DESIGN OF PRODUCTS

& SERVICES
CHAPTER 3

Supply Chain & Operation

Management
Topics
• Contract Manufacturer
• Core Competency
• Product Development Process
• Product Design Criteria
• Designing Service Product
Product design is crucial for several reasons, as it plays a fundamental
role in the success of a product and the overall business.

Users satisfaction, Competitive advantage, Functionality and Usability,

Market relevance, Branding and Identity, Innovation, Cost Efficiency,
Efficient Manufacturing and Assembly and Risk Reduction all these are
internally connected to product design.
Contract Manufacturing

In today’s world companies often outsource major functions rather than supporting these functions in-house,
including product design. Companies that are specialize in product designing and manufacture product for
other companies have become very successful. The producing companies are called contract manufacturer.
They do not produce product for themselves, they produce for others.

Core Competency

The unique thing that a company can to better than its competitors. A core competency and be thing from
product design to sustained dedications of a firms employee. This can create a long-term competitive
advantage of a company.

See Page 55 from Text Book

Product Development Process
The basic series of processes or actions used by a company to develop, design, and promote a product
are represented by this process. Many of these tasks need more mental than physical effort. While some
businesses can clearly and thoroughly articulate their development processes, others may not even be
able to do so.

The six phases of the generic development process are-

Phase 0: Planning. The planning phase, which comes before project approval and the start of the actual
product development process, is frequently referred to as "phase zero.“ This stage starts with business
strategy and involves an evaluation of technological advancements and market goals. The project mission
statement, which includes the target market for the product, business goals, critical premises, and
restrictions, is the result of the planning phase.

Phase 1: Concept development. The target market's demands are determined at this phase, and one or
more alternative product concepts are chosen for further development and testing after being generated
and evaluated. A concept is a description of the look, feel, and functionality of a product and is typically
supported by a set of requirements, a comparison to similar products, and a business case for the project.
Phase 2: System-level design. The product architecture is defined and the product is broken down into
subsystems and components during the system-level design phase. The manufacturing system's final
assembly plan, is typically defined at this time as well. A geometric layout of the product, a functional
description of each of the product's subsystems, and an illustrated process flow diagram for the final
assembly process are the typical outputs of this phase.

Phase 3: Detail Design. This stage involves figuring out all of the standard parts that need to be obtained
from suppliers as well as fully specifying the geometry, materials, and tolerances of each unique part in the
product. Each part is designed using tooling that can be fabricated inside a production system, and a
process plan is established. Drawings or computer files defining each part's geometry and production
tooling, specifications for purchased parts, and process plans for the product's fabrication and assembly are
the output of this phase.

Phase 4: Testing and refinement. Construction and evaluation of numerous preproduction variants of the
product are part of the testing and refining phase. Early prototypes are typically constructed using parts that
have the same geometry and material characteristics as the production version of the product, although
they are not always made using the same techniques. Testing prototypes helps establish whether a product
will function as intended and whether it will meet client needs.
Phase 5: Production ramp-up. During the ramp-up phase of manufacturing, the product is
created utilizing the desired production system. The ramp-up's goals are to train the personnel
and fix any production process issues that may still exist. Products made during the ramp-up
of production are occasionally sent to favored clients, who then thoroughly inspect them for
any residual defects.
The Generic Product development process in terms of manufacturing

The development process described in Exhibit 3.1 is generic, and particular processes will
differ in accordance with a firm's unique context. The generic process is most like the
process used in a market-pull situation.

The market "pulls" the development decisions in this scenario, which occurs when a
company starts product development with a market opportunity and then uses whatever
technologies are needed to meet the market requirement. Other than the standard market-
pull processes, there are a number of varieties that are widespread and correspond to the
following: technology-push products, platform products, process-intensive products,
customized products, high-risk products, quick-build products, and complex systems.
Technology Pushed Product-

When creating technology-push products, a company starts with a brand-new, proprietary technology and
searches for the right market to use it in (technology "pushes" development). The enlarged Teflon sheet
known as Gore-Tex, which is produced by W. L. Gore & Associates, is an outstanding example of the
push towards technology. In addition to prosthetic veins for vascular surgery, insulation for high-
performance electric cables, fabric for outerwear, dental floss, and liners for bagpipe bags, the business
has created hundreds of products that include Gore-Tex.
Platform products, also known as platform-as-a-service (PaaS) offerings, are a type of cloud computing service
that provides a platform and environment for developers to build, deploy, and manage applications without
needing to worry about the underlying infrastructure. These products sit in the middle of the infrastructure-as-a-
service (IaaS) and software-as-a-service (SaaS) models, offering a balance between control and convenience.

In essence, platform products provide a set of tools, services, and frameworks that developers can leverage to
create, test, and deploy applications.

Key Features of Platform Product are-

Abstraction of Infrastructure
Scalability
Development Tools
Middleware Services
Security and Compliance
Deployment and Management

Google App Engine is a good Example offered by Google that allows developers to build, deploy, and scale
applications without managing the underlying infrastructure.
Process-intensive based Product – Characteristics of the products are highly
constrained/Restricted by the production process. These products often involve intricate assembly,
multiple stages of production, and the use of specialized equipment and techniques. For Example-
Chemicals, Cereals.

Customized Product: Small changes to a customer's order are considered customized items.
Batteries, containers, motors, and switches are a few examples. Setting configurations for design
variables like physical dimensions and materials is a key component of developing these goods,
which often have standard configurations and are designed in response to a specific need.

Companies have gotten quite effective at manufacturing these customized items in a short amount
of time by adopting a highly structured design and development process built around the
capabilities of the method to be used.
High Risk Products- Products that carry extremely high levels of market- or technology-related uncertainty
pose a significant risk to the technical or financial stability of the company. The generic product development
process is altered to deal with high-risk circumstances by taking action to address the biggest risks in the early
stages of product development. A few design and test tasks must often be finished earlier in the process to
achieve this. Building working models of the major features and testing them earlier in the process make
sense, for instance, if there is significant uncertainty surrounding the technical performance of the product. To
make sure that a minimum of one of the solutions works, several solution paths may be investigated
independently.

Quick-Build Product For the development of some products, such as software and many electronic
products, building and testing prototype models has become such a rapid process that the design-
build-test cycle can be repeated many times. Following concept development in this process, the system-
level design phase entails decomposition of the product into high-, medium-, and low-priority features. This is
followed by several cycles of design, build, integrate, and test activities, beginning with the highest-priority
items. This process takes advantage of the fast-prototyping cycle by using the result of each cycle to learn
how to modify the priorities for the next cycle. Customers may even be involved in the testing process.
When time or budget runs out, usually all of the high- and medium-priority features have been incorporated
into the evolving product, and the low-priority features may be omitted until the next product generation.
Complex Systems Larger-scale products such as automobiles and
airplanes are complex systems composed of many interacting
subsystems and components.

When developing complex systems, modifications to the generic

product development process address a number of system-level
issues.

The concept development phase considers the architecture of the

entire system, and multiple architectures may be considered as
competing concepts for the overall system.
Designing Service Products

The design of manufactured products focuses on reducing parts and efficiency, while service products involve
direct customer involvement, introducing significant variability in time and knowledge requirements. To address
this variability, service design should consider operational cost and customer service experience. When
developing a new service or changing an existing one, it is crucial to determine how different the new service is
compared to the current offerings, considering three general factors.

1. Similarity to the current service- The new service should complement the current customer experience, as
seen in Disneyland's use of cameras to capture memorable visitor photos. This enhances the overall service
experience, making dreams come true and recording them. However, some services, like car wash with a
restaurant, may not be as complementary.
2. Similarity to the Current Process- The implementation of even the best service ideas requires operational
assistance. The decision of food businesses to offer home delivery is one illustration of this. Although this felt
like a logical progression of the customer service experience, it necessitated entirely new operational skills,
such as the ability to choose perishables for consumers and transport frozen goods.
3. Financial Justification- Designing and implementing a new service is costly and should be financially
justified. Although this is often tough in a positive sense of making profit. It can just be introduced to a new
service in order to keep the loyal customers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfMYYGgDTSk