Chapter 6 Concept Generation

1. MSE-415: Product DesignLecture #6 Chapter 6 Concept Generation

2. Lecture Objectives: • Discuss Homework #4 • Discuss Midterm Presentation • Concept Generation • 5 Step method • Tools • Design and development project • Project plan

3. Dates

4. Concept Development Process Development Plan Generate Product Concepts Select Product Concept(s) Test Product Concept(s) Set Final Specifications Plan Downstream Development Establish Target Specifications Identify Customer Needs Mission Statement Perform Economic Analysis Benchmark Competitive Products Build and Test Models and Prototypes

5. New Concept Examples • Radar; use of magnetron in domestic appliances (microwave oven) • Cyclone used in wood mills applied to vacuum cleaner (James Dyson) • Failed industrial adhesive used in stationery yellow “Post-it” notes (3M) • Tensator spring used in wind-up generator (Trevor Bayliss) • Semi-conductor laser used in data storage devices (CD/DVD) • High strength magnetic fields led MRI scanners (Oxford Instruments) • Use of large prime numbers in data encryption • Use of platinum catalyst in gas powered hair curlers/ portable soldering irons

6. Target Specification Concept generation Concept screening Concept scoring Concept testing Iterative Process of Concept Generation

7. Concept Generation Why emphasize concept generation early in the process? “Thorough exploration of alternatives early in the development process greatly reduces the likelihood that the team will stumble upon a superior concept late in the development process or that a competitor will introduce a product with dramatically better performance than the product under development.” pg. 99 Concept generation answers the question of “how” the team will satisfy the customer needs as expressed in the functional specifications. 7

8. Reduce the likelihood of costly problems later in the development process. Early concept generation is a very affordable way of looking at a lot of alternatives. Develops confidence in the team that you are not going to be surprised later on. Advantages of Early Concept Generation • A product solution with only one alternative is not an acceptable solution--

9. Problems encountered without a structured approach • Many alternatives can be missed • Particular concept influenced by the most dominant person on the team • Doesn’t consider product concepts from other companies or unrelated products • Team doesn’t get a “buy in” to the final proposal • May miss entire an entire category of solutions

10. The 5-step Concept Generation Process • Clarify the Problem • Problem Decomposition • External Search • Lead Users • Experts • Patents • Literature • Benchmarking • Internal Search • Individual Methods • Group Methods • Systematic Exploration • Classification Tree • Combination Table • Pugh Matrix • Reflect on the Solutions and Process • Continual Improvement Clarify the Problem Search Externally Search Internally Explore Systematically Reflect on the solutions and the Process

11. 1. Clarify the problem • Understanding the problem • Assumptions in the team mission statement • The lock will be digital • The lock will be lighted • The lock will be waterproof • The lock will be durable • Identify customer needs • “I don’t want to pay a lot of money for a lock” • “I want something that is weatherproof” • “I want something easy for me to open but difficult for someone to break into” • “I want something that looks modern” • “I want something that lights up for easy use in the dark” • “I don’t want to change batteries frequently” • “I want to be able to program my own combination”

12. Assumptions can make or break a development project Strategy or Solution Critical Assumptions Body of Facts - BOFs

13. Strategy or Solution Unstable Strategy!! Assumptions Changed!! Body of Facts - BOFs What happens assumption are invalid?

14. Decomposition of design concepts The goal of problem decomposition is to help identify the few critical functions for your design. Every product function has a series of inputs and outputs that describe the behavior of the function. inputs outputs Functional description “Systems” approach to design

15. Problem Decomposition: Function Diagram for Automatic Nailer

16. Develop a decomposition function diagram for a toaster. What would be some of the inputs and outputs? inputs outputs Functional description In class exercise

17. 2. External Search • Lead Users • benefit from improvement • innovation source • Benchmarking • competitive products • Experts • technical experts • experienced customers • Patents • search related inventions (www.USPTO.org) • Literature • technical journals • trade literature • Take the best ideas others have developed and build on them. • You don’t have to do everything perfectly. It only takes a couple of areas of differentiation to have a success in the market.

18. 3. Internal Search • Avoid assuming you know more than you do about a subject. • Be careful to not over-simplify a problem • “For every complex problem there is a simple, easy-to-understand, wrong answer.” • Use your personal and team knowledge and creativity to generate solution concepts. • Some guidelines for generating concepts: • Suspend judgment. Don’t be quick to jump to conclusions. • Generate a lot of ideas. Don’t spend time evaluating ideas, just capture them. • Welcome “out of the box” ideas. Don’t worry about feasibility during the initial brainstorming. • Use graphical and visual methods to capture ideas. Quick drawings and sketches are great. • Infeasible ideas are welcome • Use graphical and physical media • Make analogies • Wish and wonder • Use related stimuli • Set quantitative goals • Trade ideas in a group

19. 4. Explore Systematically • The team should have a collection of concept fragments—solutions to the subproblems. The goal of systematic exploration is to synthesize a complete solution from the concept fragments. • The problem is that not all fragments will work together in a final solution space. Your job is to come up with practical concepts from all the pieces. • Tools help navigating through the maze of concept fragments: • Concept classification tree – • Divides the solutions into independent categories • Concept combination table • Helps in the selection of possible fragments • Pugh Matrix -a matrix that helps determine which items or potential solutions are more important or 'better' than others.

20. Concept Classification Tree Paper maps Color maps Pre-printed maps Plastic maps Palmpilot computer files Streets and trips mapquest Distribution media Print on demand maps inkjet laserjet Audio-files MP3

21. Concept Classification Tree What are we trying to accomplish with the tree? • Prune less promising branches quickly. • Identify independent approaches to the problem. • Find where gaps may exist in the concept fragments. • Refine the thought process for a particular branch.

22. Format data for customer use Provide portable copy for user Distribute data to users. Concept Combination Table • This is a tool to link fragments into complete solutions. • The first step is to identify the general functional diagram for the anticipated solution. • For example, in a simplified Innovative Directions solution: Gather data on campus locations

23. Concept Combination Table • Step 1- add fragments to the table • Step 2 is to put all concept fragments into a column of the combination table. This helps to identify if concept fragments are missing or redundant. • Step 3 is to link concept fragments into complete solutions. This also shows where more evaluation or exploration is necessary.

24. Measure distances on campus Print on demand kiosk On-line download CSUN Website Print on demand Format in Mapquest Signs at major locations Pre-printed maps Record instructions in MP3 Maps at newspaper locations Stationary maps around campus Concept Combination Table Gather data on campus locations Format data for customer use Provide portable copy for user Distribute data to users. Use CSUN maps Create audio instructions Create new maps

25. Concept Combination Table • Many combinations are available. (3 x 3 x 4 x 4) • Many don’t make sense and can be quickly eliminated. • However, you often find a new idea by looking at the possible combinations of concept fragments. • This is an iterative process where you may have to go back to square one quite often.

26. Pugh Matrix • Pugh matrix–a tool to facilitate the concept evaluation and selection process • The base-case gets a score of ‘5’ for each of the customer requirements • New concepts are scored relative to the base-case with a 1-5-9 approach: • Much worse than the base-case, score a ‘1’ • Roughly equal to the base-case, score a ‘5’ • Much better than the base-case, score a ‘9’ • Work across the matrix for each customer requirement Important: • Dialog, listening, communication –understand team differences􀂙 • Consensus -do not average individual scores or matrix will fail to yield useful info. • Directional tool-only much better or worse matters

27. Completed Pugh Matrix

28. Pugh Matrix • Identify the best 2 – 3 concepts • Exclude the base case (walking) • Look at the highest weighted totals • Mix and match the best parts of concepts • Look for hybrid solutions

29. Completed Pugh Matrix

30. Pugh Matrix (In class example)

31. 5. Reflect on the results and the process • Can you decompose the problem in an alternate way? • Is the team confident the solution space is fully explored • Are there alternative function diagrams • Are there alternative ways to break down the problem • Have external sources been thoroughly explored • Have all ideas been integrated into the process

32. Competency Matrix Knowledge You know You Don't Know Awareness • Conscious Competent • Facts and data • Past experience • Observations • Conscious Incompetent • Information that needs to be researched. • You find people with the required knowledge. • You will avoid making assumptions without data You Know • Unconscious Incompetent • This is the area to avoid. • This is where you get really surprised. • Don't assume that not knowing won't hurt you. • Unconscious Competent • Skills you possess even though you don't know it • Data you know that you don't know you will need. You Don't Know

33. Next WeekOctober 10, 2007 • Homework #4 • Chapter 6, pg. 122, Exercise #1 • Chapter 6, pg. 122, Thought questions #2 • Chapter 6, pg. 122, Thought questions #4 • Final Design and Development Project • Show evidence of at least two areas where you have researched some external inputs for concept generations. • Show five concept alternatives for your actual project. We will discuss these in class next Thursday. • Use a concept combination table, pugh matrix or concept classification tree as a method for concept selection. • Review of lab note book • Read Chapter 7 – Concept Selection • Discuss structured methods for selecting a single concept design from several available designs.