Decision matrices

Dr Ryan McFadden
 Materials in Design

• As engineers we are concerned with the design, development,

testing, and production of machines, components, structures etc.

• One of the most important decisions that must be made during

the design process is which material/ manufacturing process/
design the components are to be made from or according to.

• How do we make this decision?

 Engineering Materials – Trade off!

What do we need/want vs what is possible?

Mechanical/other properties – what properties does it need, and

what properties would be “nice to have”

Deterioration – how long do we need it to last?

Cost

Resource/environmental impact

Available processing methods

Product design
 The design process
Market need Tools for Design
(Material needs)

Data for all materials

Design phase
Concept and processes, low precision

Embodiment Data for fewer materials

or processes, higher precision

Detail Data for one material

or process, highest precision

Production Redesign
Life phase

Use Tools for

life-cycle
Disposal analysis
 Product Design specification
• The product design specification is produced at the early stages of the
design process. It is produced in cooperation with the customer and
should clearly lay out their requirements. This will have an impact on
the selection of materials and the manufacturing process, for example
if he/she requires a light strong product, with complicated geometry,
at a reasonable cost. One of the proposals may be to use Aluminium
alloy and cast or machine the product.

• The choice of material, for example is closed linked with the

manufacturing process and always a compromise between
considerations such as strength, cost, weight, cost, number,
environmental issues, workability/machinability, conductivity, ductility,
heat capacity etc.
 Decision making in a design process
• Needs: The specific need(s) that the new product will
need to meet are identified.
• Ideas: Having identified the need, a list of ideas to
meet this need are produced.
• Selection: From these ideas the best ideas need to
be chosen.
 The Need
• The first step is to identify what the customer needs.
• The specific requirements that the product much
meet need to be detailed.
• In some cases when we have a “better than current”
need we can look at the current system and suggest
improvements.
• Needs are separated into the following categories;
– Essential requirements
– Desirable requirements
– Useful requirements
 Needs
How are needs identified?
• How does a company go about finding out what the
customer needs/requires?
– Common Sense
– Interviews with the customer (usually 10-50 face to face
interviews)
– Focus Groups (a group of interacting individuals having
some common interest or characteristics, brought
together by a moderator, who uses the group and its
interaction as a way to gain information about a specific
or focused issue).
– Trained test panels
 Ideas
• Depending on the business the number of ideas
required to find one best idea can vary.
• At this point all ideas are considered no matter how
crazy they might sound.
• Typical we start with 100 ideas.
• From these the top 4 or 5 ideas are selected.
 Choosing between ideas
How do we select between more than one idea which
is suitable?
• Scientific maturity.
– It is better to select designs that are based on
scientific knowledge we already have and
understand.
• Engineering ease:
– It is better to select design that use
straightforward engineering which is already in
use.
 Choosing between ideas
• Minimum risk:
– Good chance of success. We want to try and avoid
taking unnecessary risks.
• Low cost:
– We need to have an idea of the relative costs of our
ideas.
• Safety:
– When compared to a product being improved on we
want the new idea to be safer.
• Low environmental impact:
– When possible new ideas should cause less
pollution.
 Selecting Ideas
• Having listed the most important factors that we are
going to use to evaluate our product we then assign
weighting factors to them.
• This allows us to evaluate our ideas on a comparable
scale.
• If we have an existing product to compare with this is
given a mark of 5/10 for each category.
• The ideas in our short list can then be investigated
more carefully.
 Case Studies

The following examples will illustrate the

steps we have discussed in chemical
product design.
Ideas for a new drug delivery system
Ideas for a new drug delivery system
 New Ideas
• This example simply shows how many ideas need to
be generated before the best ideas can be identified.
 Selecting Ideas
• A new water purification system is required for use in
Bangladesh. Each of the important factors for choosing a
new method is given a weighting.

Harvesting rainwater is the current

method to avoid contaminated water.
 Selection
• You need to be able to come up with suitable
selection criteria that you can use to rank the top
ideas that you have selected.
• Each idea is awarded a weighting depending on its
importance.
• The weightings must add up to 1.
 Example 10 – Shopping Bags
“People have complained that paper bags provided for
carrying shopping break when they are wet.”
Ideas;
• Stick a warning label on the bag.
• Use a thicker bag.
• Genetically modify the trees to make better paper.
• Use a plastic which look like paper.
• Blend paper with plastics.
• Coat paper with water resistant film (laminate)
• Use a zeolite to adsorb water.
 Task
• Pick the top three ideas from the list on the previous
page.
• Make a list of 5 different selection criteria that you
could use to choose the best idea.
• For each idea assign a weighting factor (remember
that the weightings must all add up to 1).
• For each of the three ideas assign a score between 1
and 10 for each of the selection criteria.
 Selection Matrix
Selection Weighting

Total Score 1
 Selection Matrix
Selection Weighting Thicker Bag Blended Laminate
Ease of manufacture 0.15 10 6 9
Cost 0.25 5 7 8
Aesthetics 0.1 3 5 8
Strength 0.3 8 9 9
Environmental 0.2 2 5 7
impact
Total Score 1

• Selection Criteria on which the three ideas will be

assessed.
• Weighting Factors to put selection criteria in order of
importance.
• All scores are given out of 10
 Task
• Determine the total score for each idea.
• Use the total score to rank the idea.
• Remember to take the weightings into account
when you calculate the total score for each idea.
 Solution
Selection Weighting Thicker Bag Blended Laminate
Ease of manufacture 0.15 10 6 9
Cost 0.25 5 7 8
Aesthetics 0.1 3 5 8
Strength 0.3 8 9 9
Environmental 0.2 2 5 7
impact
Total Score 1 5.85 6.85 8.25

• Based on the weightings for each selection criteria

and the scores for each of the top three ideas the
selection matrix shows that the best idea is to coat
the paper with a water resistant coating (Laminate).
 Example 11
• Customers have said that they want to have some
indication of the length of time between a frozen
product being removed from the storage freezer and
displayed in the shop.
Ideas
• An electronic tag to log the information.
• An irreversible (temperature sensitive) dye reaction.
• A sensor that reacts with the volatile compounds
released when food starts to spoil.
 Selection Matrix
Selection Weighting Electronic Dye Volatile
Ease of manufacture 0.1 2 6 6
Cost 0.5 2 9 9
Simplicity (package
0.35 1 8 4
integration)
Functionality 0.05 9 3 3
Total Score 2 8.05 6.65