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Product Concept Selection
ME 4054W February 9, 2012 Prof. Bohlmann
Reference: Ulirich & Eppinger, Chapter 7
IDENTIFY OPPORTUNITY
DEFINE PROBLEM
GENERATE CONCEPTS
GATHER INFORMATION IMPLEMENT SCREEN
CONCEPTS HANDOFF
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Product Concept Selection Attributes
• While concept generation is easy (and fun), concept selection is difficult (and fun)
• You never have enough information; you must make informed decisions nonetheless
• You will likely use estimation, analysis, and some prototyping to complete the selection process
• Look for new concepts during the process
Documenting the selection process is nearly as important as the result
(and must be included in your design report)
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Product Concept Selection Process
• Start with a Product Design Specification (PDS) that is finalized and has full team buy-in
• Examine ALL concepts at the same time
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Concept Selection - Pictorially
Exhibit 7-4 “Product Design and Development” By Ulrich and Eppinger
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Concept Selection Methods
• External decision – Concepts are turned over to the customer, client, or
some other external entity for selection
• Product champion – An influential member of the product development
team chooses a concept
• Intuition – The concept “feels” good. Explicit criteria and trade-
offs are not used. The concept just seems better.
Not recommended for this course
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Concept Selection Methods
• Multi-voting – Each team member votes for several concepts. The
concept with the most votes is selected.
• Pros and cons – The team lists the strengths and weaknesses of each
concepts. The group then selects the best concept based on group opinion.
In this course, multi-voting is sometimes used in the screening process
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Concept Selection Methods
• Prototype and test – Prototypes of each concept are built and tested and
the selection is made based upon the test data
• Decision matrices – The team rates each concept against pre-specified
selection criteria which are generally weighted – A required method for this course
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Benefits of a Structured Method for Concept Selection
• A customer-focused product • A competitive design • Better product-process coordination • Reduced time to product introduction • Effective group decision making • Documentation of the decision process
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2 Stages of Concept Selection
1. Concept screening • Reduce the many product concept ideas
generated to a relative few that will get additional refinement and analysis
2. Concept scoring • Use objective methods to select to your
consensus final concept selection
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Concept Screening
1. Prepare the selection/screening matrix – Selection criteria must relate to key customer needs
2. Rate the concepts – e.g., + = “better than”, 0 = “same as”, - = “worse than”
3. Rank the concepts – As objectively as possible using the concept rating
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Concept Screening
4. Combine and improve the concepts – Is there a generally good concept that is downgraded by
one feature? – Can two concepts be combined to preserve the “better
than” features while simultaneously removing any “worse than” features?
5. Select one or more concepts for further refinement and analysis
6. Reflect on the results and process – Are all team members “comfortable” with the decisions?
If not, what needs to be resolved?
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Concept Screening Matrix Example
Exhibit 7-5 “Product Design and Development” By Ulrich and Eppinger
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Concept Scoring
1. Prepare the selection matrix – An optimized version of the concept screening matrix – Determine % weighting for each selection criteria
2. Rate the concepts
Page 135 “Product Design and Development” By Ulrich and Eppinger
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Concept Scoring
3. Rank the concepts
Page 136 “Product Design and Development” By Ulrich and Eppinger
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Concept Scoring
4. Combine and improve the concepts 5. Select one or more concepts for further
refinement and analysis • Sensitivity analysis • Build and test prototypes
6. Reflect on the results and process • Down-select to the consensus final concept selection
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Concept Scoring Example
Exhibit 7-7 “Product Design and Development” By Ulrich and Eppinger
Sensitivity analysis on criteria weighting may provide insight
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Commons Pitfalls in Concept Selection
• Not doing it • Running with the first idea • Forgetting the customer • Selection chart criteria don't correspond to PDS • Letting an "experienced" designer make the choices • Going by gut feel • Letting a manager decide • Not buying into the process as a team • Ignoring cost
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Congratulations!
• You are now ready to implement a design solution* that addresses the customer’s needs (PDS).
• Implementation includes, but is not limited to: – Design and analysis – Fabrication of prototype(s) – Testing – Optimization – Documenting the design and design process
IDENTIFY OPPORTUNITY
DEFINE PROBLEM
GENERATE CONCEPTS
GATHER INFORMATION IMPLEMENT SCREEN
CONCEPTS HANDOFF
* or solutions