Chapter 4: Product and Service Design: 1. Key Question

Chapter 4: Product and Service Design
1. Key question
From a buyer’s standpoint, most purchasing decisions entail two fundamental
considerations; One is cost and the other is quality or performance. From the
organization’s standpoint, the key questions are:
a. Is there demand for it? What is the potential size of the market, and what is the
expected demand profile (will demand be long term or short term, will it grow
slowly or quickly)?
b. Can we do it? Do we have the necessary knowledge, skills, equipment,
capacity, and supply chain capability? For products, this is known as
manufacturability; for services, this is known as serviceability. Also, is outsourcing
some or all of the work an option?
c. What level of quality is appropriate? What do customers expect? What level
of quality do competitors provide for similar items? How would it fit with our
current offerings?
d. Does it make sense from an economic standpoint? What are the potential
liability issues, ethical considerations, sustainability issues, costs, and profits? For
nonprofits, is the cost within budget?
2. Advantage of degree of standardization

Standardization carries a number of important benefits as well as certain
disadvantages.
Standardized products are immediately available to customers. Standardized
products mean interchangeable parts, which greatly lower the cost of production
while increasing productivity and making replacement or repair relatively easy
compared with that of customized parts.
Design costs are generally lower. For example, automobile producers standardize
key components of automobiles across product lines; components such as brakes,
electrical systems, and other “under-the-skin” parts would be the same for all car
models. By reducing variety, companies save time and money while increasing
quality and reliability of their products. Another benefit of standardization is
reduced time and cost to train employees and reduced time to design jobs.
Similarly, scheduling of work, inventory handling, and purchasing and accounting
activities become much more routine, and quality is more consistent and the other
advantage are:
1.Fewer parts to deal with in inventory and in manufacturing.
2. Reduced training costs and time.
3. More routine purchasing, handling, and inspection procedures.
4. Orders fill able from inventory.
5. Opportunities for long production runs and automation.
6. Need for fewer parts justifies increased expenditures on perfecting designs and
improving quality control procedures.
3. Disadvantage of degree of standardization

Standardization also has disadvantages. A major one relates to the reduction in variety.
This can limit the range of customers to whom a product or service appeals. And that
creates a that a competitor will introduce a better product or greater variety and realize a
competitive advantage. Another disadvantage is that a manufacturer may freeze
(standardize) a design prematurely and, once the design is frozen, find compelling
reasons to resist modification. Obviously, designers must consider important issues
related to standardization when making choices. The major advantages and disadvantages
of standardization are summarized:
1. Designs may be frozen with too many imperfections remaining.
2. High cost of design changes increases resistance to improvements.
3. Decreased variety results in less consumer appeal
4. Quality function development define

Obtaining input from customers is essential to assure that they will want what is
offered for sale. Although obtaining input can be informal through discussions
with customers, there is a formal way to document customer wants. Quality
function deployment (QFD)is a structured approach for integrating the “voice of
the customer” into both the product and service development process.
The purpose is to ensure that customer requirements are factored into every aspect
of the process. Listening to and understanding the customer is the central feature of
QFD. Requirements often take the form of a general statement such as, “It should
be easy to adjust the cutting height of the lawn mower.” Once the requirements are
known, they must be translated into technical terms related to the product or
service. For example, a statement about changing the height of the lawn mower
may relate to the mechanism used to accomplish that, its position, instructions for
use, tightness of the spring that controls the mechanism, or materials needed. For
manufacturing purposes, these must be related to the materials, dimensions, and
equipment used for processing.
The structure of QFD is based on a set of matrices. The main matrix relates
customer requirements (what) and their corresponding technical requirements
(how).Additional features are usually added to the basic matrix to broaden the
scope of analysis.
Typical additional features include importance weightings and competitive
evaluations. A correlation matrix is usually constructed for technical requirements;
this can reveal conflicting technical requirements. With these additional features,
the set of matrices has the form illustrated in Figure. It is often referred to as the
house of quality because of its house like appearance
5. The Kano model/ who develop Kano Model?

The Kano models a theory of product and service design developed by Dr. Noriaki
Kano, a Japanese professor, who offered a perspective on customer perceptions of
quality different from the traditional view that “more is better.” Instead, he
proposed different categories of quality and posited that understanding them would
better position designers to assess and address quality needs. His model provides
insights into the attributes that are perceived to be important to customers. The
model employs three definitions of quality: basic, performance, and excitement.
Basic quality refers to customer requirements that have only a limited effect on
customer satisfaction if present, but lead to dissatisfaction if not present. For
example, putting a very short cord on an electrical appliance will likely result in
customer dissatisfaction, but beyond a certain length (e.g., 4 feet), adding more
cord will not lead to increased levels of customer satisfaction.
Performance quality refers to customer requirements that generate satisfaction or
dissatisfaction in proportion to their level of functionality and appeal. For example,
increasing the tread life of a tire or the amount of time house paint will last will
add to customer satisfaction.
Excitement quality refers to a feature or attribute that was unexpected by the
customer and causes excitement (the “wow” factor), such as a voucher for dinner
for two at the hotel restaurant when checking in. Figure 4.6A portrays how the
three definitions of quality influence customer satisfaction or dissatisfaction
relative to the degree of implementation. Note that features that are perceived by
customers as basic quality result in dissatisfaction if they are missing or at low
levels, but do not result in customer satisfaction if they are present, event high
levels. Performance factors can result in satisfaction or dissatisfaction, depending
on the degree to which they are present. Excitement factors, because they are
unexpected, do not result in dissatisfaction when they are absent or at low levels,
but have the potential for disproportionate levels of satisfaction if they are present
FIGURE: The Kano model
6. Phases in product design and development
Product design and development generally proceeds in a series of phases
Feasibility analysis: Feasibility analysis entails market analysis (demand),

economic analysis (development cost and production cost, profit potential), and
technical analysis (capacity requirements and availability, and the skills needed).
Also, it is necessary to answer the question; does it fit with the mission? It requires
collaboration among marketing, finance, accounting, engineering, and operations.
Product specifications: This involves detailed descriptions of what is needed to
meet (or exceed) customer wants, and requires collaboration between legal,
marketing, and operations.
Process specifications: Once product specifications have been set, attention turns
to specifications for the process that will be needed to produce the product.
Alternatives must be weighed in terms of cost, availability of resources, profit
potential, and quality. This involves collaboration between accounting and
operations.
Prototype development: With product and process specifications complete, one
(or a few) units are made to see if there are any problems with the product or
process specifications.
Design review: At this stage, any necessary changes are made or the project is
abandoned. Marketing, finance, engineering, design, and operations collaborate to
determine whether to proceed or abandon.
Market test: A market test is used to determine the extent of consumer
acceptance. If unsuccessful, the product returns to the design review phase. This
phase is handled by marketing.
Product introduction: The new product is promoted. This phase is handled by
marketing.
Follow-up evaluation: Based on user feedback, changes may be made or forecasts
refined. This phase is handled by marketing.

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Chapter 4: Product and Service Design: 1. Key Question

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Chapter 4: Product and Service Design

2. Advantage of degree of standardization

3. Disadvantage of degree of standardization

4. Quality function development define

5. The Kano model/ who develop Kano Model?

FIGURE: The Kano model

6. Phases in product design and development

Product design and development generally proceeds in a series of phases

Feasibility analysis: Feasibility analysis entails market analysis (demand),

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