Course No.

: DE ZG541
Course Title : PRODUCT DESIGN
Bits ID : 2019HT30566 Page 1 of 10
Name : Adil Rashid

Ans 1(a)
Technology S- curves represents how technology advancement is portrayed over a given time.
Technology S curves reveal innovation opportunities.
If we investigate the given s curve we see at Point B, the existing technology improvement has
become stagnant and its performance has maxed out or what we call the existing technology has
reached maturity level. At this point, a company should consider developing a new technology to
jump to the next S- curve and be ahead of the competitors. So at Point B, it is beneficial for the
company to introduce the product of new technology. To achieve that a reasonable fraction of
investment should be directed towards research and development. Also in this state, the market
place is saturated with companies making small step improvements. A company should focus on
consumer needs and wants and then direct its development activities to fulfil these needs.
The other choice could be to develop an incremental or derivative product which will base on
competitive strategies of the company.

If technology is at the early stage of the development say at Point A, and if the company possess
such technology then they have a technological advantage. The company will want to launch
development projects based on new technologies. As this technology is going to improve and at
point A it has passed the infancy level. Additionally, they can also launch derivative products based
on old technology to diversify their portfolio and better address familiar markets.
.
Course No. : DE ZG541
Course Title : PRODUCT DESIGN
Bits ID : 2019HT30566 Page 2 of 10
Name : Adil Rashid

Ans 1b

At position B since the old technology has maxed out, a company could adopt the competitive
strategy as a Technology leader
 Technology leader
. In this strategy firm will place a lot of emphasis on research and development of new
technologies and on the deployment of these technologies through product development.
The other competitive strategies available are
 Cost leadership
Through this strategy, the firm will focus on keeping the costs down by using efficient and
innovative production methods. By employing this strategy a firm can stay competitive by
being a low-cost competitor
 Customer focus: The firms work closely with new and old customers to access the changing
needs and preferences carefully designed product platforms facilitate the rapid
development of derivative products.

 Imitative technology this strategy involves closely following tends in the market, allowning
competitors to explore which new peoducts are succesfullfor each segment.When visible
opportunities has come come the firm quicklylaunches new products to imitate successful
competition.At point B company has can stick with the matured technology and at point A it
can quickly imitate the new technology and set on the growth path

At position A, a new technology product has come hence a company can choose a competitive
strategy of a technology leadership or be imitative.
Course No. : DE ZG541
Course Title : PRODUCT DESIGN
Bits ID : 2019HT30566 Page 3 of 10
Name : Adil Rashid

Ans 2

Product development activities also require certain skills besides technical skills like political
astuteness and political manoeuvres. Product development activity within an organisation
may compromise of an entire department, formal multifunctional teams, or just a few
persons. Regardless of how PD is composed of the need for political activity is same.

Political activity encompasses PD decisions because they involve the allocation of resources
and control and issues of strategic direction. As a decision-making tool PD process is a focal
point of political activity.PD process in itself is a political tool
One must always convince others of the values that a specific PD effort has for the firm so
that the necessary resources and support is obtained.
Political behaviour in an organisation is a mechanism for unfair and unjust allocation of
resources. Hence a certain level of politics should be there in product development team so
that they can influence the approval or development of the product, one of the mechanisms
for that is to know the decision-makers and try to acquaint with them. So a leader of the
project or a champion should be able to cast some influence on the decision-makers by
convincing them that their project has an attractive payoff for the organisation.They can
argue that devoting resources provides strategic advantages such as reducing the
uncertainty of future technological or product advances. Besides the Team leader or
champion, team members also play a vital role to support, promote and protect the project
through their political activities.
As the project move from one stage to a higher stage, the degree of political activity
intensified by the champion, the sponsor and the team. Getting approval needs support
from cross departments and people at all levels, so creating friends within an organisation
may help in getting preferential treatment.
Engaging in political behaviour does not necessarily mean that one is engaging I nay form of
dishonest or manipulative behaviour its quite the opposite.

The conditions which result in political behaviour in organisation are-:

a) Goal difference: The goals and objectives of various departments within an
organisation may be different. This may raise conflict of interest as each group
compete to achieve its own goals. E.g production unit and design groups may have
different interests.
b) Scarce resources: As the resources of organisation posses are a limited entity, there
will be a natural conflict between various PD groups for the race of getting their
project approved.
c) Interdependency: Although organisations are taught to work cordially. The
interdependency which is an inherent necessity of many projects can create conflict
with groups and each group tries to be dominant.
d) Ambiguity: In ambiguous circumstances, defining a problem becomes a contest of
opinions, different people may visualize problem differently and may cause a clash
of opinions.
Course No. : DE ZG541
Course Title : PRODUCT DESIGN
Bits ID : 2019HT30566 Page 4 of 10
Name : Adil Rashid

e) Organisational change: Changes in the firm’s structure, reorganisation, competitive

strategy, mergers etc all threaten the settled power structure. These changes realign
with the environment, creating new areas of importance and erasing settled areas.
Power shifts as department and projects gain and lose strategic importance. This
leads to political behaviour.
Course No. : DE ZG541
Course Title : PRODUCT DESIGN
Bits ID : 2019HT30566 Page 5 of 10
Name : Adil Rashid

Ans 3a
Product design is one of the most important sectors influencing global sustainability, as almost all
the products consumed by people are outputs of the product development process. In particular,
early design decisions can have a very significant impact on sustainability. These decisions not only
relate to material and manufacturing choices but have a far-reaching effect on the product’s entire
life cycle, including transportation, distribution, and end-of-life logistics.
Design for environment DFE is a practice by which environmental considerations are integrated into
product and process engineering design procedures. DFE practices are meant to develop
environmentally compatible products and processes while maintaining product, price, performance,
and quality standards.
Design for Environment(DFE) provides the organisations with a practical method to minimize the ill
effect of product creation on the environment. Just as effective DFM practice has been shown to
maintain or improve the quality of the product while reducing costs, practitioners of DFE have also
found that effective DFE practice can maintain or improve product quality and cost while reducing
environmental impacts.

Environmental impacts of a product may include energy consumption, natural resource depletion,
liquid, gases and solid waste generation.

Life cycle stage Design for Environment Guidelines

Materials Sustainability of resources  Specify renewable and

Healthy inputs and outputs
Production Minimal use of resources in
production
abundant resources.
 Specify recyclable and/or
recycled materials.
 Specify renewable forms
of energy.
 Specify non-hazardous
materials
 Install protection against
the release of pollutants
and hazardous substances.
 Include labels and
instructions for the safe
handling of toxic materials.
 Employ as few
manufacturing steps as
in production possible.
 Specify materials that do
not require surface
treatments or coatings.
 Minimize the number of
components.
Course No. : DE ZG541
Course Title : PRODUCT DESIGN
Bits ID : 2019HT30566 Page 6 of 10
Name : Adil Rashid

 Specify lightweight
materials and
components.
Distribution Minimal use of resources in  Minimize packaging in
distribution distribution
 Use recyclable and/or
reusable packaging
materials.
 Employ folding, nesting,
or disassembly to
distribute products in a
compact state.
 Apply structural
techniques and materials
to minimize the total
volume of material.
Use  Implement default power-
Efficiency of resources during down for during use
use subsystems that are not in
use.
 Use feedback mechanisms
to indicate how much
energy or water are being
consumed.
 Implement intuitive
controls for resource-
saving features.
 Consider aesthetics and
Appropriate durability functionality to ensure the
aesthetic life is equal to
the technical life.
 Facilitate repair and
upgrading.
 Ensure minimal
maintenance.
 Minimize failure modes.
Recovery  Ensure that joints and
Disassembly, separation and fasteners are easily
purification and purification accessible.
 Specify joints and
fasteners so that they are
separable by hand or with
common tools.
 Ensure that incompatible
materials are easily
separated.
Course No. : DE ZG541
Course Title : PRODUCT DESIGN
Bits ID : 2019HT30566 Page 7 of 10
Name : Adil Rashid

As we have a closer look at the guidelines given for DFE, we see that they are in line with
DFM and both are interrelated phenomena. As an example, one of the guidelines for DFE is a
minimization of resources during production, the same is the aim for DFM i.e to minimize
the component cost as well as assembly cost.DFM, as well as DFE, aim to make the
process efficient reducing the resource input and hence both are in sync with each other.

Most of the guidelines defined in column 3 above complement the process of DFM too like
reducing the number of components which in turn will reduce the cost of assembly.
Also use of recyclable material is beneficial both for the environment by reducing the
industrial footprint and at the same time make the resource-abundant and increasing its
availability.
One the examples is that of a car efficiency over the years the car engines have become
more efficient, have fewer emissions, through these are contributing to DFE analysis but
having more efficient cars means the quality of engines has improved.
This gives Another example of synchronization of DFE and DFM processes.
Course No. : DE ZG541
Course Title : PRODUCT DESIGN
Bits ID : 2019HT30566 Page 8 of 10
Name : Adil Rashid

Ans 3B

The goal of concept selection is not to select the best concept but to develop the best concept. So
combining and refining to get the best concept. The final selection of concept is not simply about
choosing the concept which achieves the maximum score. Instead, the PD team should explore this
initial evaluation by conducting a sensitivity analysis. Using a computer spreadsheet, the team can
vary weights and ratings to determine their effect on the ranking. By investigating the sensitivity of
the ranking to variations in a particular rating the team members can assess whether uncertainty
about a particular rating has a large impact on their choice. Base on the selection matrix, the team
may decide to select the top two or more concepts. These concepts may be further developed,
prototyped and tested to elicit customer response.
The pugh charts can be used which involves a set of alternatives, a set of criteria and a
better/same/worse evaluation against the datum. With the set alternatives and criteria, three
mathematical tasks are completed.
1. Identify the datum alternative
2. Rank the two alternatives as better/ worse/same for each criterion.
3. Sum the ranks for an overall evaluation of each configuration.
Course No. : DE ZG541
Course Title : PRODUCT DESIGN
Bits ID : 2019HT30566 Page 9 of 10
Name : Adil Rashid

Ans 4A
4(a)
Customer needs are expressed as written statements and are the result of interpreting the need
underlying the raw data gathered from the customers. Each statement or observation may be
translated into any number of customer needs. Griffin and Hauser found that multiple analysts may
translate the same interview notes into different needs, so it is useful to have more than one team
member conducting the translation process. The guidelines five guidelines for writing need
statements. The first two guidelines are fundamental and are critical to effective translation; the
remaining three guidelines ensure consistency of phrasing and style across all team
members.

1) Express the need in terms of what the product has to do, not in terms of how it might do
it. Customers often express their preferences by describing a solution concept or an
implementation approach; however, the need statement should be expressed in terms
independent of a particular technological solution.e.g “The screwdriver battery is protected
from accidental shorting” describes what which is correct while as the statement “ The
screwdriver battery contacts are covered by a plastic sliding door” describes How, which is
not correct.
2) Express the need as specifically as the raw data.
Needs can be expressed at many different levels of detail. To avoid loss of information,
express the need at the same level of detail as the raw data. e.g The screwdriver operates
normally after repeated dropping was interpreted from customer statement “ I drop my
screwdriver all the time”
3) Use positive, not negative, phrasing.
Subsequent translation of a need into a product specification is easier if the need is
expressed as a positive statement. This is not a rigid guideline, because sometimes positive
phrasing is difficult and awkward. For example, one of the need statements “the screwdriver
does not strip screw heads.” This need is more naturally expressed in a negative form.
4) Express the need as an attribute of the product.
Wording needs as statements about the product ensures consistency and facilitates
subsequent translation into product specifications. Not all needs can be cleanly expressed as
attributes of the product, however, and in most of these cases, the needs can be expressed
as attributes of the user of the product (e.g., “the user can apply torque manually to the
screwdriver to drive a screw”).
5) Avoid the words must and should.
The words must and should imply a level of importance for the need. Rather than casually
assigning a binary importance rating (must versus should) to the needs at this point, it is
recommended deferring the assessment of the importance of each need until step 4 where
the relative importance of each need is established. Hence the correct statement would be
“ The screwdriver indicates the energy level of the battery” and incorrect would be “ The
screwdriver should indicate the energy level of the battery”
Course No. : DE ZG541
Course Title : PRODUCT DESIGN
Bits ID : 2019HT30566 Page 10 of 10
Name : Adil Rashid

Ans 4BWhy do not you put up good cutters to make nice tomato puree, mix ingredients properly and
I am able to crush ice”
The blender has sharp cutters and good blending
(a) “Every time I need to remove lid to see the stuff in the jar”
The jar has a transparent lid or a see-through lid
(b) “I have to put up earplugs while using this blender and speed is so high puree like
stuff spills over”
Blender has good speed control and motor noise levels are low
(c) “It is so difficult to load and pour something into the jar”
Provide provision of loading and pouring items into the jar easily
(d) “I hate to pour foodstuff into another jar for measuring the volume”
Volume measurement provision in the jar itself
(e) “I have to hold blender to avoid moving here and there during operations”
Self-holding or gripping features in the blender