Unit-1 Introduction to Product Design & Development

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Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, DIT, Pimpri, Pune. 1

 Unit-1 Introduction to Product Design & Development

UNIT-01: INTRODUCTION TO PRODUCT DESIGN &

DEVELOPMENT

1.0 Introduction:

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❖ Why to study Product design and Development?

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The importance of product design is explained through the following points.

● It is a critical factor in organizational success because it sets the characteristics,
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features, and performance of the service or good that consumers demand.

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● It plays a vital role in lowering the cost of manufacture for competitive advantage.
● Product design is important in making more profits by attracting more customers
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through its design and packaging.

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● To enter into the new prospective business through related diversification, product
design is essential.
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● It can also be an important mechanism for coordinating the activities of key

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supply chain participants.

● Product design is an essential activity for firms competing in a global environment.
● Product design shapes the product’s quality It defines the way that and service
functions.

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 Unit-1 Introduction to Product Design & Development

❖ Design:- To design is to pull together something new or to arrange existing things in a

new way to satisfy a recognized need of society.

❖ Analysis Vs Synthesis

Typically, we approach complex problems like design by decomposing the problem into
manageable parts. Because we need to understand how the part will perform in service, we
must be able to calculate as much about the part’s expected behavior as possible before it
exists in physical form by using the appropriate disciplines of science and engineering
science and the necessary computational tools. This is called analysis.

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Synthesis involves the identification of the design elements that will comprise the product, its

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decomposition into parts, and the combination of the part solutions into a total workable

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system.

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 Unit-1 Introduction to Product Design & Development

❖ Design by Evolution Vs Design by Innovation

Design by Evolution: In the past, designs used to evolve over long spans of time. The
leisurely pace of technological change reduced the risk of making major errors. The
circumstances rarely demanded analytical capabilities of the designer. This was Design by
evolution. Development of the bicycle from its crank operated version to its present day chain
and sprocket version over a period of about a century is a typical example of design by
evolution.

The disadvantages of evolutionary design are:

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● Unsuitability for mass production

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● Difficulty in modification.
● Inability to tap new technologies

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Design By Innovation: Following a scientific discovery, a new body of technical knowledge

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develops rapidly the proper use of this discovery may result in an almost complete deviation

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from past practice. Every skill, which the designer or the design team can muster in analysis
and synthesis, is instrumental in a totally Invention of laser beam which has brought about a
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revolution in medical and engineering fields Laser based tools have made surgical knife in
medicine and gas cutting in engineering obsolete.
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❖ Design Process Cycles:

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 Unit-1 Introduction to Product Design & Development

❖ Design Process:-Iterative

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❖ Design Process:- Shigley’s Model

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 Unit-1 Introduction to Product Design & Development

❖ Design Process:- Pahl & Beitz Model

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❖ Design Process:- Ohsuga Model

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 Unit-1 Introduction to Product Design & Development

1.1 What is Product, Product Design & Product Development?

A product is something sold by

an enterprise to its customers.
(Goods/Services)

Product design:- It deals with

conversion of ideas into reality
and as in other forms of human
activity, aims at fulfilling human

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needs.

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Product development is the set
of activities beginning with the

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perception of a market

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opportunity and ending in the
production, sale, and delivery of a product.

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Product and its Types:-
● Platform Products
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● Process Intensive Products

● Customized Products
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● High Risk Products

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● Quick Build Products

● Digital Products
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● Product Service Systems

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● Complex Systems
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A product development process is the sequence of steps or activities that an enterprise

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employs to conceive, design, and commercialize a product.

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The generic product development process consists of six phases, as illustrated.

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 Unit-1 Introduction to Product Design & Development

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1.2 Objectives of Product Design and Development:

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The objectives of designing the product may be summarized as follows

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1. The first objective of designing is to create attention in products for increasing the
sale potentials
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2. To enlarge the importance of product from customers’ point of view

3. To make the product more effective and create more utility in the product for the
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consumer
4. Produce better quality at the lowest possible price

1.3 Engineering Design Process

The engineering design process can be used to achieve several different outcomes. One is the
design of products, whether they be consumer goods such as refrigerators, power tools, or
DVD players, or highly complex products such as a missile system or a jet
transport plane.

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 Unit-1 Introduction to Product Design & Development

Another is a complex engineered system such as an electrical power generating station or a

petrochemical plant, while yet another is the design of a building or a bridge.

A general description of the design process consists of the following steps

1. Definition of the problem
2. Gathering of information
3. Generation of alternative solutions
4. Evaluation of alternatives and decision making
5. Communication of the results

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1.4 Engineering Development Process (Gateway System):

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1.5 Product Development Vs Product Design

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Product design:
● Product designers typically work to create ideas and concepts for a technology
product.
● In many cases, product designers are the first people clients meet with when they
approach an agency with an idea.

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 Unit-1 Introduction to Product Design & Development

● Depending on the project, this might involve sketches, modeling, or CAD drawings
Product designers have the ability to listen to a client's wants and goals and create a
vision for the product

Product development
● Product developers take the concept the product design team comes up with and
executes it to create a finished product
● This execution often includes both non functional clickable and functional prototypes
that allow users to test the product and offer valuable feedback
● In some smaller agencies, designers and developers may take on roles and functions

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from each other's areas of expertise They might also move in and out of both roles as

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the agency grows In other agencies, designers and developers have clearly defined

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roles with little overlap

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Sl. Product Development Product Design

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No.
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01 It is a process which contains the entire It is a process which contains technical
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set of activities required to bring a new activities within the product
concept to a state of market readiness. development process that works to meet
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market and business requirements.

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02 This set includes everything from This set includes refinement of product
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initial inspiring new product vision to vision into technical specification.

business case analysis,
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commercialization activities
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03 It involves marketing efforts, technical It involves new concept development

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engineering and design activities. and embodiment engineering

04 It includes business & financial It does not include marketing &

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activities along with extensive distribution activities along with

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marketing & distribution manufacturing activities.

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05 It includes design for manufacture In product design the activities design

(DFM), Design for assembly (DFA), for manufacture(DFM), Design for
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Design for Environment(DFE) as a assembly(DFA), Design for Environment

part of product development. (DFE) are carried out simultaneously.

06 Product development is independent Product design is a part of product

process than that of product design development process.

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 Unit-1 Introduction to Product Design & Development

1.6 Need of New Product Design

● To be in business for long time

● To satisfy unfulfilled needs of the customer
● Too much competition in existing product line
● The profit margin is on decline
● The company existing product line becomes saturated and the sale is on decline
● Every Organization has to design & develop new product as a survival and growth
strategy

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1.7 Features of successful product design and development:

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Successful product development results in products that can be produced and sold profitably.
Five more specific dimensions, all of which ultimately relate to profit, are commonly used to

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assess the performance of a product development effort are:
1. Product quality

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2. Product cost
3. Development time
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4. Development cost
5. Development capability
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1. Product quality: How good is the product resulting from the development effort? Does
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it satisfy customer needs? Is it robust and reliable? Product quality is ultimately

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reflected in market share and the price that customers are willing to pay.
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2. Product cost: What is the manufacturing cost of the product? This cost includes
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spending on capital equipment and tooling as well as the incremental cost of

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producing each unit of the product Product cost determines how much profit accrues
to the firm for a particular sales volume and a particular sales price.
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3. Development time: How quickly did the team complete the product development
effort? Development time determines how responsive the firm can be to competitive
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forces and to technological developments, as well as how quickly the firm receives
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the economic returns from the team’s efforts.

4. Development cost: How much did the firm have to spend to develop the product?
Development cost is usually a significant fraction of the investment required to
achieve the profits.

5. Development capability: Are the team and the firm better able to develop future
products as a result of their experience with a product development project?

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 Unit-1 Introduction to Product Design & Development

Development capability is an asset the firm can use to develop products more
effectively and economically in the future.

1.8 Essential Factors of Product Design/Factors Affecting Product Design

(i) Need
(ii) Physical realizability
(iii) Economic worthwhileness
(iv) Financial feasibility
(v) Optimality.

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(vi) Design criterion.
(vii) Morphology

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(viii) Design process
(ix) Subproblems

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(x) Reduction of uncertainty

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(xi) Economic worth of evidence
(xii) Bases for decision

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(xiii) Minimum commitment.
(xiv) Communication.
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(i) Need: A design must be in response to individual or social needs, which can be satisfied
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by the technological status of the times when the design is to be prepared

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(ii) Physical realizability: A design should be convertible into material goods or services, i.e.,
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it must be physically [Link] technique for determining the physical realizability is

termed design tree approach.
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 Unit-1 Introduction to Product Design & Development

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(iii) Economic worthwhileness: The goods or services, described by a design, must have a
utility to the consumer which equals or exceeds the sum of the total costs of making it
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available to him. For example a bulb with luminous intensity 3 and life 4 on a ten point scale
has a lower utility than a bulb with luminous intensity 2.5 and life 5.
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iv) Financial feasibility: The operations of designing, producing and distributing the goods
must be financially supportable. i e a design project should be capable for being funded by
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suitable agencies or people The method for assessment of financial feasibility could be ‘Net
present value’ which states that the present worth of cash flows in the project when added up
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during the useful life of the product should be greater than the initial investment for the
project.
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(v) Optimality: The choice of a design concept must be optimal amongst the available
alternatives; the selection of the chosen design concept must be optimal among all possible
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design proposals. Optimal design, in theory, strives to achieve the best or singular point
derived by calculus methods. In the context of optimization under constraints for mechanical
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strength, minimum weight and minimum cost are usually taken up as criteria for
optimization.

(vi) Design criterion: Optimality must be established relative to a design criterion which
represents the designer’s compromise among possibly conflicting value judgements which
include those of the consumer, the producer, the distributor, and his own.

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(vii) Morphology {ASIMOW Model or The 7 Phases of Product Design or

Product Design Phases}: Design is progression from the abstract to the concrete. This
gives a chronologically horizontal structure to a design project. The Three phases (Primary
Design Phase) of design proposed by Morris Asimow (Design Philosopher) are: Feasibility
study phase, preliminary design phase, and detailed design phase, as indicated in Fig. 1.2.

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➢ Phase-1: Feasibility Study: A design project begins with a feasibility study, the
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purpose is to achieve a set of useful solutions to the design problems. The first step in
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this study is to demonstrate whether the original need, which was presumed to be
valid, does indeed have current existence or strong evidence of latent existence. The
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2nd step is to explore the design problem generated by the need & to identify its
elements such as parameters, constraints & major design criteria. 3rd step, an effort
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has to be made to seek a number of feasible solutions to the problem. 4th step, the
potentially useful solutions are sorted out from the feasible set in three steps on the
basis of Physical realizability, Economic worthwhileness & Financial feasibility.

➢ Phase-2: Preliminary Design: The preliminary design phase starts with the set of
useful solutions which were developed in the feasibility study. The purpose of
preliminary design is to establish which of the preferred alternatives is the best design
concept. Each of the alternative solutions is subjected to quantitative analysis until

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 Unit-1 Introduction to Product Design & Development

evidence suggests either that the particular solution is inferior to some of the others or
that it is superior to all the others. The surviving solution is tentatively accepted for
closer examination.

➢ Phase-3: Detailed Design: The detailed design phase begins with the concept evolved
in the preliminary design. Its purpose is to furnish the engineering description of a
tested and producible design. In this phase concept exploration on a large scale must
come to an end or a final decision for a particular design concept must be made
(detailed design or specification of components).

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➢ Phase-4: Planning for Production: In this phase, the area of skills, those of Tool design

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& Production engg come into action. The following production planning steps are

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taken as examples from considering criteria as mass production industries:
○ Detailed process planning for every part, sub-assembly & final Assembly.

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○ Design of tools & fixtures
○ Planning, specifying or designing new production facilities

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○ Planning the quality control system.

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○ Planning for production personnel & control, etc.
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➢ Phase-5: Planning for Distribution: This is the 2nd process in the Production -
consumption cycle, after the production process. The purpose of this phase is to plan
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an effective and flexible system of distribution of the designed goods. Below are few
list of planning for distribution:
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○ Designing the packaging of the product

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○ Planning the warehousing system

○ Planning the promotional activity
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○ Designing the product for conditions arising in distribution

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➢ Phase-6: Planning for Consumption: This process influence on design is profound

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because it pervades all phases. The purpose of this phase is to incorporate in the
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design, adequate service features and to provide a rational basis for product
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improvement & redesign. Design for consumption must consider the following
factors:
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○ Design for maintenance

○ Design for reliability
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○ Design for safety

○ Design for convenience in use
○ Design for aesthetic features, etc.

➢ Phase-7: Planning for Retirement: The 4th process in the production-consumption

cycle is the disposal of the retired product. For large & semi-permanent installations,
the mere removal may pose difficult Engg. problems. Sometimes, the impact on a new
design is more immediate as when an old structure or system must be replaced by a

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new one with minimum disruption of normal operations. Designing for retirement,
must consider the following aspects:
○ Designing to reduce the rate of obsolescence by taking into account the
anticipated effects of technical developments.
○ Designing physical life to match anticipated service life.
○ Designing the product so that reusable materials and long-lived components
can be recovered, etc.

(viii) Design process: Design is an iterative problem-solving process. This gives a vertical

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structure to each design phase. The iterative nature of design is owing to feedback from

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existing design and improvement with further information in the form of technological,

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financial and creativity inputs. This is indicated in Fig. 1.3.

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(ix) Subproblems: During the process of solution of a design problem, a sublayer of

subproblems appears; the solution of the original problem is dependent on the solution of the
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subproblems. The “Design Tree” of Fig 1.1 reveals the concept of subproblems.
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(x) Reduction of uncertainty: Design is derived after processing of information that results in
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a transition from uncertainty, about the success or failure of a design towards certainty. Each
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step in design morphology from step (i) to step (x) enhances the level of confidence of the
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designer.
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(xi) Economic worth of evidence: Information gathering and processing have a cost that must
be balanced by the worth of the evidence, which affects the success or failure of the design.
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Authentic information should be gathered to make the design project a success. Today,
information is regarded as a resource which is as valuable as money, manpower and material.

(xii) Bases for decision: A design project is terminated when it is obvious that its failure calls
for its abandonment. It is continued when confidence in an available design solution is high
enough to indicate the commitment of resources necessary for the next phase.

(xiii) Minimum commitment: In the solution of a design problem at any stage of the process,
commitments which will fix future design decisions must not be made beyond what is

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 Unit-1 Introduction to Product Design & Development

necessary to execute the immediate solution. This will allow maximum freedom in finding
solutions to subproblems at the lower levels of design. A model of design problem,
subproblems etc. is developed through a design tree (see Fig. 1.1).

(xiv) Communication: A design is a description of an object and prescription for its

production; it will exist to the extent it is expressed in the available modes of communication.
The best way to communicate a design is through drawings, which is the universal language
of designers. Three dimensional renderings or cut-away views help explain the design to the
sponsor or user of the design. The present day impact of computer aided modelling and
drafting has resulted in very effective communication between the designer and the sponsor.

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1.9 Characteristics of a Good Product Design:

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● Functionality: The product must function properly for the intended purpose

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● Reliability: The product must perform properly for the designated period
● Productivity: The product must be produced with a required quantity and quality at a

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defined and feasible cost
● Quality: The product must satisfy the customer’s stated and unstated needs
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● Standardization: The product should be designed in such a fashion so that most of the
components are standardized and easily available in the market
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● Maintainability: The product must perform for a designated period with a minimum
and defined maintenance Adequate provisions for maintenance should be kept in the
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product
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● Safety: The product must be safe to the user and should not cause any accident while
using or should not cause any health hazard to the user Safety in storage, handling,
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and usage must be ensured by the designer

● Cost Effectiveness: The product must be cost effective They must be manufactured in
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the most cost effective environment.

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1.10 The challenges of product development

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● Developing great products is hard

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● Few companies are highly successful more than half the time
● Some of the characteristics that make product development challenging are
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1. Trade offs
2. Dynamics
3. Details
4. Time pressure
5. Economics

1. Trade offs: An airplane can be made lighter, but this action will probably increase
manufacturing cost One of the most difficult aspects of product development is

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 Unit-1 Introduction to Product Design & Development

recognizing, understanding, and managing such trade offs in a way that maximizes the
success of the product
2. Dynamics: Technologies improve, customer preferences evolve, competitors
introduce new products, and the macroeconomic environment shifts Decision making
in an environment of constant change is a formidable task
3. Details: The choice between using screws or snap fits on the enclosure of a computer
can have economic implications of millions of dollars. Developing a product of even
modest complexity may require thousands of such decisions.
4. Time pressure Any one of these difficulties would be easily manageable by itself
given plenty of time, but product development decisions must usually be made

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quickly and without complete information

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5. Economics Developing, producing, and marketing a new product requires a large

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investment To earn a reasonable return on this investment, the resulting product must
be both appealing to customers and relatively inexpensive to produce.

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1.11 Who Designs and Develops Products?

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● Product development is an interdisciplinary activity requiring contributions from
nearly all the functions of a firm/company
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● The three functions central to a product development project are
1. Marketing
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2. Design
3. Manufacturing
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● Marketing The marketing function mediates the interactions between the firm and its
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customers Marketing often facilitates the identification of product opportunities, the

definition of market segments, and the identification of customer needs Marketing
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also typically arranges for communication between the firm and its customers, sets
target prices, and oversees the launch and promotion of the product.
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● Design The design function plays the lead role in defining the physical form of the
product to best meet customer needs In this context, the design function includes
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engineering design ( electrical, software, etc and industrial design ( ergonomics, user
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interfaces.
● Manufacturing The manufacturing function is primarily responsible for designing,
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operating, and/or coordinating the production system in order to produce the product
Broadly defined, the manufacturing function also often includes purchasing,
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distribution, and installation This collection of activities is sometimes called the

supply chain.
● Rarely are products developed by a single individual.
● The collection of individuals developing a product forms the project team

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 Unit-1 Introduction to Product Design & Development

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1.12 Modern Approaches to Product Design

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● Concurrent Design/CFT Approach

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● QFD (Quality Functional Deployment)

● Rapid prototyping
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(ia) Concurrent Design (Simultaneous Engineering): The Conventional design one way cycle
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in which there was no any option for feedback. In this concurrent design approach the
product is at the centre or hub of the wheel and all the departments or engineers working on
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the product are at the periphery of the wheel. All the departments are looking towards the
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products or its development simultaneously. In this process of decision making all the
working parameters {Ex: Producibility, Functioning, Assembly, Designing, Testing,
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Manufacturing & marketing} are parallel from the beginning of the cycle. It improves team
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values of cooperation, trust by simultaneous working. The benefits of Concurrent Design

Approach is Reduction of Time & Speed (Also no confusion in drawing & parts).

❖ Concurrent engineering has three main elements

● Cross functional teams,

● Parallel design, and
● Vendor partnering

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 Unit-1 Introduction to Product Design & Development

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Figure: Concurrent Engineering Approach
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(ib) CFT Approach (Cross-Functional Team Approach):
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A cross-functional team is a team composed of members from different departments in the

organization that have diverse skills and professional expertise, but are working together to
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achieve a common goal. This form of collaboration becomes more widespread in the modern
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business environment as companies aim to leverage the benefits of diverse perspectives and
experience of their employees. The members of a cross-functional team are often chosen
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based on their skills and expertise necessary to contribute to the common results. Building a
cross-functional team doesn’t mean the individuals in it must know everything; it rather
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means that such a team is fully capable of developing and supplying a complete product.
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CFT’s have become more popular in recent years for 3 primary reasons:

● As they improve coordination & integration.

● Span organizational boundaries.
● Reduce the production cycle time in new product development.

❖ Sequential Vs. Concurrent Product Development

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(ii) QFD (Quality Functional Deployment): It is a recent approach to product design. It

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involves converting qualitative customer needs into technical specifications.

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It involves following parameters:

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QFD is the process for defining the customers' desires in the own voice of customers.
prioritizing these Customer desires. Transforming it into engineering requirements, and
setting targets for meeting these requirements. It also prepares a tool for defining the right

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problem to solve. Where a series of matrices are used to structure the gathered information
and document it in proper manner. Each matrix is called the House of Quality. QFD is also
used to prepare clear relationships between customer needs and engineering requirements,
documents. It also benchmarks the data which was collected.

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(iii) Rapid prototyping: It is Layer-by-Layer technique of manufacturing the products. In
rapid prototyping modeled product geometry is directly utilized to get the final physical
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shape of a component or product. It refers to a variety of specialized equipments, materials
and softwares. It uses 3D printing which can convert design data into complex geometry
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objects.
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1.13 What is a Product Failure?

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● When a product fails to gain a sufficient amount of demand after its launch,
thus fails to recover its expenses, we know it’s a product failure.

● The symptoms often include a decline in sales, more costs than expected,
and the inability to survive in the market.

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 Unit-1 Introduction to Product Design & Development

❖ Why do New Products Fail? Reasons for new product failure

● Lack of Product Originality: If your product lacks originality, it will likely fall behind
similar products that already exist in the market Therefore, you need to offer
something new and exciting to be able to be different and appealing
● Inefficient Timing: In most cases, when the timing is wrong, the product might not get
the attention it needs to survive Therefore, it is crucial to consider the time factor
before launch

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● Poor Planning: Poor Execution of Marketing Plan Poor planning or poor execution of

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a marketing plan will almost guarantee your product’s failure. But, on the other hand,

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a proper planning will not only help you create a clear strategy, but it will also help
your product stick around for a long time.

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● Product Flaws: Flaws might be one of the top factors in a product’s failure. As soon as
the consumers start to realize and have a personal experience with your flawed

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product, they immediately have a negative opinion about it. In most cases, there’s no

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turning back from there.
● Wrong Market Research Market research is essential since it allows you to have a
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clear understanding of your audience’s needs If you do it correctly, it also plays a
significant role in keeping an eye on your competitors
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● Incorrect Pricing When your product is incorrectly priced, it becomes impossible for
it to reach out to an average customer Therefore, you won’t be able to sell much, and
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most people won’t be able to recognize your product or be familiar with it

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● Weak Launch Your product’s launch is important because it enables you to get
feedback from early users, and this will help you create opportunities to strengthen
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your product
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1.14 Product Life Cycle (PLC):

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A product life cycle is the length of time from a product first being introduced to consumers
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until it is removed from the market. A product’s life cycle is usually broken down into four
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stages
1. Introduction: In this stage the product is new & consumer acceptance is low, so sales
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are low. In this early stage of the product life cycle the rate of product change is rapid
as management tries to maximize performance to enhance customer acceptance.
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2. Growth: When the product has entered the growth stage, knowledge of the product &
its capabilities are known to a large number of customers. There may be emphasis on
custom designing the product for slightly different customer needs.

3. Maturity: At this stage, the product is widely accepted, sales are stable and are
growing at the same rate as the economy as a whole. When the product reaches this
stage, attempts should be made to rejuvenate it by incremental innovation of still new

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 Unit-1 Introduction to Product Design & Development

applications. There will be great competition at this stage and so there is great
emphasis on reduction of cost of a mature product.

4. Decline: At some point, the product enters the decline stage and sales decrease
because a new & better product has entered the market to fulfill the same societal
need.

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Figure: A Typical Product Life Cycle

END

Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, DIT, Pimpri, Pune. 24

 Unit-1 Introduction to Product Design & Development

Additional Content:-

1.15 Modern Product Development Process

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1.7.1 Understand opportunity

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1.7.2 Develop a Concept

1.7.3 Implement a Concept

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 Unit-1 Introduction to Product Design & Development

1.16 NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

Phases of NPD Processes.
❖ Idea Generation
❖ Idea Screening
❖ Concept Development & Testing
❖ Business Analysis
❖ Product Development
❖ Market Testing
❖ Commercial utilization

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 Unit-1 Introduction to Product Design & Development

1.17 PRODUCTION–CONSUMPTION CYCLE

The production–consumption cycle, one of the main features of the socio-ecological systems,
consists
of four processes:
1. Production
2. Distribution
3. Consumption
4. Recovery or disposal.

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1.18 The Three S’s

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The three S’s refer to standardization, simplification, and specialization—three related

subjects which are at the root of any economic analysis of product design.
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1) Standardization is the process of defining and applying the “conditions” necessary

to ensure that a given range of requirements can normally be met with a minimum of variety
and in a reproducible and economic manner on the basis of the best current techniques.

2) Simplification is the process of reducing the number of types of products within a

definite range. It is also an attempt to reduce variety.

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 Unit-1 Introduction to Product Design & Development

3) Specialization is the process whereby particular firms concentrate on the

manufacture of a limited number of products or types of products. Specialization often is a
result of one’s aim to monopolize the market.

❖ STANDARDIZATION

Standardization covers a wide field of activity. These activities include:

1. Physical dimension and tolerances of components within a defined range.

2. Rating of machines or equipment (in units of energy, temperature, current, speed,

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3. Specification of physical and chemical properties of materials.

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4. Methods of testing characteristics or performances.
5. Methods of installation to comply with minimum precautionary measures and

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convenience of use.

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Standardization has, however, many advantages, some of which may be briefly listed now:

1. Reduction of material waste and obsolescence

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2. Concentration of effort in manufacturing: hence, simplification and specialization
3. Reduction in inventories, both of materials, and semi finished and finished products
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4. Reduction in book-keeping and other paperwork

5. Lowering the grades of skill required in manufacture and assembly
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6. Reduction in price: hence expansion of the market

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7. Reduction in repair and maintenance costs.

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Reduction is the essence of standardization: The effect of variety reduction on production and
set-up times is shown in Fig. 2.2.
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 Unit-1 Introduction to Product Design & Development

❖ SIMPLIFICATION

Simplification is a constant source of disagreement between the marketing department

and the production personnel. A production engineer prefers little variety, minimum set-up,
and long runs (see Fig. 2.2). Simplification enables the production department to improve
planning, achieve higher rates of production and machine utilization, and simplify control
procedures. The salesman, on the other hand, strives to satisfy the customer by giving him a
choice or by offering him the nearest to what he wants.

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1. Reduce inventories of materials and finished products.

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2. Reduce investment on plant and equipment. Save storage space.
3. Simplify planning and production methods. Simplify inspection and control.

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4. Reduce required technical personnel.
5. Reduce sales price.

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6. Shorten or eliminate order queues.

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● Pro-Variety
1. Satisfy a wide range of demand. i
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2. Enable better contact with the market to study its tastes and requirements.
3. Avoid losing orders for more salable products because the customer directs all his
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orders to other vendors.

4. Create demand.
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Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, DIT, Pimpri, Pune. 29