MECH 3064: ENGINEERING

DESIGN

Generating Design/Product
Specifications

Lecture 5
 Concept Development Process
Mission Development
Statement Identify Establish Generate Select Test Set Plan Plan
Customer Target Product Product Product Final Downstream
Needs Specifications Concepts Concept(s) Concept(s) Specifications Development

Perform Economic Analysis

Benchmark Competitive Products

Build and Test Models and Prototypes

Target Specs Final Specs

Based on customer needs Based on selected concept,
and benchmarking feasibility, models, testing,
and trade-offs

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 Outline
• Nature of specifications
• Target vs. final specs.
• Process for setting target specs
• Process for setting final specs

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 Spec vs. Specs
• A spec consists of a metric, a unit, and
a value
• Specs has a set of specs.

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 Target vs. Final Specs
• Target specs: the hope and aspiration
of the design (ideal and marginal)
• Refined specs: trade-offs among
different desired characteristics.
– Intermediate specs
• Final specs
– It is in the project’s contract book

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 Benchmarking
The continuous process of measuring products against the
competitors or those recognized as industry leaders.

Benchmarking Approach

Step 1: Make a list of design issues

example – coffee mill

Identify design issues: price, grind time,

fineness of grind, noise level, size

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 Benchmarking
Step 2: Make a list of competitive products
example: coffee mill
Krups, Braun, Cuisinar, Bosch, ….
Step 3: Conduct an information search
Gather as much information about the
product as possible (functions they
perform and targeted market)
Sources: Internet, Trade Mag.,
Consumer Reports Mag., Thomas Register of
Comp., Moody’s Industry Review, National
Bureau of Standards, Patents.
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 Benchmarking
Comparison of coffee mills – Consumer Report Magazine

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 Benchmarking
Step 4: Teardown the competitor’s product
select competitive products that are
leaders on some aspect, disassemble and
make a list of all components.

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 Benchmarking
Teardown method – Subtract and Operate Procedure (SOP)

1. Disassemble (subtract) one component of the

assembly or subassembly
2. Operate the product, if possible, through its full
range.
3. Analyze and document the effect.

SOP determines the functionality and/or redundancies

in an assembly.

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 Benchmarking
Step 5: Compare competitive products
Summarize the comparison by
component function and /or by
customer needs importance.

Step 6: Establish best-in-class competitor

For each function, determine the
highest performance solution. Also,
determine the least expensive solution.

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 Benchmarking
Step 7: Manufacturing and Assembly cost Analysis.
Coffee mill example

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 Comments on Benchmarking
• Generally speaking, benchmarking can be effective
for understanding the market.
• It can identify key innovations and technologies.
• It will not uncover new innovations being developed
by competition., provides lagging information.
• Do not benchmark all competitive products, stay
away from loser products.
• If a company is a clear market leader, benchmarking
may not offer much insight.
• Benchmarking requires wisdom and judgment.

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 Nature of Specifications
• The reference point for functionality
design and quality planning

• A product assembly usually requires a

hierarchy of specs, for the final product
and each of its components

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 The Product Specs Process
1. Set Target Specifications
– Based on customer needs and benchmarks
– Develop metrics for each need
– Set ideal and acceptable values
2. Refine Specifications
– Based on selected concept and feasibility testing
– Technical and economic modeling
– Trade-offs are critical
3. Reflect on the Results and the Process
– Critical for ongoing improvement
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 Procedure for establishing
target specifications
1. Identify a list of metrics and measurement
units that sufficiently address the needs
2. Collect the competitive benchmarking
information
3. Set ideal and marginally acceptable target
values for each metric (using at least, at
most, between, exactly, etc.)
4. Reflect on the results and the process

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 Process for setting the final
specifications
1. Develop technical models to assess technical feasibility. The
input is design variable and the output is a measurement using
a metric.
2. Develop a cost model of the product.
3. Refine the specifications, making tradeoffs, where necessary
to form a competitive map.
4. “Flow down” the final overall specs to specs for each
subsystem (component and part).
5. Reflect on the results to see
 Whether the product is a winner, and/or
 How much uncertainty there is in the technical and cost model, or
 Whether there is a need to develop a better technical model.

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Product Specifications Example:
Mountain Bike Suspension Fork

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Start with the Customer Needs

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 Metrics Exercise:
Ball Point Pen
Customer Need:
The pen writes smoothly.

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Establish Metrics and Units

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Link Metrics to Needs

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Benchmark on Customer Needs

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Benchmark on Metrics

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Assign Marginal and Ideal Values

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Set Final Specifications

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Quality Function Deployment
(House of Quality)
technical
correlations

relative engineering
importance metrics

customer benchmarking
needs on needs
relationships between
customer needs and
engineering metrics

targetLecture 5 specs
and final