DESIGN OF GOODS AND

SERVICES

Under supervision of
Dr Magdy Abd Elfattah
1. What is De Mar’s product? Identify the tangible parts of
this product and its service Components ?

De Mar is dealing in providing plumbing repair and

installation of new plumbing to their customers. So we can
say that it is service providing company instead of a
company heavily dependent on offering tangible products
to
their customers.

Their tangible products could be: The new parts that are
required to repair the air conditioning, heating or other
plumbing.

The service component are: One visit charge for multiple

visits, around the clock services throughout the year and on
the same day service provision promises including one year
guarantee for the repair services provided.
2. How should other areas of De Mar (Marketing, Finance,
Personnel) support its product strategy?

Marketing: Marketing strategies like Google Adsense can be used.

This helps in getting customers who search for plumbing services
on the internet with specific keywords like “best plumbing
service in ABC area”.

Finance: Setting up reasonable prices so the customers are happy

and the company makes considerable profits could help in
managing company finances.

Personnel: De Mar need to employee the right person for the right
job. To this they might need to make changes to their job
allocation and recruiting strategies.
 3. Even though De Mar’s product is primarily a service
product, how should each of the 10 Strategic OM Decisions in
the text be managed to ensure that the product is successful?

Following is a detail of the management of the 10 strategic

OM decisions from De Mar’s point of view:

1- Goods and services design: The services should be designed

in such a way that the customers are asked for a feedback at
the end of the service.
2- Quality: there should be no compromise on quality so that
the repairs are not problematic within the one year
guarantee time.
3- Process and capacity: Business processes must be kept
within the capacity of the company. If there is forecast of
more customers call, more people should be employed.

4- Location Selection: Location of the service delivery should

be close to cities and towns to minimize on travel costs.
5- Layout design: The quality of the layout of the physical
locations of the business adds to the quality of the business
itself.

6- Human resource and job design: Jobs should be designed

in accordance to the capabilities and skills of specific
human resources.

7- Supply chain management: There needs to be a proper

communication with the suppliers who provide the tangible
items.

8- Inventory: The Company must have a clear view of what

items it has and what is required.

9- Scheduling: There need to be proper job schedules for the

employees who attend different customer calls.

10- Maintenance: The business operations of the company

itself need a regular maintenance.
1. How does the concept of product life cycle apply to Regal
Marine products?
In order to have a competitive advantage Regal Marine must
stay ahead and provide top quality products so that it stands
out from other companies. When it comes to boats similar to
cars customers want the most updated, most efficient and
stylish product. Since many of the boats are at varying
stages if their life cycles they rely on feedback from
customers, dealers and consultants. This allows them to
expedite the design process as they don’t have to do
extensive research to develop a design. Since customer
preferences are actively changing design changes, materials
and technologies also changing along with it and Regal
Marine must act fast and efficient to stay ahead of the
competition .
2. What strategy does Regal use to stay competitive?
Regal Marine must remain creative and fresh with its
product line and to stay competitive the company looks for
feedback from customers and industry experts to deliver the
most innovative products. This allows the company to stay
ahead of its competitors by knowing exactly what their
consumer base wants. They also use CAD technology which
saves time and money and allows the design team to create
products at a faster rate which is necessary in an industry
where consumers want the most updated and state of the art
products. Being able produce the boats at a quicker pace
which gives them a competitive edge.
3. What kind of engineering savings is Regal achieving by using
CAD technology rather than traditional drafting techniques?
There is essentially the savings of time which leads to cost
reduction. The manual engineering labor is reduced since the
software capabilities provides the tools necessary for great designs
and error proofing from start to production.

4. What are the likely benefits of the CAD

design technology?
CAD software provides companies like
Regal Marine great benefits such as time
savings. Production can be completed at
faster rates. It provides the engineers the
designing tools needed that would
otherwise take longer to calculate and
process manually. It helps develop new
products providing more variety of
designs.