Product Development Cycle

Dr. Hina Juneja

 What is a Product?

• A product is any tangible offering that might satisfy the needs or

aspirations of the consumer.
• The anatomy of a product can be studied along three dimensions:
– Core benefits
– Tangible specifications
– Augmented Features
 Anatomy of a Product

After sale service,

Augmented Features perceived benefits of a
brand.

Tangible specifications Size, shape,

appearance

Core Functions and

Benefits attributes
 Product Design

• Product design refers to the complete specifications of a product to be

manufactured, and contains the following details:
• Functions/attributes
• Weight, size, appearance
• Engineering/technical specifications
• Constituents/components/parts of the final product
 Product Design

• Product design is normally the first step immediately after the concept
of the product.
• It has a direct impact over the selection of processing equipment and
methods, plant layout and in-process material flows.
• Major parts (from 40 to 80 per cent) of the cost of a manufactured
product is determined by its product design.
• Thus, product design affects profitability and competitiveness of an
organization.
 Product Design

• A change in the product design has many associated costs like:

– Change in machinery setup
– Training workers for manufacturing of the changed design etc.
• Thus, it is not an easy task and is strategic in nature.

A proper product design ensures that:

• The intended functions are discharged by the product
• It can be manufactured with ease in the factory
• It can be sold to the customer
 Product Design

• Product design may be for a new product or for modification of an

existing product.
• Due to technological changes, changes in the needs of consumers, and
ever increasing competition, modification of an existing product has
become a regular phenomena.
• Therefore, product design or re-design is repetitive in nature.
 Reasons for Changes in Product Design

Factors leading to changes in the existing product design are:

1. Change in customer requirement
2. Adding more functions/attributes
3. Technological advancement and progress
4. Increasing saleability
5. Enhancing ease in manufacturing
6. Tapping new markets or market segments
7. Increasing a product’s life cycle
8. Enhancing convenience to use (ergonomic considerations)
 Reasons for Changes in Product Design

9. Standardization and simplification efforts in an organization.

Simplification aims at reducing the product complexity, and
standardization seeks manufacturing of standardized products and
dropping whatever is unnecessary or superfluous.
10. Improving quality
11. Improving product reliability
12. Maintaining technological leadership
13. Reducing processing and manufacturing costs
14. Gaining competitive edge
15. Sustaining competitiveness
 What is a Process?

• A process is a combination of facilities, skills and technologies that are

used to produce products or provide services.
• A process usually consists of:
1. A set of tasks
2. A flow of material and information that connects these tasks
3. Storage of material and information
 Production Process

These tasks transform inputs into outputs. Thus, the process results in a
change i.e., it makes things different.

INPUTS OUTPUTS
• Land
• Building CONVERSION • Goods
• Machinery Knowledge • Services
• Labour gathering and • Valuable
• Raw Materials processing information
• Consumables
 Process Design

Process design means the complete demarcation and description of

specific steps in the production process and the linkages among these
steps that will enable the production system to produce products.
Like product design, Process design is also very crucial to the success of an
organization.
Process efficiencies enabled the Japanese organizations to become globally
competitive and capture significant share in global markets.
 Process Design

Process design directly influences the:

• Plant layout
• Processing wastage and quality of output
• Processing time
• In-process inventories
• Processing costs
• Capability of an organization to make deliveries
 Process Design

A cost effective Process design helps in:

• Procuring job/contract work
• Outsourcing activities
• Timely production
• Desired quality of goods/services
• Optimal processing costs
• Cost competitiveness
 Factors leading to Changes in Process Design

1. For controlling and reducing process wastage

2. For improving quality of output
3. For controlling and reducing work in process inventories
4. For reducing processing time
5. For reducing processing costs
6. For improving process efficiency
7. For improving productivity
8. For improving ease in manufacturing
9. For ensuring timely deliveries
 Factors leading to Changes in Process Design

10. For reducing health hazards and improving safety of workforce

11. May be thrust upon/forced by
– Changes in product design
– Overall technological advancement and progress
12. Gaining competitive edge
13. Sustaining competitiveness
 Commonly used Tools for in Process Innovation
1. Developing assembly charts for studying the conceptual framework for
material flow
2. Developing process charts for studying the conceptual framework for
process flow
3. Computer Aided Designing (CAD), computer simulation
4. Equipment studies, integration studies, facilities studies
5. Time study for comparing time taken for various operations and tasks
6. Value engineering and analysis
7. Business process re-engineering
8. Benchmarking
9. Using change management strategies
10. Financial appraisal
 Product Development Cycle

• The product development cycle is a part of the product life cycle.

• It focuses on the planning, development and evaluation of a product.
• The product development life cycle can be defined as a sequence of all
the required activities that a company must perform to develop,
manufacture and sell a product.
• These activities include marketing, research, engineering design, quality
assurance, manufacturing, and a whole chain of suppliers and vendors.
Product Development Cycle
b)
a) Design and
Conception Prototype
Stage Stage

e) c)
Discard and Manufacturing
Dispose off Stage

d)
Sell, Serve and
Maintain
Corresponding Technologies at various Stages of PLM
S.
PLM Stages Technology
No
• Pencil, clay models, 2D CAD and 3D CAID
1 Conception Stage
(Computer Aided Industrial Design) software
• CAD, CAID tools, simulation and hybrid modeling,
reverse engineering, knowledge-based engineering
(KBE), non-destructive testing (NDT).
• Computer aided engineering (CAE) is used for
Design and simulation, other software used are for stress
2
Prototype Stage analysis, finite element analysis (FEA), kinematics,
computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and
mechanical event simulation (MES).
• Tools and software for product quality or
dimensional tolerance analysis are also used.
Corresponding Technologies at various Stages of PLM
S.
PLM Stages Technology
No
• All the above tools continue to provide inputs to the
manufacturing stage.
• CNC machines are used which directly translates
CAD inputs to manufacture a component to the
Manufacturing or
3 specification.
Build Stage
• Computer aided production engineering (CAPE) is
used for process simulation.
• CAP/CAPP (production planning) is used for
layout and production simulation

Sell, Serve and CRM and it is supplemented with maintenance, repair

4
Maintain Stage and operations management (MRO) software.
Product Development Cycle
 Integration of Design & Manufacturing

In Integrating Design and Manufacturing to develop product and process

simultaneously, manufacturing may gain enough knowledge about the
product design during early involvement to proceed with the process
design.
This effort requires both functions to coordinate their activities closely.
For this purpose a cross-functional coordination mechanism and specific
tools and practices need to be used.
They can be used early in the product development project to select
appropriate product and process technologies or to clarify design concepts
for a single product or for a family of products.
 Integration of Design & Manufacturing

The role of concept development phase is critical since uncertainty is

highest in this phase.
• New products are conceived of and mature products are revitalized
during this phase;
• Customer segments and attributes are identified for products;
• A clear product definition is critical to the success of all product
development phases and is facilitated by a high degree of design-
manufacturing integration within a company.
 Integration of Design & Manufacturing

Effective coordination of design and manufacturing requires:

1. Simplification of the production process
2. Elimination of non-value added activities
3. Improvement of product quality
 Integration of Design & Manufacturing

In turn, it facilitates a firm’s strategy for competitive advantage along the

three dimensions:
1. Enhanced competitiveness towards low cost, high quality and short
lead time of its products.
2. Enhanced competitiveness in multiple segments of the market through
product differentiation.
3. Enhanced competitiveness through continuous product improvement,
leading to frequent introduction of improved product models.
 Concurrent Engineering (CE)

• Concurrent engineering (CE) is a work methodology emphasizing the

parallelization of tasks (i.e. performing tasks concurrently), which is
sometimes called simultaneous engineering or integrated product
development (IPD) using an integrated product team approach.
• It refers to an approach used in product development in which functions
of design engineering, manufacturing engineering, and other
functions are integrated to reduce the time required to bring a new
product to market and improvements in cost, quality and performance.
 Definition of Concurrent Engineering (CE)

According to Concurrent
Design Facility (ESA)

Concurrent Engineering (CE) is a systematic approach to integrated

product development that emphasizes the response to customer
expectations. It embodies team values of co-operation, trust and sharing in
such a manner that decision making is by consensus, involving all
perspectives in parallel, from the beginning of the product life cycle.
 Concurrent Engineering (CE)

• Thus, Concurrent engineering methodology reduces product

development cycle time by the concurrent application of multiple
specialized perspectives of different phases of product development.
• Three important implications are:
– Reduction in product development cycle
– Multiple perspectives, specialized in their own domains, and the
requirement that each is involved in decision making process of the
design
– Involvement of expertise should be concurrent and not sequential
 Elements of Concurrent Engineering (CE)

Cross-functional teams include people from different areas of

Cross-functional the workplace that are all involved in a particular process,
Teams including manufacturing, hardware and software design,
marketing, and so forth.

Concurrent Doing several things at once, such as designing various

Product subsystems simultaneously, is critical to reducing design time
Realization and is at the heart of concurrent engineering.

Incremental Incremental information sharing helps minimize the chance that

concurrent product realization will lead to surprises.
Information
"Incremental" meaning that as soon as new information
Sharing becomes available, it is shared and integrated into the design.

Integrated Integrated project management ensures that someone is

Project responsible for the entire project, and that responsibility is not
Management handed-off once one aspect of the work is done.
 Concurrent Engineering (CE)
• The Concurrent engineering approach is based on the paradigm of
concurrent problem solving; the Blackboard (BB) architecture.
• In this there are several expert critics that interact to create a design in a
concurrent fashion.
• Each critic represents a life cycle concern and optimizes the design based
on its concern.
• Life-cycle concerns are:
– Manufacturability of design
– Assembly of design
– Reliability of design
– Testability of design
 Blackboard (BB) Architecture

BB Architecture provides a global workspace to develop the engineering

design of a product.
• It supports communication and cooperation between designers
• At the project level it also supports the coordination of the designers’
activities by the project leader.
 Blackboard (BB) Architecture
of Concurrent Engineering (CE)

1. The process design is begun by putting initial design information onto

the BB by the Project Leader.
2. The project leader develops focus on the design. A collection of tasks is
developed from the design specifications and the initial information
available in the BB. The tasks are formally assigned to the designers.
3. Using local data as well as data from Product-process organization-
PPO, designers perform their tasks in their own local workspaces. An
assertion is made by the designers.
4. Assertions are posted on the BB.
 Blackboard (BB) Architecture
of Concurrent Engineering (CE)

Posting of Assertions lead to:

– New tasks arise as a reaction to the assertion
– A conflict resolution or a negotiation process may develop, designers
interact and a consensus is reached
– Agreement will be reached and the assertions accepted or replaced
by a different set
5. The BB acts as an assistant to the project leader in coordinating the
design process.
Waterfall Model
Concurrent Engineering
 Challenges associated with Concurrent Design

Concurrent design comes with a series of challenges, such as:

• Implementation of early design reviews
• Dependency on efficient communication between engineers and teams
• Software compatibility
• Opening up the design process
• This design process usually requires that computer models (computer
aided design, finite element analysis) are exchanged efficiently,
something that can be difficult in practice. If such issues are not
addressed properly, concurrent design may not work effectively.
 Challenges associated with Concurrent Design

• It is important to note that although the nature of some project activities

imposes a degree of linearity—completion of software code, prototype
development and testing, for example—organizing and managing
project teams to facilitate concurrent design can still yield significant
benefits that come from the improved sharing of information.
• Service providers exist that specialize in this field, not only training
people how to perform concurrent design effectively, but also providing
the tools to enhance the communication between the team members.
 Nature of Concurrent Engineering (CE)

• It is simultaneous product and process design. It is not simultaneous

design and production.
• It is designing a product with the aim of optimizing it from the point of
view of all its life-cycle issues. It is not optimizing the design just for one
particular life-cycle aspect, i.e., manufacturing only.
• It addresses all the other aspects like maintainability, reliability, cost and
so on.
• It does not entail the elimination of any of the sequential phases in a
product design- rather it focuses on concurrent consideration of all the
phases.
• Design simulations are very important in CE.
 Nature of Concurrent Engineering (CE)

Therefore CE enables:
• Better design of products to meet customer requirements and quality
expectations
• Significant reduction of lead time for market introduction of products
• Increase in productivity and quality through “manufacturable” designs
with least design changes
• Achieve “right-the-first-time” in production, through easier
consideration of several design options.
 NPD Process

New product development process is not a simple process and requires a

deep preparation and meticulous execution. Bringing anything new is not
easy, especially when it is related to meet customer expectations and has
features that are ahead of competition to seize a market opportunity.
 NPD Process

New product development is defined to include all activities beginning

with the understanding of customer needs and market opportunities,
visualizing product that meets those needs and then planning and
executing its production, distribution and sale of the product.
NPD Process Approach
 NPD Process Approach

This approach is essential for companies seeking to develop new products

quickly and flexibly. The shift from a linear to an integrated approach:
• Encourages trial and error and challenges the status quo.
• It stimulates new kinds of learning and thinking within the
organization at different levels and functions.
• Can act as an agent of change for the larger organization.
• The energy and motivation the effort produces, can spread throughout
the big company and begin to break down some of the rigidities that
have set in over time.
 NPD Team

NPD teams can be very large depending upon the product being designed.
For example:
• When Airbus developed its new A380, several thousand worked on its
design and development.
• Tata and Mahindra have hundreds of people working on its new auto
design.
 Characteristics of a Good NPD Team

• Diversity
• Co-location (physical proximity)
• Display the progress
• Consensus approach
• Maturity of team leader
• Meticulous planning and flawless execution
• Happy team
• Self-driven and empowered
• Positive culture
 NPD Team Structures

Specialization
External- Product
-based Evolving
Internal Area-wise
Structure
 Specialization-based Structure

NPD Teams

Product A
R&D Marketing Manufacturing Support
Product B
 External-Internal
Requirement Opportunities

External includes
marketing Internal includes
support services, R & D,
vendor manufacturing
management, quality
subcontractors

Design and Prototypes

Product Area-wise

Product A

R&D

Marketing

Manufacturing

Support
 Evolving

NPD Team

R&D Manufacturing

Marketing
Support
Assimilating the Role of Technology in Product
Development
Role of Technology in Product Development can be
assimilated at three levels:

Role of Technology in Product Development Process

Role of Technology which is embedded in the Product

itself

Role of Technology in Product Manufacturing and

Marketing
Managing Introduction of Technology into New Products

• Developing a vision for a product concept

• Diligently applying organizational resources towards realizing the
vision
• Benchmarking the competitor’s product development capabilities
• Selecting core competencies that will meet or exceed those capabilities
• Assessing the readiness of new technology for introduction into
products
• Assessing the remaining life-cycle of existing technologies
• Developing product families that include technological advances in each
new product generation.
Managing Introduction of Technology into New Products

The aspects of the capability for developing new products require a firm to
be strong in both product engineering and R&D.
• Product engineering is concerned with creating, with a high degree of
certainty and in minimum time, products meeting the specified criteria
of cost, quality, features and customer preference.
Minimum time and high efficiency are possible only when uncertainty and
risks are avoided or greatly minimized, through the competent use of
proven methodologies and proven technology.
Managing Introduction of Technology into New Products

• R&D deliberately seeks to confront the frontiers of technological

knowledge and engineering experience. It seeks to develop or create
new know-how and know-why for subsequent application of this
knowledge to produce high-quality and reliable products of superior
functionality.
A high level of risk, uncertainty, error and failure are associated with and
expected in R&D work.
Managing Introduction of Technology into New Products

Therefore, progress in R&D and product engineering should proceed

simultaneously and in a complementary manner.
• R&D should concentrate on developing and experimenting with new
technologies until they are proven.
• Product engineering should introduce new technologies incrementally,
into new products, only after they have been proven, or at least are
ready for such introduction.
Managing Introduction of Technology into New Products

Any new technology being considered for implementation in developing a

new product must meet the following criteria:
• Proven over the specified range of design constraints in the designated
environment
• Meets all performance objectives/expectations
• Meets cost parameters
• Meets requirements of maintenance and service over the product life-
cycle
• Manufacturing/product engineering requirements/ criteria of design
are clearly met.
 Managing Product Development Capability

The Product Development Process is information-intensive.

Managing it effectively requires high order ability to organize, process,
and learn from the information related to the product development.
A well designed information system facilitates the personnel to share and
exchange large volume of information during the development process.
 Managing Product Development Capability

A number of actions needed to improve a company’s product development

capability (Susman, 1992) are:
• Reduce number of parts
• Standardize designs
• Modularize product
• Use proven technology
• Introduce new technologies serially
• Codify/computerize data
• Organize on a product basis
 Managing Product Development Capability

• Educate and train personnel in DFM (Design For Manufacture)

• Recognize coordination deficiencies
• Assign personnel within product families
• Capture data about earlier products
• Share information
• Revisit old problems
• Develop fast design-build-test cycles

Skilled use of multi-cycle concurrent engineering – virtual design