Concept Development Process

Mission
Statement

KMEM 2218

Identify
Customer
Needs

Establish
Target
Specifications

Generate
Product
Concepts

Product Design and Development

Select
Product
Concept(s)

Test
Product
Concept(s)

Set
Final
Specifications

Plan
Downstream
Development

Development
Plan

Perform Economic Analysis

Benchmark Competitive Products
Build and Test Models and Prototypes

Concept Generation

Faizul 2012

KMEM 2218 Product Design and Development

Faizul 2012

KMEM 2218 Product Design and Development

Concept Generation Example:

Concept Generation Process

Power Nailer

Clarify
the
Problem

1. Clarify the Problem

Problem Decomposition

2. External Search

Lead Users
Experts
Patents
Literature
Benchmarking

Search
Externally

Search
Internally

3. Internal Search

Individual Methods

Group Methods

4. Systematic Exploration

Explore
Systematically

Classification Tree

Combination Table

5. Reflect on the Result and the Process

Continuous Improvement
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KMEM 2218 Product Design and Development

Faizul 2012

KMEM 2218 Product Design and Development

Reflect on the
Solutions and
the Process
4

Concept Generation Exercise:

Vegetable Peeler Exercise:

Vegetable Peelers

Voice of the Customer

Faizul 2012

KMEM 2218 Product Design and Development

"Carrots and potatoes are very different."

"I cut myself with this one."
"I just leave the skin on."
"I'm left-handed. I use a knife."
"This one is fast, but it takes a lot off."
"How do you peel a squash?"
"Here's a rusty one."
"This looked OK in the store."

Faizul 2012

KMEM 2218 Product Design and Development

Vegetable Peeler Exercise:

Problem Decomposition:

Key Customer Needs

Function Diagram
INPUT

The
The
The
The
The
The
The
The
The

peeler
peeler
peeler
peeler
peeler
peeler
peeler
peeler
peeler

KMEM 2218 Product Design and Development

Energy (?)
Hand-held
nailer

Material (nails)
Signal (tool "trip")

Energy

Nails

"Trip" of
tool

Faizul 2012

OUTPUT

Energy (?)

peels a variety of produce.

can be used ambidextrously.
creates minimal waste.
saves time.
is durable.
is easy to clean.
is safe to use and store.
is comfortable to use.
stays sharp or can be easily sharpened.

Faizul 2012

Material (driven nail)

Signal (?)

Store or
accept
external
energy

Convert
energy to
translational
energy

Store
nails

Isolate
nail

Sense
trip

Trigger
tool

Apply
translational
energy to nail

KMEM 2218 Product Design and Development

Driven
nail

External Search:

Capture Innovation from Lead Users:

Hints for Finding Related Solutions

Utility Light Example

Lead Users

benefit from improvement

innovation source

Benchmarking

Experts

competitive products

technical experts

experienced customers

Patents

Literature

search related inventions

technical journals

trade literature
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KMEM 2218 Product Design and Development

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KMEM 2218 Product Design and Development

10

Internal Search:

Systematic Exploration:

Hints for Generating Many Concepts

Concept Combination Table

Convert Electrical
Energy to
Translational
Energy

Suspend judgment
Generate a lot of ideas
Infeasible ideas are welcome
Use graphical and physical media
Make analogies
Wish and wonder
Solve the conflict
Use related stimuli
Use unrelated stimuli
Set quantitative goals
Use the gallery method
Trade ideas in a group
KMEM 2218 Product Design and Development

Accumulate
Energy

rotary motor w/
transmission

spring

linear motor

moving mass

solenoid

Apply
Translational
Energy to Nail
single impact

multiple impacts

push nail

rail gun

11

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KMEM 2218 Product Design and Development

12

Saigo

Owarimashou..

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KMEM 2218 Product Design and Development

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