PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT PRINCIPLES

Sales in an organization are responsible for increasing sales and revenue. They offer product variety to
consumers. Production departments on the other hand would prefer to produce as few products as
possible and make long runs so that they reduce the number of setups.
The conflicting factors to be considered in establishing the range of products to supply are:
 A narrow product line may lead to loss of customers
 A wide product line which may lead to customer satisfaction but increased operating costs due
to lack of specialization.
The need for a balance between sales and economics of production is therefore essential. This balance
can be obtained with:
o Product simplification
o Product standardization
o Product specialization
Simplification
This is the process of making something easier to make. It seeks to cut out wastages and needless
product varieties, sizes, and types, hence minimizing product variations. Product design simplication also
reduces operations and material costs. Example is the use of snap on caps instead of using screws.
Standardization
In product design, the establishment of a standard for specifications covering the product’s material,
configuration, measurements allows for all products to be made to a given specification and hence will
be alike allowing for interchangeability.
Specialization
This is the concentration of effort in a particular area or occupation. In product specialization, a
company may produce and market only one, or a limited range of similar products which leads to labour
specialization.
With a limited range of products, productivity can be increased and costs be reduced by:
 Allowing for the development of machinery and equipment specially designed to make the
limited range of products quickly and cheaply.
 Reducing the number of setups because of fewer task changes.
 Allowing labour to develop speed and dexterity because of fewer task changes.

PRODUCT SPECIFICATION AND DESIGN

Product design is tasked with producing a set of specifications that manufacturing can use to make the
product. The product must be made to be:
 Functional
 Capable of low-cost processing

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Functional
The product must be designed to perform as specified for the market. The engineers therefore must
design the product to meet the market specifications in terms of dimensions, configurations, and
specifications so that if the item is properly manufactured, it will perform as expected.
Low-cost processing
The product must be designed so that it can be made at the leastcost.the product designer specifies
materials,tolerances,basic shapes, methods of joining parts, and through this specifications, sets
minimum product cost.
Poor design can add cost to processing in the following ways:
The product and its components may be designed in such away that the most economical method.
 Parts may be designed so excessive material has to be removed.
 Part may be designed so operations are difficult.
 Lack of standardized components may mean batches of work have to be small. Using standard
parts across a range of products reduces the number of parts in inventory, tooling, and operator
training and permits the use of special-purpose .All this reduces product cost.
 Product design also influences indirect costs such as production planning, purchasing, inventory
management, and inspection.
Simultaneous engineering
To design products for low-cost manufacture requires close coordination between product design and
process design, which is called simultaneous engineering.
PROCESS DESIGN
Operation management is responsible for producing the products and services the customer wants,
when needed, with the required quality, at minimum cost and maximum effectiveness and productivity.
Processes are the means by which operations management reaches these objectives.
Definition:
A process is a method of doing something, generally involving a number of steps or operations
Process design is the development and designing of the steps.
Process systems

Depending on the product design, volume, and available equipment, the process engineer must design
the system to make the product.

Based on material flow, processes can be organized in three ways, namely:

 Flow

 Intermittent

 Project (Fixed position)

The system use will depend on ted emend for the item, range of products and the ease or difficulty of
moving material.

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Flow Processes
Workstations needed to make the product, or similar products, are grouped together in one
department, and are laid out in the sequence needed to make the product. In Flow processing, work
flows from one workstation to another at a nearly constant rate and with no delays, as in oil refineries,
and steel rolling mills.
If, however it is a form of mechanical method of moving goods between work stations for units such as
automobiles, or discreet units, then, the flow manufacturing is called repetitive manufacturing. For
gasoline, the process is called continuous manufacturing.
Flow process layout is also called product layout because the system is set up for a limited range of
similar products.
Flow process produces only a limited range of similar products. The demand for the products family of
has to be large t justify setting up the line economically.
Flow systems are extremely efficient because:
 Work stations are designed to produce limited range of similar products.
 There is little built-up of work in process inventory from one work station to another.
 Due low work-in-process inventory, lead times are short.
 Flow systems substitute capital for labour and standardize what labour there is into routine
tasks.
Intermittent Processes
Goods are not made continuously but at intervals in lots or batches. Workstations should therefore be
processing many different parts, hence the need or general purpose machines.
Intermittent processes are flexible. They can change from one part or task to another more quickly than
flow processes because they use general purpose machines and skilled flexible labour or personnel who
can perform the variety of operations.
Control of work flow is managed through individual work orders (Production planning and control) for
each lot or batch being made.
Flow manufacturing is less costly than intermittent manufacturing for the following reasons:
 Setup costs are low since changeovers are minimized for flow processes.
 Work stations are designed for specific products.
 Product moves continuously from one workstation to the next. Also work in process inventory is
low.
 Cost associated with controlling production are low because work flows through the process in a
fixed sequence.
Project Processes (Fixed position)
This type of manufacturing process is used for large complex projects such as ships, aircrafts,
locomotives or buildings. Project manufacturing avoids the costs of moving the product from one work
station to another

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