Chapter 5

The Design of Product and Service

Why is good design so important?

Communicates
Good Design Good Design The Purpose of Brings Financial
Enhances Satisfies The Product or Rewards to The
Profitability Customers Service to Its Business
Market
 What is designed in a product or service?

 A CONCEPT, which is the understanding of the nature, use and value of the service
or product;

 A PACKAGE of ‘component’ products and services that provide those benefits

defined in the concept;

 THE PROCESS defines the way in which the component products and services will
be created and delivered.
The stages of design – from concept to specification
The stages of design – from concept to specification(cont.)
1. Concept generation
 Ideas from customers
 Listening to customers
 Ideas from competitor activity
 Ideas from staff
 Ideas from research and development
 2. Concept screening
 DESIGN CRITERIA----

 The feasibility of the design

option – can we do it?

 The acceptability of the

design option – do we want to do it

 The vulnerability of each

design option – do we want to take
the risk?
3. Preliminary design: Reducing design
complexity
 Standardization
 Commonality
 Modularization
4. Design evaluation and improvement

 Quality function deployment (QFD)- try to ensure that the eventual

design of a product or service actually meets the needs of its customers

 Value engineering (VE)-try to reduce costs, and prevent any

unnecessary costs, before producing the product or service.

 Taguchi methods- The basis of the idea is that the product or service
should still perform in extreme conditions.
5. Prototyping and Final Design

Virtual prototype

• Computer-aided design (CAD)-computer-aided ability

to create and modify product drawings
• Skunkworks-Encouraging creativity in design outside
of normal office setup
Why should product and service design and process design be
considered interactively?

 Looking at them together can improve the quality of both

product and service design and process design. It helps a
design ‘break even’ on its investment earlier than would
otherwise have been the case.

 Employ simultaneous development where design decisions

are taken as early as they can be, without necessarily
waiting for a whole design phase to be completed.
Why should product and service design be
process design be considered interactively?

 Ensure early conflict resolution which allows contentious

decisions to be resolved early in the design process, thereby not
allowing them to cause far more delay and confusion if they
emerge later in the process.

 Use a project-based organizational structure which can ensure

that a focused and coherent team of designers is dedicated to a
single design or group of design projects.