considered. The production design or design for production include simplification, standardization and modularity. Design simplification attempts to reduce the number of parts, subassemblies and options into a product. Standardization refers to use of commonly available and interchangeable parts and subassemblies. Modular design consists of combining standardized building blocks or modules in a variety of ways to create a unique finished product. Modular design is common in e lectronics and automobile industry. 5. Pilot Pilot Runs Runs and Testing esting In the preliminary design stage, prototypes are built and tested after several iterations, pilot run of the manufac manufactur turing ing proces process s is conduc conducted ted.. Adjust Adjustmen ments ts are made-a made-as s needed needed before before finali finalizin zing g the design. Apart from continuously testing the product for performance, market testing is also carried out to check the acceptability of the product in the defined market and customer group. This helps to know in advance, whether customer will accept and buy this product on launching in the market. Thus, test







6. Final Final Desi Design gn and and Proce Process ss Plans Plans The final final design design consis consists ts of detail detailed ed drawin drawings gs and specif specifica icatio tions ns for the new produc product. t. The accomp accompanyi anying ng proces process s plans plans are workab workable le instru instructi ctions ons for manufa manufactu cture re includ including ing necess necessary ary equipments and tooling, component sources job descriptions, work instructions and Programs for computer-assisted machines. 7. New New Prod Produc uctt Lau Launc nch h Launching the new product or service involves co-coordinating the supply chain and rolling out marketing plans. Marketing and production will work in a co-coordinated way during this phase. Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DFMA) It is a process of designing a product so that it can be manufactured with ease and economically. It is also called design for production. Designing for production is a concept by which a designer thinks about how the product will be made as the product is being designed so that potential production problems caused by design and can be resolved early in the design process. This concept believes in simplifying design and standardizing parts and processes used. The basic principles of DFMA are : •

Minimize the number of parts.

•

Use common components and parts.

•

Use standard components and tools.

•

Simplify assembly. assembly.

•

Use modularity to obtain variety.

•

Make product specifications and tolerances reasonable.

•

Design products to be robust.

Design Review Before Before finali finalizin zing g a design design,, formal formal procedu procedures res for analyz analyzing ing possib possible le failur failures es and rigoro rigorously usly assessing the value of every part and components should be followed. The techniques such as Failure Mode Effect and Criticality Analysis (FMECA), Value Engineering (VE) and Fault Tree Analysis (FTA). (FTA). FMECA FMECA is a system systemati atic c approa approach ch to analyz analyzing ing the causes causes and effect effects s of produc productt failur failures. es. It anticipates failures and prevents them from occurring. Value analysis is a design methodology developed by Lawrence Miles in the late 1940s that focuses on the function of the product, rather than on its structure or form and tries to maximize the economic value of a product or o r component relative to its cost. Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) emphasizes the interrelationship among failures. It lists failures and their causes in a tree format. Design for Environment Design Design for Environ Environmen mentt (DOE) (DOE) involv involves es design designing ing produc products ts from from recycle recycled d materi materials als,, using using materials or components, which can be recycled. It promotes the concept of green products clean









Quality Function Deployment (QFD) Making design decisions decisions concurrently concurrently rather than sequentially sequentially requires superior co-ordinati co-ordination on amongst all the participants involved in designing, producing, procuring and marketing. QFD is a powerful tool that translates voice of the customer into design requirements and specifications of a product. It is uses interfunctional teams from design, marketing and manufacturing. QFD process begins with studying and listening to customers to determine the characteristics of a superior product. Through marketing research, the consumers product needs and preferences are defined and broken down into categories called “Customer Requirements” and they are weighed based on their relative importance to die customer. Customer requirements information forms the basis for a matrix called house of quality. By building house of quality matrix, the cross functional QFD teams can use customer feed back to make a engineering, marketing and design decisions. The matrix helps to translate customer requirements in to concrete operating or engineering goals. QFD is a commun communica icatio tion n and planni planning ng tool tool that that promot promotes es better better/und /unders erstand tanding ing of custom customer er demand demands, s, promotes better understanding of design interactions, involves manufacturing in the design process and provides documentation of the design process.

PROCESS SELECTION PROCESS SELECTION refers to the strategic decision of selecting The different types of production are 1.

Job work

2.

Batch production

3.

Mass production

4.

Continuous production JOB WORK

FEATURES 1.

As the the nam name e imp impli lies es,, the the produ product ctio ion n faci facili lity ty is is for for taki taking ng up up job job work work







ADVANTAGES 1.

less investment

2.

high high profi rofitt margi argin n for for qual qualiity work ork

3.

someti sometimes mes raw materi material al is supplie supplied d by custom customers ers,, thus thus reduci reducing ng cash cash requir requireme ements nts

4.

overhead expenses less

5.

man po power rre equirement is is le less

DISADVANTAGES 1.

High igh dep depen ende denc nce e on on the the skil skilll of wor workmen kmen

2.

need need close lose supe superv rvis isiion and and man manag agem emen entt

3.

not not pos possi sibl ble e to to do do reg regul ular ar plan planni ning ng and and sch sched edul ulin ing g

4.

some ome mach achines ines will ill be unde underr uti utiliz lized

5.

dela delaye yed d paym paymen entt from from cust custom omer ers s wil willl affe affect ct bus busin ines ess s

APPLICATION Small industries doing job works in sheet metal fabrication, stitching, electroplating etc







FEATURES 1.

This typ type is most commonly only used

2.

the the prod produc ucts ts are are manu manufa fact ctur ured ed in in batc batches hes,, mach machin inery ery,, texti textile le,, garm garmen ents ts

3.

plant plant lay lay out out is usua usually lly proc proces ess s typ type e or or gro group up tech technol nology ogy type type..

ADVANTAGES 1.

Bett Better er util utiliz izat atio ion n of prod produc ucti tion on faci facili liti ties es

2.

batch batch size size can can be be inc incre reas ased ed for for lar large gerr ord order ers s inc incre reas asin ing g pro profi fits ts

3.

flex flexiibili bility ty to prod produc uce e any any prod produc uctt mix mix

4.

prod produc uctt des desig ign n cha chang nges es can can be be inc incor orpo pora rate ted d eas easil ily y

5.

comp comput uter eriz ized ed prod produc ucti tion on cont contro roll can can be impl implem emen ente ted d

DISADVANTAGES 1.

MANNUAL contr ntrol is difficult

2.

spec specia iall att atten enti tion on requi equirred for for machi achine nes s

3.

high work in proces ocess s inventory ory

4.

higher ov overhead ex expenditure

APPLICATION Most of the medium scale industries in machinery, textiles, garments, leather goods are batch production items







MASS PRODUCTION FEATURES 1.

useful useful for for larg large e volume volume prod product uction ion of of items items like like automo automobil bile, e, two two wheel wheelers ers,, TVs, TVs, refr refrige igerat rators ors,, fasteners etc

2.

investment is very high

3.

mach machin ines es and and equi equipm pment ents s are are laid laid out as per sequ sequen ence ce of of ope opera rati tion on..

4.

flow flow of mate materrial ial is is uni unifo forrm and and as per per pla plan n

5.

oper operat atiion skil kill requ requir irem emen entt is low low

6.

insp inspec ecti tion on can be buil builtt into into the produ product ctio ion n line line itsel itself, f, elimi elimina nati ting ng human human error error in qual qualit ity y control

7.

JIT JIT inv inven ento tory ry mana manage geme ment nt sys system tem can can be be imp imple leme ment nted ed

ADVANTAGES 1. Cost Cost of produ producti ction on per per unit unit is low low 2. eliminate eliminate human human error in production production as far as possible possible by automatio automation n 3. cons consis iste tency ncy in in quali quality ty 4. high high volum volume e produc productio tion n 5. produc productio tion n cont control rol is easy 6. small small work work in in progre progress ss inven inventory tory DISADVANTAGES 1. Requir Require e larg large e inve investm stments ents 2. difficult difficult and and expensive expensive to implement implement product product design design changes changes







CONTINUOUS PRODUCTION FEATURES 1. The production production is a continuous continuous process. process. Eg. Cement, refinery refinery,, fertilizers fertilizers etc 2. specialized specialized machinery machinery and and equipment equipment are are required required 3. inve invest stme ment nt is is hig high h 4. the through through put capacity capacity of the line line decides decides the productio production n capacity capacity of the plant plant 5. the producti production on process process cannot cannot be normally normally stopped. stopped. 6. once stopped, stopped, it is expensi expensive ve and time time consuming consuming to restart restart the process process 7. preventive preventive maintenance maintenance is very important important 8. a breakdown breakdown of any one one of the equipment equipment may stop the entire entire producti production on 9. Operation Operation skill skill require requirement ment is less. 10.product quality is built into the production process 11. high investment is required to increase the capacity even marginally ADVANTAGES 1. Cost Cost of produ producti ction on per per unit unit is low low 2. production production and quality quality control control are are automatic automatic 3. manpow manpower er requ require iremen mentt is less less DISADVANTAGES 1. Requir Require e larg large e inve investm stments ents 2. production production cannot cannot be normally normally stopped stopped or reduced reduced if market market off off take is low 3. restart restart will will be expensive expensive and and time time consumi consuming ng









Continuous production is used for products with very long product life cycle and consistency in demand, eg petroleum and petrochemicals, cement, fertilizer etc. A process is necessary to shape, form, convert and join materials and components with the help of machine and labor in order to convert the raw material into salable products.

Process selection involves 1 MAJO MAJOR R TECHN TECHNOL OLOG OGICA ICAL L CHOI CHOICE CE 2 MINO MINOR R TECHN TECHNOL OLOG OGICA ICAL L CHOI CHOICE CE 3 SPEC SPECIF IFIC IC COM COMPO PONE NENT NT CHO CHOIC ICE E 4 PROC PROCES ESS S FLO FLOW W CHO CHOIC ICE E •

MAJOR TECHNOLOGICAL CHOICE

Please check the following facilities •

Does technology exist to make the product

•

Are there competing technologies among which we should choose

•

Should the technology be developed in the country itself or be licensed from foreign countries •

•

MINOR TECHNOLOGICAL CHOICE

Once Once the the majo majorr tech techno nolo logi gica call chan change ges s are are made made , ther there e may may be a numb number er of mino minor r







•

SPECIAL COMPONENT CHOICE

•

What type of equipment and degree of automation should be used?

•

Should the equipment be specific purpose or general purpose

•

To what what degr degree ee shou should ld mach machin ines es be used used to repl replac ace e huma human n labo laborr in perf perfor ormi ming ng and and automatically controlling the work.?

•

•

•

•

•

PROCESS FLOW CHOICE

How should the product flow through the operating system The final process selection step determines how materials and products will move through the system Drawings, charts, route sheets and flow process charts a re used to analyse process flow Analysis may lead to resequencing, combining or eliminating operations in order to reduce materials handling and storage costs.

WHILE SELECTING THE ABOVE CHOICES, PAY SPECIAL SPECIAL ATTENT ATTENTION ION TO REDUCE REDUCE THE PROCESS COST.

FACTORS AFFECTING PROCESS SELECTION 1 CURREN CURRENT T PRODUC PRODUCTIO TION N COMITM COMITMENT ENTS S







Product Design and Process Selection

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