Product Specifications

Teaching materials to accompany:

Product Design and DevelopmentChapter 6

Karl T. Ulrich and Steven D. Eppinger5th Edition, Irwin McGraw-Hill, 2012.

Product Design and DevelopmentKarl T. Ulrich and Steven D. Eppinger5th edition, Irwin McGraw-Hill, 2012.

Chapter Table of Contents:1.Introduction2.Development Processes and Organizations3.Opportunity Identification4.Product Planning5.Identifying Customer Needs6.Product Specifications7.Concept Generation8.Concept Selection9.Concept Testing10.Product Architecture11.Industrial Design12.Design for Environment13.Design for Manufacturing14.Prototyping15.Robust Design16.Patents and Intellectual Property17.Product Development Economics18.Managing Projects

Concept Development Process

Perform Economic Analysis

Benchmark Competitive Products

Build and Test Models and Prototypes

IdentifyCustomer

Needs

EstablishTarget

Specifications

GenerateProduct

Concepts

SelectProduct

Concept(s)

Set Final

Specifications

PlanDownstreamDevelopment

MissionStatement Test

ProductConcept(s)

DevelopmentPlan

Target Specs

Based on customer needs and benchmarking

Final Specs

Based on selected concept, feasibility, models, testing, and trade-offs

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Outline

• Nature of specifications

• Spec vs. specs.

• Target vs. final specs.

• Process for setting target specs

• Process for setting final specs

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Spec vs. Specs

• A spec consists of a metric, a unit, and a value

• Specs has a set of specs.

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Target vs. Final Specs

• Target specs: the hope and aspiration of the design (ideal and marginal)

• Refined specs: trade-offs among different desired characteristics. – Intermediate specs

• Final specs– It is in the project’s contract book

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Nature of Specifications

• The reference point for functionality design and quality planning

• A product assembly usually requires a hierarchy of specs, for the final product and each of its components

The Product Specs Process1. Set Target Specifications

– Based on customer needs and benchmarks– Develop metrics for each need– Set ideal and acceptable values

2. Refine Specifications– Based on selected concept and feasibility testing– Technical and economic modeling– Trade-offs are critical

3. Reflect on the Results and the Process– Critical for ongoing improvement

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Procedure for establishing target specifications

1. Identify a list of metrics and measurement units that sufficiently address the needs

2. Collect the competitive benchmarking information

3. Set ideal and marginally acceptable target values for each metric (using at least, at most, between, exactly, etc.)

4. Reflect on the results and the process

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Process for setting the final specifications

1. Develop technical models to assess technical feasibility. The input is design variable and the output is a measurement using a metric.

2. Develop a cost model of the product.

3. Refine the specifications, making tradeoffs, where necessary to form a competitive map.

4. “Flow down” the final overall specs to specs for each subsystem (component and part).

5. Reflect on the results to see Whether the product is a winner, and/or How much uncertainty there is in the technical and cost model, or Whether there is a need to develop a better technical model.

Product Specifications Example:Mountain Bike Suspension Fork

Start with the Customer Needs

Metrics Exercise: Ball Point Pen

Customer Need:The pen writes smoothly.

Establish Metrics and Units

Link Metrics to Needs

Benchmark on Customer Needs

Benchmark on Metrics

Assign Marginal and Ideal Values

Concept Development Process

Perform Economic Analysis

Benchmark Competitive Products

Build and Test Models and Prototypes

IdentifyCustomer

Needs

EstablishTarget

Specifications

GenerateProduct

Concepts

SelectProduct

Concept(s)

Set Final

Specifications

PlanDownstreamDevelopment

MissionStatement Test

ProductConcept(s)

DevelopmentPlan

Target Specs

Based on customer needs and benchmarking

Final Specs

Based on selected concept, feasibility, models, testing, and trade-offs

Perceptual Mapping Exercise

Chocolate

Cru

nc

h

Hershey’sw/ Almonds

Hershey’sMilk Chocolate

NestléCrunch

KitKat

Opportunity?

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Specification Trade-offs

.

Score on Monster (Gs)

Es

tim

ate

d M

fg.

Co

st

($)

50

60

70

80

90

100

110

120

3 3.2 3.4 3.6 3.8 4

Gunhill Head

Shox

Tonka Pro

Rox Tahx Ti 21

Rox Tahx Quadra

Maniray 2

ST Tritrack

marginal values

ideal values

Score on Monster (Gs)

Trade-off Curvesfor Three Concepts

Est

imat

ed M

anu

fact

uri

ng

Co

st (

$)

Set Final Specifications

Quality Function Deployment(House of Quality)

technicalcorrelations

benchmarking on needs

customerneeds

engineeringmetrics

target and final specs

relativeimportance

relationships betweencustomer needs andengineering metrics

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Profit margin

Where:

M: profit margin

P: price

C: cost

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Target Cost

Where:

C = target cost

P = price to the end user

Mi = the margin at the ith stage.

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Mark upMarkup = P/C - 1

Where:

P: price

C: cost

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Chapter 6 HW

Metric Exercise: Ball Point Pen

Identify five possible metrics and the unit of measure for a customer need as stated below:

The pen writes smoothly.