Suggested Books

1. Engineering Design by Dieter and Schmidt

2. Product Design and Development by Ulrich
3. .Mechanical Design Process by David Ullman
Products in daily life
1. Tooth brush
2. Shaving blade
3. Washroom showers
4. Breakfast /toasters /coffee-makers /food maker machines
5. Cars /Bikes /Scooters /Bicycles
6. Office furniture /chair /table /laptop /printer /scanner
7. Entertainment appliances /LCD /LED TV/Video game
8. Sleep /Bed room / Air conditioner
The economic success of most firms depends on their ability
----to identify the needs of customers and to quickly create products that meet these needs and can be produced at low cost.
---Achieving these goals is not solely a marketing problem, nor is it solely a design
problem or a manufacturing problem; it is a product development problem involving all
of these functions.
Characteristics of Successful Product Development
Product quality: How good is the product resulting from the development effort? Does it satisfy customer needs? Is it robust and
reliable? Product quality is ultimately reflected in market share and the price that customers are willing to pay.
Product cost:What is the manufacturing cost of the product? This cost includes spending on capital equipment and tooling as well
as the incremental cost of producing each unit of the product. Product cost determines how much profit accrues to the firm for
aparticular sales volume and a particular sales price.
Development time: How quickly did the team complete the product development effort?Development time determines how
responsive the firm can be to competitive forces and to technological developments, as well as how quickly the firm receives the

economic returns from the teams efforts.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.
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? Development capability is an asset the firm can use to develop products more effectively and
economically in the future.
Who Designs and Develops Products?

Marketing:The marketing function mediates the interactions between the firm and its customers. Marketing often facilitates the
identification of product opportunities, the definition of market segments, and the identification of customer needs. Marketingalso
typically arranges for communication between the firm and its customers, sets target prices, and oversees the launch and
promotion of the product.

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 engineering design (mechanical, electrical, software, etc.) and industrial design (aesthetics,
ergonomics, user interfaces).
Manufacturing: The manufacturing function is primarily responsible for designing, operating, and/or coordinating the production
system in order to produce the product.Broadly defined, the manufacturing function also often includes purchasing,
distribution,and installation. This collection of activities is sometimes called the supply chain.
The Challenges of Product DevelopmentTrade-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 recognizing, understanding, and managing such
trade-offs in a way that maximizes the success of the product.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.
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.
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 quickly and without complete information.
Economics: Developing, producing, and marketing
a new product requires a large investment. To earn a reasonable return on this investment, the resulting product must be both
appealing to customers and relatively inexpensive to produce.
A Generic Development ProcessA process is a sequence of steps that transforms a set of inputs into a set of outputs. Most people
are familiar with the idea of physical processes, such as those used to bake a cakeor to assemble an automobile. A product
development process is the sequence of steps or activities which an enterprise employs to conceive, design, and commercialize a
product.

A Generic Product Development Process

In this section we expand the concept development phase into what we call the front-end process. The front-end process generally
contains many interrelated activities

The many front-end activities comprising the concept development phase.

Adapting the Generic Product Development Process

Process flow diagrams for three product development processes.

The product planning process takes place before a product development project is formally approved, before substantial resources
are applied, and before the larger development team is formed.
The product planning activity ensures that product development projects support the broader business strategy of the company and
addresses these questions:
What product development projects will be undertaken?
What mix of fundamentally new products, platforms, and derivative products should be pursued?
How do the various projects relate to each other as a portfolio (different categories of products)?
What will be the timing and sequence of the projects?
##Each of the selected projects is then completed by a product development team. The team needs to know its mission before
beginning development. The answers to these critical
questions are included in a mission statement for the team:
What market segments should be considered in designing the product and developing its features?

 What new technologies (if any) should be incorporated into the new product?
What are the manufacturing and service goals and constraints?
What are the financial targets for the project?
What are the budget and time frame for the project?
The Product Planning Process (What does it do?)The product plan identifies the portfolio of products to be developed by the
organization and the timing of their introduction to the market. The planning process considers product development
opportunities identified by many sources, including suggestions from marketing, research, customers, current product
development teams, and benchmarking of competitors.
From among these opportunities, a portfolio of projects is chosen, timing of projects is outlined, and resources are allocated.

The product plan is regularly updated to reflect changes in the .....competitive environment,.....changes in technology,
......information on the success of existing products. Product plans are developed with the ......companys goals, ......capabilities,
.......constraints, .......and competitive environment in mind. Product planning decisions generally involve the senior management
of the organization and may take place only annually or a few times each year. Some organizations have a director of planning
who manages this process.
Organizations that do not carefully plan the portfolio of development projects to pursue are often plagued with
inefficiencies such as:
Inadequate coverage of target markets with competitive products.
Poor timing of market introductions of products.
Mismatches between aggregate development capacity and the number of projects pursued.
Poor distribution of resources, with some projects overstaffed and others understaffed.
Initiation and subsequent cancellation of ill-conceived projects.
Frequent changes in the directions of projects.
Four Types of Product Development Projects New product platforms: This type of project involves a major development
effort to create a new family of products based on a new, common platform. The new product family would address familiar
markets and product categories. The Xerox Lakes project, aimed at the development of a new, digital copier platform, is an
example of this type of project. Derivatives of existing product platforms: These projects extend an existing product platform to
better address familiar markets with one or more new products. To develop a new copier based on an existing light-lens (not
digital) product platform would be an example of this type of project.
Incremental improvements to existing products: These projects may only involve adding or modifying some features of existing
products in order to keep the product line current and competitive. A slight change to remedy minor flaws in an existing copier
product would be an example of this type of project.
Fundamentally new products: These projects involve radically different product or production technologies and may help to
address new and unfamiliar markets. Such projects inherently involve more risk; however, the long-term success of the enterprise

may depend on what is learned through these important projects. The first digital copier Xerox developed is an example of this
type of project.
The product planning process
These activities address a portfolio of product development projects, resulting in a product plan and, for each selected project, a
mission statement.

To develop a product plan and project mission statements, a five-step process:

1. Identify opportunities.
2. Evaluate and prioritize projects.
3. Allocate resources and plan timing.
4. Complete pre-project planning.
5. Reflect on the results and the process.
Step 1: Identify OpportunitiesThis step can be thought of as the opportunity funnel because it brings together inputs from across
the enterprise. Ideas for new products or features of products may come from several sources, including (among others):
Marketing and sales personnel.
Research and technology development organizations.
Current product development teams.
Manufacturing and operations organizations.

 Current or potential customers.

Third parties such as suppliers, inventors, and business partners.
The identification of product development opportunities
is closely related to the activity of identifying customer needs.
Some proactive approaches include:
Document frustrations and complaints that current customers experience with existing products.
Interview lead users, with attention devoted to innovations by these users and modifications these users may have made to
existing products.
Consider implications of trends in lifestyles, demographics, and technology for existing product categories and for opportunities
for new product categories.
Systematically gather suggestions of current customers, perhaps through the sales force or customer service system.
Carefully study competitors products on an ongoing basis (competitive benchmarking).
Track the status of emerging technologies to facilitate transfer of the appropriate technologies from basic research and
technology development into product development.
As a way of tracking, sorting, and refining these opportunities, each promising opportunity be described in a short, coherent
statement and that this information be collected in a database.
This database can be as simple as a list in a spreadsheet. Some of these opportunities may be expanded,
refined, and explored.
Example: At Xerox, many opportunities had been gathered and discussed. Some were simple enhancements to existing products,
and others were proposals for products based on entirely new technologies. Following are some examples of opportunity
statements similar to those proposed at Xerox:

 Create a document distribution system in which a networked printing device resides on each office workers desk and
automatically delivers mail and other documents.
Create document delivery software that allows the digital delivery and storage of most intra-organizational documents via a
workers personal computer.
This opportunity statement eventually became the Lakes project:
Develop a new black and white (B&W), digital, networkable, document centerplatform for the office market, including scanning,
storage, fax, distribution, and printing capabilities.
Opportunities Begin the Product Planning and Product Development ProcessesPlanningConceptDevelopment

Step 2: Evaluate and Prioritize Projects

**The second step in the product planning process is the selection of the most promising projects to pursue.
Four basic perspectives are useful in evaluating and prioritizing opportunities for new products in existing product categories:
competitive strategy, market segmentation, technological trajectories, and product platforms.

Competitive StrategyAn organizations competitive strategy defines a basic approach to markets and products with respect to
competitors. The choice of which opportunities to pursue can be guided by this strategy. Most firms devote much discussion at
senior management levels to their strategic competencies and the ways in which they aim to compete.
Several strategies are possible, such as:
Technology leadership:
To implement this strategy, the firm places great emphasis on basic research and development of new technologies and on the
deployment of these technologies through product development.
Cost leadership:
This strategy requires the firm to compete on production efficiency, either through economies of scale, use of superior
manufacturing methods, low-cost labor, or better management of the production system.
Customer focus:
To follow this strategy, the firm works closely with new and existing customers to assess their changing needs and preferences.
Carefully designed product platforms facilitate the rapid development of derivative products with new features or functions of
interest to customers. This strategy may result in a broad product line featuring high product variety in order to address the needs
of heterogeneous customer segments.
e.g. Selfistick, different features in smart phone-as a remote control for TV,
GPS and song sharing in car infotainment system, sport bikes and cars, sport watch, etc.
Imitative:
This strategy involves closely following trends in the market, allowing competitors to explore which new products are successful
for each segment. When viable
opportunities have been identified, the firm quickly launches new products to imitate the successful competitors. A fast
development process is essential to effectively implement this strategy.

At Xerox, strategic discussions centeredaround how the company would participate in the digital revolution of the office
associated with growth of the Internet. Xerox believed that the Internet would enable a paradigm shift in business practices from
one of print
and then distribute to one of distribute and then print. The Lakes project would need to support this corporate vision.
e.g. Cars made by (Suzuki, Hundai, Renoult, Tata)
TV made by (Sony, LG, Samsung, Phillips, Micromax)
Smart phone made by (i-phone, Samsung, LG, ASUS, Lenova, Micromax)
Market Segmentation
Customers can be usefully thought of as belonging to distinct market segments. Dividing a market into segments allows the firm to
consider the actions of competitors and the
strength of the firms existing products with respect to each well-defined group of customers.
By mapping competitors products and the firms own products onto segments, the firm can assess which product opportunities
best address weaknesses in its own product line and which exploit weaknesses in the offerings of competitors.
Segment-1...Tata Tiago...GM BEAT.....M-Suzuki Celerio......Hundaii10
Segment-2...Honda Jazz......Hundaii20....... M-Suzuki Baleno
Segment-3...Swift , Grand i10, Tiago XZ Diesel
Car segments as per SIAM (Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers)
The classification of segment is done on the basis of the length of the vehicle (Passenger car segment)A1 SegmentMini Up to
3400mm (M800, Nano)A2 SegmentCompact 3401 to 4000mm (Alto, wagon r, Zen,i10,A-star,Swift,i20,palio,indica etc)A3
SegmentMidsize 4001 to 4500mm (City, Sx4, Dzire, Logan, Accent, Fiesta, Verna etc)A4 SegmentExecutive 4501 to
4700mm (Corolla, civic, C class, Optra, Octavia etc)A5 SegmentPremiun4701 to 5000mm (Camry, E class, Accord, Sonata,
Laura, Superb etc)A6 SegmentLuxury Above 5000mm (Mercedes S class, 5 series etc)B1 SegmentVan Omni, Versa, Magic
etcB2 SegmentMUV/MPV Innova, Tavera, Sumo etcSUV SegmentCRV, Vitaraetc

Classification of Cars based on body Shape

ONE BOX (VAN/MPV)It means Engine area, Passenger area & luggage area all in one box. There wont be separate
compartment. For eg. Omni, Ace Magic, VersaTWO BOX (HATCHBACK)It means Engine has a separate cabin while
Passenger area and luggage area are together. For eg. M800, Alto, Santro, i10, A*, Swift etc.THREE BOX
(SEDAN/SALOON/NOTCHBACK)It means Engine area, Passenger area & luggage area all are having different cabin. For eg.
SX4, City, Fiesta, Dzire, Ambassador, Indigo CS etc.ESTATE/STATION WAGONIts nothing but sedan whose roof is extended
till the reartocreate more boot space. For eg. Indigo Marina, Octavia Combi, etc.SUV (Sports Utility Vehicle)These vehicles have
large tyres, higher seating, higher ground clearance. The engine area is separate, but the passenger & luggage area are enclosed
together. Most of these vehicles are equipped with either 4 wheel drive system or has the option for that. For eg. CRV, SAFARI,
GRAND VITARA, PAJERO,Duster, Creta, Fortuner, Range Rover, etcSEMI NOTCHBACKIts a sedan whose boot door can be
opened like a hatchback (wagon r, swift), where the rear wind shield too opens along with the boot door. Unlike sedan whose rear
wind shield is always fixed. There are only few examples for SEMI NOTCHBACK Skoda Octavia, Accent Viva.
Technological Trajectories
In technology-intensive businesses, a key product planning decision is when to adopt a new basic technology in a product line. For
example, in the document business, the key
technological issue at the turn of the century is the shift to digital image processing and printing. The product planning decision
was when to develop digital products, as opposed
to developing another product based on light-lens technology. Technology S-curves are a conceptual tool to help think about such
decisions.

Product Platform Planning

The product platform is the set of assets shared across a set of products. Components and subassemblies are often the most
important of these assets. An effective platform can allow a variety of derivative products to be created more rapidly and easily,
with each product providing the features and functions desired by a particular market segment.
Since platform development projects can take from 2 to 10 times as much time and money as derivative product development
projects, a firm cannot afford to make every project a new platform.

Decisions about product platforms are very closely related to the technology development efforts of the firm and to
decisions about which technologies to employ in new products.
Platforms vs. Derivatives

One technique for coordinating technology development with product planning is the
technology roadmap. A technology roadmap is a way to represent the expected availability and future use of various technologies
relevant to the product being considered. This method has been used by Apple, Motorola, Philips, Xerox, and other leaders in fastmoving high technology industries. The method is particularly useful for planning products in which the critical functional
elements are well known in advance.
Technology roadmappingcan serve as a planning tool to create a joint strategy between technology development and product
development.
Step 3: Allocate Resources and Plan Timing Resource Allocation
Many organizations take on too many projects without regard for the limited availability of development resources. As a result,
skilled engineers and managers are assigned to more and more projects, productivity drops off dramatically, projects take longer to
complete, products become late to the market, and profits are lower. Aggregate planning helps an organization make efficient use
of its resources by pursuing only those projects that can reasonably be completed with the budgeted resources.

Aggregate planning at Xerox

Other critical resources may also require careful
planning, such as model shop facilities, rapid prototyping equipment, pilot production lines, testing facilities, and so on. Estimates
of required resources in each period can
be compared with available resources to compute an overall capacity utilization ratio (demand/capacity) as well as utilizations by
resource types
In the aggregate planning process, an organization may find that it is in danger of over committing resources (often by as much as
100 percent or more, according to Wheelwright
and Clark, 1992). Therefore the organization must decide in the planning stage which projects are most important to the success of
the firm, and pursue those with adequate resources. Other projects may need to be eliminated from the plan or shifted in time.
Project Timing
Determining the timing and sequence of projects, sometimes called pipeline management must consider a number of factors,
including:
Timing of product introductions: Generally the sooner a product is brought to market the better
Technology readiness: The robustness of the underlying technologies plays a critical role in the planning process. A proven,
robust technology can be integrated into products
much more quickly and reliably.
Market readiness: The sequence of product introductions determines whether early adopters buy the low-end product and may
trade up or whether they buy the high-end product offered at a high initial price. Releasing improvements too quickly can frustrate
customers who want to keep up; on the other hand, releasing new products too slowly risks lagging behind competitors.
Examples: Windows XP, Win7, 8.1, 10
Competition: The anticipated release of competing products may accelerate the timing of development projects.

The Product Plan

The set of projects approved by the planning process, sequenced in time, becomes the product plan. The plan may include a mix of
fundamentally new products, platform projects, and derivative projects of varying size. Product plans are updated on a periodic
basis, perhaps quarterly or annually, as part of the firms strategic planning activity.
The Product Plan at Xerox
Step 4: Complete Pre-Project Planning
Once the project has been approved, but before substantial resources are applied, a pre-project planning activity takes place. This
activity involves a small, cross-functional team
of people, often known as the core team.
The Lakes core team consisted of approximately 30 people representing a wide range of technical expertise, marketing,
manufacturing, and service functions.
In order to provide clear guidance for the product development organization, generally the team
formulates a more detailed definition of the target market and of the assumptions under which the development team will operate.
These decisions are captured in a mission statement.
Lakes Project Mission StatementProduct Description
Networkable, digital machine with copy, print, fax, and scan functionsKey Business Goals
Support Xerox strategy of leadership in digital office equipment
Serve as platform for all future B&W digital products and solutions
Capture 50% of digital product sales in primary market
Environmentally friendly
First product introduction 4thQ 1997Primary Market

Office departments, mid-volume (40-65 ppm, above 42,000 avg. copies/mo.)Secondary Markets
Quick-print market
Small satelliteoperationsAssumptions and Constraints
New product platform
Digital imaging technology
Compatible with CentreWare software
Input devices manufactured in Canada
Output devices manufactured in Brazil
Image processing engine manufactured in both USA and Europe

Stakeholders
Purchasers and Users
Manufacturing Operations
Service Operations
Distributors and Resellers

Step 5: Reflect on the Results and the Process

In this final step of the planning and strategy process, the team should ask several questions to assess the quality of both the
process and the results. Some suggested questions are:

 Is the opportunity funnel collecting an exciting and diverse set of product opportunities?
Does the product plan support the competitive strategy of the firm?
Does the product plan address the most important current opportunities facing the firm?
Are the total resources allocated to product development sufficient to pursue the firms competitive strategy? Have creative
ways of leveraging finite resources been considered, such as the use of product platforms, joint ventures, and partnerships with
suppliers?

Does the core team accept the challenges of the resulting mission statement? Are the elements of the mission statement
consistent? Are the assumptions listed in the mission statement really necessary or is the project over constrained? Will the
development team have the freedom to develop the best possible product? How can the product planning process be improved?

Method for comprehensively identifying a set of customer needs.

The goals of the method are to:

 Ensure that the product is focused on customer needs.

Identify latent or hidden needs as well as explicit needs.
Provide a fact base for justifying the product specifications.
Create an archival record of the needs activity of the development process.
Ensure that no critical customer need is missed or forgotten.
Develop a common understanding of customer needs among members of the development team.
Identifying customer needs is itself a process and achieved by following steps
Define the Scope
Mission Statement
Gather Raw Data
Interviews
Focus Groups
Observation
Interpret Raw Data
Need Statements
Organize the Needs
Hierarchy
Establish Importance
Surveys

Quantified Needs
Reflect on the Process
Continuous Improvement
Step 1: Gather Raw Data from Customers
Three methods are commonly used:
1.Interviews: One or more development team members discuss needs with a single customer. Interviews are usually conducted in
the customers environment and typically last one to two hours.2. Focus groups: A moderator facilitates a two-hour discussion
with a group of 8 to 12 customers. Focus groups are typically conducted in a special room equipped with a two-way mirror
allowing several members of the development team to observe the group.3. Observing the product in use:Watching customers use
an existing product or perform a task for which a new product is intended can reveal important details about customer needs. For
example, a customer painting a house may use a screwdriver to open paint cans in addition to driving screws.
The Art of Eliciting Customer Needs Data
Important questions can be asked to customer:
When and why do you use this type of product?
Walk us through a typical session using the product.
What do you like about the existing products?
What do you dislike about the existing products?
What issues do you consider when purchasing the product?
What improvements would you make to the product?
Step 2: Interpret Raw Data in Terms of Customer Needs

Customer statement

Translated customer needs statement

"See how the leather on the bottom of the bag is all

scratched; its ugly."

The bag maintains its original appearance with use.

"When Im standing in line at the cashier trying to find my

checkbook while balancing my bag on my knee, I feel like a
stork."

Items stored in the bag can be easily found and accessed.

"This bag is my life; if I lose it Im in big trouble."

The bag is difficult to lose.The bag is easy to find if

misplaced.

"Theres nothing worse than a banana thats been squished

by the edge of a textbook."

The bag protects delicate, soft items from damage.

"I never use both straps on my knapsack; I just sling it over

one shoulder."

The bag can rest securely in multiple modes (either or both

shoulders).

Step 5 : Reflect on the Results and the Process

Have we interacted with all of the important types of customers in our target market?
Are we able to see beyond needs related only to existing products in order to capture the latent needs of our target customers?
Are there areas of inquiry we should pursue in follow-up interviews or surveys?
Which of the customers we spoke to would be good participants in our ongoing development efforts?
What do we know now that we didnt know when we started? Are we surprised by any of the needs?
Did we involve everyone within our own organization who needs to deeply understand customer needs?
How might we improve the process in future efforts?