Product Design and the Cost of Production - Coursework Example

Student’s Name Instructor’s Name Course Name: Date: 27th December, 2012. Product design Introduction In an endeavour to address the demands public for a portable hand washing dispenser, the company instigated two indispensable decisive decisions. It notably expanded its production variety by incorporating hand washer dispenser; and equally extended its production in terms collection to guarantee hygiene. This leads to designing a new product that captures this targeted market. The main objective of this paper is design hand dispenser which improvement cleanliness among people especially children. The deliverables of the paper will be product design, feasibility, specification and verification of the product in terms of technical and usability. Therefore, there will be specifications, drawings for the product, product prototype, working mechanism, materials used in the product, estimated cost and production process. Devising resourceful new merchandise obligates a well-organized approach that entails collecting decisive statistics as well as reassessing them at habitual resolution stages to confirm the organizational objectives, and to persist with the innovation of the contemporary merchandise. The protocol is applicable to both minor as well as chief product lines, where the minor concerns accessible consistent data along with inappropriate timing, while the major one concerns extensive risks along with improbability. The new product decision course is often structured into five standard phases besides the re-evaluation stage. Every phase normally ends with a resolution on whether to proceed to the subsequent stage. New idea stage; most of the innovative ideologies are often designed within a firm’s research agency; depending on the practitioner’s familiarity with the openings and objectives of the institution, which in this case is to design a unique product. Preliminary evaluation; over the stage, the innovative ideology decision is adjusted via restricted trials, coupled with complex principle verification. Meaning the firm will consequently launch extensive research course concerning the requirements of hand washing dispenser, a viable location, taste of the targeted clients, as well as their relevant financial aptitudes. The stage must also embrace a principled goal, usually the initiative generator as suggested by Connell et al (2001). Development stage; at the stage, a progression decision is normally paired with collective dedication in terms funds, alongside cross-functional devotion given the guidance of the formal scheme. Navigation stage; the purpose of the stage is to estimate the proceeds magnitude of the merchandise, which entails reviewing the experts quotations on product and choosing the most reliable once. Commercialization stage; upon launching the new merchandise into the marketing arena, the possibility of accomplishment should be given a hundred percent presumption. Here, the firm will primarily acquire the signature as well as commitment of the potential clients in the area to limit promotion expenses besides attaining the commercial objectives (Atuahene-Gima & Haiyang, 2004). Post-commercialization re-evaluation; re-examination is normally recommended as a constituent of merchandise generation. After finalizing the planning course, the firm will eventually review all the decisions in consideration to the existing experiences and the ultimate attainments and principles as noted by Connell et al (2001). The evaluation of commercial impacts, sales probability, innovative values, among other factors usually permits the firm to reinstate the final decision. Equipments and specifications This section discusses a long term strategy and a short terms strategy that hand washing dispenser must follow to ensure that it penetrates the market. The key point about both the long term and the short term strategy is that hand washing dispenser must concentrate on producing a high quality product as this is the critical success factor for the company. Further, the long term strategy must concentrate on penetrating the market in a comprehensive and deep manner by appropriate positioning and branding. This would entail the company to focus on product design that would be compatible with market conditions (Choo, 2004, 619). The next aspect of the strategy would be to make the device as user friendly as possible. Considering that the consumer as well as the typical homemaker is just getting introduced to the world of dispensers, there must be an effort to make it easy to use. This means that the hand washing dispenser must be as far as its compatibility with efficiency and usage are concerned. The short term strategy for the brand must be to focus on acquiring consumer base among the upper and middle classes as they are usually the early adopters in the consumer market for hand washing dispensers. This is also because the initial product entry would be of imported models making them expensive and hence, the purchasing power of the upper and the middle classes can be targeted. Talking about the imported models, hand washing dispenser must adopt a long term strategy that encourages local production and a gradual phasing out of the imported models. The appropriate branding strategy to be followed would be solo branding as the standalone branding would be commensurate with the company’s emphasis on targeting the unique features of the product to the target market. Of course, umbrella branding can also be considered for the different models in the varied segments because of the need for positioning them to different market segments. For instance, the overall branding can be done with an emphasis on the uniqueness of each model according to the target segment of the market. This combination would ensure that the overall message is not lost while appealing to each of the segments discussed in the section related to segmentation. The main aim of the mission is to have a hand washing dispenser that is portable and maintains high hygiene for users. This will be made possible by advanced and well designed pump that will have the ability to deliver the liquid from the bottle to accomplish it function. Therefore it should have ability to discharge adequate liquid during the usage. The pumps that currently exist that can help in designing this pump and contain that will be used in this mission and has the following features and specifications Will have a sleek body with contemporary design Easy to use and easy-to-fill It will be long lasting and non- rusty a Pump and Delivery Tube that are replaceable Easy Loading Disposable Soap Refills Economical and has pre-measured dispensing Benchmarking Process Considering the portable and efficiency, the plastic bottle with a pump is the best choice for hand washing dispenser. Five appropriate requirements will be assigned with specific target value basing on the requirements in hand washing. Engineering requirements Importance Speed of cleaning Speed of dispensing Cost of dispenser Hygienic opacity Dispensing 1 9 9 3 3 9 Cleaning 2 9 9 9 9 9 Efficiency 3 3 9 3 9 Portability 4 9 9 3 3 9 Transparency 5 3 1 9 Relationship strength values for cleaning The Speed of cleaning, Speed of dispensing and opacity has been assigned the value of 9 because cleaning will not be possible if the dispenser that does not have all this qualities. This means Speed of cleaning factor will have great influence in coming up with a dispenser that is cleaning. Another engineering requirement about the dispenser is the Speed of dispenser. The dispenser is expected to work continuously and in case there slow down due depletion or any other reason refilling becomes very important. This will also make the mission successful. The strength of the relationship between each pair of metrics Speed of cleaning Speed of dispenser Cost of dispenser Hygienic opacity Speed of cleaning 9 9 9 9 Speed of dispenser 3 9 9 Cost of dispenser 1 Hygienic 9 opacity Justification for the strength values for Speed of cleaning. Speed of cleaning will be affected by the cost of power incurred that is why the value of the relation is 9 which is strong. Speed of dispenser has a huge impact the speed of cleaning and it affects the entire operation of the dispenser. This implies that effectiveness and efficiency of Speed of cleaning will depend on easiness to remove. The value of 9 in the case of opacity and cleaning speed means that there is strong relationship among the two factors. If the dispenser is transparent, it is easier to notice when it requires cleaning and when the liquid is about to be depleted. It is important to note that all metrics paired with Speed of cleaning have given value of 9 meaning a strong relationship. Conflicting pair of metrics Speed of dispensing and cost of dispenser- if we decide to minimize cost of the dispenser then the speed of dispensing will be lower because it is expected that components used to make the pump will be of lower value. At same time we decide to have a high speed of dispensing and the cost will be high over the same reasons. This means the two are conflicting metrics. Method Electrolux Product Management Flow will be used in this case in the process of product development. The PMF process has been introduced as a tool for the working process and has the intention to make the company develop products according to the consumers’ wishes and problems instead of developing Market-Push Products using employee’s ideas. This will involve the following steps; According to the PMF the goals for the Primary Development are: _ To find off-the-shelf solutions within innovation themes _ To find what standardized solutions can be developed to solve future needs for the innovation themes _ To find quick technical solutions to identified problem areas _ To find what technical solutions are feasible to solve identified needs, and what are their risk and cost levels The content of the primary development step is shown in Figure 2. Concept generation Concept generation begins with identification consumer needs and then creating product concepts. Here ideas are generated on the product is designed brainstorming and combining solutions. The method s of concept generation involves Analogy, Brainstorming, Attribute listing, Checklists, Inversion and Combination. Screening process In the table below + means that the concept is rated better than while 0 means the same and – means it worse off. requirements plastic pump stopper straw container lever lid portability + + + + + + + durability + + 0 0 + + 0 Manufacturing cost + + + + + - + User friendly + + + 0 0 0 0 compatibility + + + + + + + Accuracy + + + + + + + readability 0 + + - + 0 + Sum + 6 7 6 4 6 4 5 Sum 0 1 0 1 2 1 2 2 Sum - 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 Net score 6 7 6 3 6 3 5 rank 2 1 2 4 2 4 3 Continue yes yes yes combine yes combine yes From the above concept generation we can state that concepts ranked 1,2 and 3 should be developed further while concept 4 should be considered for development with some modification. Scoring process The scoring were rated using the following scale Relative performance rating Much worse than 1 Worse than 2 Same as 3 Better 4 Much better than 5 Rating bottle pump lever requirements Weight (%) rating weighted score rating Weighted score rating weighted score portability 15 4 0.6 4 0.6 3 0.45 durability 10 3 0.3 4 0.4 4 0.4 Manufacturing cost 15 2 0.3 2 0.3 3 0.45 User friendly 15 3 0.45 3 0.45 4 0.6 compatibility 15 3 0.45 4 0.6 5 0.75 Accuracy 20 4 0.8 3 0.6 4 0.8 readability 10 3 0.3 3 0.3 4 0.4 Total score 3.2 3.25 3.85 rank 3 2 1 Action Develop Develop Develop All three should be develop because their total score is more than three. If it was less than three then it could have been discarded Cost estimation The cost of production is very important for one to determine units that will break even. Management generally requires the analysis of costs while planning something for the future, which may relate to increase in the production levels in future, initiating the manufacturing of a new product altogether, a simple cost and benefit analysis related to a product, etc. all these analysis require the management to consider not only the relevant costs but also considering such information which may e regarded as important to be considered in conjunction with the cost data. In the absence of such information being considered by the management, it is quite likely that the results of the analysis of costs may not be realistic and may lead to false conclusions based on such analysis (McDonough, 2010). The direct costs include the costs related to direct material and direct labour. Management is generally more interested in analyzing these costs while preparing budgets or forecasting the future trends because these costs form a major proportion of the total cost of a product or a manufacturing process. However, many a times it happens that while considering these costs, some common errors are made. In relation to direct costs one of the most common errors includes the non-consideration of inflationary trends due to which the rates related to direct material and direct labour may rise in future. Apart from this, while conducting an analysis of the direct costs, it is a common error that intentionally or unintentionally one may not consider the related costs and benefits, which ultimately results in an incomplete and less accurate conclusion. In order to account for these mistakes, it is pertinent to consider the impact of any inflationary trends on the costs and the causal effects of a particular project or plan on the overall cost structure. Moreover, the inclusion of monetary and non-monetary aspects ensures a complete and accurate cost analysis (McDonough, 2010; Wood, 1985). Looking for techniques at the market In order to be successful in product development we consider current market products in the market. one of the products that have identified and data collected attributes on products that make them perceived as more high-end to be modelled is as shown below; This product has a pump and a bottle which makes it useful . Flow occurs because of change in pressure. Like in displacement pumps where the liquid already has some form of energy thus it is said to be primed. The pump effectively changes one from of energy into another and this second form is responsible to make the liquid flow. The simple working principle of the pump involves a manual use, the liquid uses this energy and flows into the impeller of the pump ; this force of the impeller helps to increase the velocity or flow rate of the fluid. In the moving fluid; mechanical energy gets transformed to kinetic energy because of which the pressure gets increased. This increased pressure coupled with the direction of movement of the impeller blades makes the fluid go out through the outlet point In order to maintain a desired flow rate of a desired volume of liquid, it is necessary that the pump has a definite total head value. This equilibrium can be achieved when the total dynamic head produced by the pump becomes equal to that desired. This pump has a straw which like a pump for such the liquid in the bottle. In order to completely evaluate the working/performance of a centrifugal pump, various different variables and characteristics associated with the pump need to be observed and analysed. These include the fluid flow rate, efficiency, mechanical power, total dynamic head values, speed of the pump. DESIGN A designed engine The appearance of the final product Works cited Acklin, Claudia. Design-driven innovation process model. Design Management Journal, 2010. Cai, Jun. An evaluation of the positional forces affecting design strategy. Design Management Journal, 2008. Chiva, Ricardo, & Joaquín Alegre. Investment in design and firm performance: the mediating role of design management. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 2009. de Mozota. Design management: using design to build brand value and corporate innovation. New York: Allworth Press, 2003. de Mozota. A theoretical model for design in management science: the paradigm shift in the design profession, from management as a constraint to management science as an opportunity’, Design Management Journal, 2008. Montaña, Jordi, Francisco Guzmán & Isa Moll. Branding and design management: a brand design management model’, Journal of Marketing Management, 2007. Pugh, Stuart. Total Design, Integrated Methods for Successful Product Engineering. Malaysia: Prentice Hall, 1990. Print Sebastian, Richard. ‘The interface between design and management’, Design Issues, 2005. Ullman David The mechanical design process. Singapore: McGraw-Hill, 1997. Print Ulrich, K. T. and Eppinger, S. D. [2003]: Product Design and Development. New York: McGraw-Hill Appendix Page Figure 1: Fresh perspectives provided by design to traditional engineering-based design (Bruce & Daly 2007). Figure 2: Design strategy and management system (Cai 2008). Figure 3: Design as strategy using the Balanced Scorecard framework (de Mozota 2008). Figure 4: Design-driven innovation model (Verganti 2008). Read More