Product Design

(DE G531)
BITS Pilani
Pilani | Dubai | Goa | Hyderabad
Dr. Nitin Kotkunde
 BITS Pilani
Pilani | Dubai | Goa | Hyderabad

Chapter 4: Understanding Customer Need

Pr o d u c t D e v e l o p m e n t Pr o c e ss

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C o n te n t

• Introduction
• Identifying customer needs
• Customer requirements
• Mission statement and design drivers
• Establishing the engineering characteristics
• Quality function deployment
• Product design specification
• Summary

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I n t r o d u cti o n

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G a t h e ri n g In fo r m a ti o n fro m Cu s to m e r s

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Et h n o g r a p h i c Stu d ie s

• Way people behave in their regular environments

• How a customer uses (or misuses) a product
• Actual end users interacting with the product
under typical use conditions
• Way of conducting the study:
• Video
• Photographs
• Sketches
• Interview

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D i ffe r i n g Vi e w s o f Cu sto m e r R e q u ir e m e n ts

Garvin’s 8 basic dimensions of quality

Time to
market

Product Customer
Performance Requirements Cost

Quality

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C o n s tr u cti n g a S u r ve y In str u m e n t
Determine the survey purpose

Determine the type of data-collection method to be used

Identify what specific information is needed

Design the questions appropriately (unbiased)

Do not use jargon or sophisticated vocabulary

Use simple sentences

Do not lead the customer toward the answer you want

In any list of options given to the respondents, include the choice of “Other” with a space for a write-in answer

Always include one open-ended question

The number of questions should be such that they can be answered in about 15 - 30 minutes

Be sure to include instructions for completing and returning it

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C u sto m e r S u r ve y Exa m p l e

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C l a ssi fyi n g C u s to me r Re q u ir e me n ts

• Challenges in knowing the customers’ voice:

– Customer must understand the product that is being designed.

– Difficult situation in rapid technology change.

– Typical problem is customer will always discuss about the failings of the

product. Experience about the product usage will be never discuss easily

– Kano recognized four level of customer requirements

– (1) Expecters (2) Spoken (3) Unspoken (4) Exciters

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Ka n o ’s Mo d e l

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 Ka n o ’s Mo d e l: Ex a m p l e
• Product requirements of skis

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Ka n o ’s Mo d e l

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Ka n o ’s Mo d e l

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Ka n o ’s Mo d e l

• Indifferent category (I): Customer does not care whether it is present or not. He or
she is, however, not willing to spend more on this feature.
• Questionable category (Q): Questionable scores signify that the question was
phrased incorrectly, or that the person interviewed misunderstood the question or
crossed out a wrong answer by mistake.
• Reverse Category (R): this product feature is not only not wanted by the
customer but he even expects the reverse.

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Ka n o M o d e l

• Evaluation rule M>O>A>I

• Customer satisfaction coefficient (CS coefficient):

  Extent of Satisfaction   Extent of dissatisfaction

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Ka n o ’s Mo d e l

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Ad va n ta g e s o f Ka n o ’s M e th o d

• Priorities customer requirements for product development.

• Product requirements are better understood.

• Kano’s method provides valuable help in trade-off situations in the product

development stage.

• Discovering and fulfilling attractive requirements creates a wide range of

possibilities for differentiation.

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D i sa d va n ta g e s o f K a n o Mo d e l

“It’s really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don’t know
what they want until you show it to them.” - Steve Jobs.

• It can only be used for analysing the effects and certainly not for suggesting a new
product feature, something that is quite difficult to achieve.
• It based on more effective competition over quality.

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Ba si c M e th o d : Mi ss io n Sta te me n t a n d
Te c h n i c a l Qu e sti o n i n g
• The ability to frame the problem, to ask the right question, at the right time, and of
the right person(s), is essential to success.
• The mere formulation of a problem is far more essential than its solution.

• The company has to understand three possible environments prevailing in the

market and plan the introduction of new product accordingly:
– Environment when they are introducing new technology

– Environment when the technology is rapidly evolving

– Environment when technology is topping out

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Ba si c M e th o d : Mi ss io n Sta te me n t a n d
Te c h n i c a l Qu e sti o n i n g
• A mission statement and technical clarification of the task:

• Focus design efforts

• Defines goals

• Translate business case analysis to the development team

• Provide schedule for the tasks

• Provide guidelines for the design process

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Ba si c M e th o d : Mi ss io n Sta te me n t a n d
Te c h n i c a l Qu e sti o n i n g

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Te c h n i c a l Qu e sti o n i n g
• What is the problem really about?
• What implicit expectations and desires are involved?
• Are the stated customer needs, functional requirements, and constraints truly
appropriate?
• What avenues are open for creative design and inventive problem solving?
• What avenues are limited or not open for creative design? Limitations on scope?
• What characteristics/properties must the product have?
• What characteristics/properties must the product not have?
• What aspects of the design task can and should be quantified now?
• Do any biases exist with the chosen task statement or terminology? Has the
design no been posed at the appropriate level of abstraction?
• What are the technical and technological conflicts inherent in the design task?

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M is si o n sta te m e n ts

 The tangible result of the technical questioning

 Mission statement some time it is called as market attack plan, vision statement

or product plan.

 Typically written by project manager.

 It is end goal of the product.

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Te c h n i c a l q u e sti o n i n g fo r fi n g e r n a i l cl ip p e r

• What is the problem really about?

• Clumsy operation of a typical clipper.

• What implicit expectations and desire are involved?

• Remain a manual clipper that can be operated by oneself.

• Are the stated customer needs, functional requirements and constrains truly
appropriate?
• Many groups, as documented in trade magazines and customer studies, have noted
clumsy operation. A detailed assessment will be made in post-customer interviews.

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Te c h n i c a l q u e sti o n i n g fo r fi n g e r n a i l cl ip p e r

• What avenues are open for creative design?

• Can modify any and all parts. Introduce different materials, combine the functional

parts and many more….

• What are the limitations for creative design?

• No electrical power, no service based solution.

• What properties / characteristics must the product have ?

• Easy to use, durable, safe, low cost

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Te c h n i c a l q u e sti o n i n g fo r fi n g e r n a i l cl ip p e r

• What properties / characteristics must the product not have ?

• Should not be bulky.

• What aspect of the design task can and should be quantified now?

• Do any biases exist with the chosen task statement or terminology?

• Has the design task been posed at the appropriate level of abstraction?

• What are the technical and technological conflicts inherent in the design task?

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M is si o n S ta te m e n t Te m p l a te

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M is si o n sta te m e n t: Fi n g e r n a i l c li p p e r

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M is si o n sta te m e n t: Ex a m p l e

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Es ta b l i sh i n g th e E n g i n e e r i n g Ch a r a cte r i st ics
Engineering Characteristics

Design Parameters

Design Variable

Constraints

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Be n ch ma r ki n g

• Sun Tzu, Chinese warrior in 500 BC: “Know your enemy before to know yourself”

• Xerox’s worry of 1979 about Canon copier!

• Benchmarking is the key

• What is benchmarking?

• Why it is necessary?

• Identifying intra-company best practices

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Be n ch ma r ki n g

• The more common sources of resistance to benchmarking:

– Fear of being perceived as copiers

– Fear of yielding competitive advantages if information is traded or shared

– Arrogance

– Impatience

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C o m p e ti ti ve Pe r fo r m a n ce Be n ch ma r ki n g
Determine features, functions, and any other factors that are the
most important to end user satisfaction.
Determine features and functions that are important to the technical
success of the product.
Determine the functions that markedly increase the costs of the
product.
Determine the features and functions that differentiate the product
from its competitors.
Determine which functions have the greatest potential for
improvement.
Establish metrics by which the most important functions or features
can be quantified and evaluated.
Evaluate the product and its competing products using performance
testing.
Generate a benchmarking report summarizing all information learned
about the product, data collected, and conclusions about competitors.

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Q u a l i ty Fu n cti o n D e p lo ym e n t

• Quality function deployment (QFD) is a planning and team problem-solving tool.

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H o u s e o f Qu a l i ty

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H o u s e o f Qu a l i ty: E xa m p le C D c a se

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H o u s e o f Qu a l i ty: E xa m p le C a m e r a

What the
customer
wants

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H o u s e o f Qu a l i ty: E xa m p le C a m e r a

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H o u s e o f Qu a l i ty: E xa m p le C a m e r a

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H o u s e o f Qu a l i ty: E xa m p le C a m e r a

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H o u s e o f Qu a l i ty: E xa m p le C a m e r a

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H o u s e o f Qu a l i ty: E xa m p le C a m e r a

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H o u s e o f Qu a l i ty: E xa m p le C a m e r a

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H o u s e o f Qu a l i ty: E xa m p le C a m e r a

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Pr o d u c t D e s ig n Sp e ci fi ca ti o n

• Engineering design tasks are compiled in the form of a set of product design
specification (PDS).
• The PDS is the basic control and reference document for the design and
manufacture of the product.
• Whether the product development venture is a good investment for the company,
and to decide what time to market and level of resources are required.
• The resulting documentation is typically called a new product marketing report. This
report can range in size and scope from a one-page memorandum describing a
simple product change to a business plan of several hundred pages.
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Te m p la te fo r Pr o d u c t D e si g n Sp e ci fi ca ti o n

• Product Identification • Physical Description

– Product name – Design variable

– Basic functions of the product – Constraints

– Special features of the product

• Financial Requirements
– Key performance targets
– What are the assumptions
– Service environment
– What are the corporate criteria on profitability
– User training required
– Pricing policy over life cycle
• Key project deadline – Warranty policy

– Time to complete project – Expected financial performance

– Fixed project deadline – Level of capital investment required

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Te m p la te fo r Pr o d u c t D e si g n Sp e ci fi ca ti o n

• Life cycle target • Social, Political and Legal requirements

– Target for the performance of the product – Government agencies, societies and regulation board

– Useful life and shelf life – Safety and environmental regulations

– Cost of installation and operation – Standards

– Maintenance schedule and location – Safety and product liability

– Reliability – Intellectual property
– End-of-life strategy – Patent filing procedure

• Manufacturing Specifications
– Manufacturing requirements
– External suppliers identification and
strategy

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 THANK YOU!

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