Riga Technical University

Product Design and Development

Rpniecisko raojumu projektana
Course code MRA716
Lecture 5

Product Specifications
Product specifications are established on the base of
customer needs which were documented before.
Customer needs are generally expressed in the language of
customer.
Product specifications must provide information about how
to design and engineer a product.

What are specifications?

Specifications must reflect the customer needs, differentiate
the product from the competitive products, and be technically
and economically realizable.

Specifications spell out in precise, measurable detail what the

product has to do to be commercially successful.
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Example
Mountain bike with suspension fork
Goal is to develop a
new front suspension
fork for the mountain
bike market.

Customer need:
the suspension is
easy to install

Possible specification:
the average time to
assemble the fork to the
frame is less than 75 sec
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Definitions
Product specification is a term to mean the precise
description of what the product has to do.
Similar terms used by some other firms: product
requirements, engineering characteristics.

Specification (singular) consists of a metric and a value.

Example considered before:
metric average time to assemble
value less than 75 sec

The value may take on several forms, including a particular

number, a range or an inequality.
Values are always labeled with the appropriate units (e.g.,
seconds, kilograms, joules, etc.).
Together, the metric and value form a specification.
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When are specifications established?

For technologically intensive products specifications are

established at least twice.
1. Immediately after identifying the customer needs, the team sets
target specifications.
These specifications represent the hopes and aspirations of the team,
but they are established before the team knows what constraints the
product technology will place on product.
2. To set the final specifications, the team must frequently make hard
trade-offs among different desirable characteristics of the product.
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Establishing target specifications

Four-step process of establishing
Target specifications are the goals of the development
team, describing a product that the team believes would
succeed in the marketplace.
1. Prepare the list of metrics
2. Collect competitive benchmarking
3. Set ideal and marginally acceptable target values

4. Reflect on the results and the process

Each of these four steps can be explained and illustrated on the
example of mountain bike
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Step 1. Prepare the list of metrics

The relationship between needs and metrics is central to the entire
concept of specifications.
A good way to generate the list of metrics is to consider what precise,
measurable characteristic of the product will reflect the degree to
which the product satisfies that need.
The set of precise, measurable specifications leads to satisfaction
of the associated customer needs.
In the ideal case, there is one and only one metric for each need.
In practice, this is frequently not possible.
As an example, let us consider the translation of customer needs into list
of metrics for suspension fork of the mountain bike.

Customer needs for the suspension fork

and their relative importance

List of metrics for the suspension fork

Subj is an abbreviation indicating that a metric is subjective

The needs-metrics matrix for the suspension fork

A mark in the
cell
of
the
matrix
means
that the need
and the metric
associated with
this cell are
related.
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Step 2. Collect competitive benchmarking information

The relationship between the new product to be developed and
competitive products is important in determining commercial success.

Competitive benchmarking chart

based on metrics for the suspension fork (fragment)

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Step 3. Set ideal and marginally acceptable target values

The ideal value is the best result the team could hope for.
The marginally acceptable value is the value of the metric that would
only make the product commercially viable.

Five ways to express the values of the metrics:

1. At least X establishes the lower bound on a metric, but higher is
still better

2. At most X establishes target for the upper bound on a metric, with

smaller value being better

3. Between X and Y establish both upper and lower bounds for the
value of a metric

4. Exactly X establishes a target of a particular value of a metric, with

any deviation degrading performance

5. A set of discrete values values of metric correspond to several

discrete choices

Using these 5 types of expressions, the team sets the

target specifications.
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Target specifications
for the suspension fork

Fragment from full specification

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Step 4. Reflect on the results and the process

The team may require some iteration to agree on the target
The target specifications then can be used to help the team select
a concept and will help the team know when a concept is
commercially viable.

Setting the final specifications

As the team finalizes the choice of a concept and prepares for
subsequent design, target specifications must be refined and
made more precise.

A four-step process is proposed to set the final specifications.

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The four-step procedure

for setting of final specifications
1. Develop technical models of the product
2. Develop a cost model of the product
3. Refine the specifications, making trade-offs where
necessary
4. Reflect on the results and the process

Step 1. Develop technical models of the product

A technical model of the product is a tool for
predicting the values of the metrics for a particular
set of design decisions
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Types of technical models

1) Analytical model
Analytical models allow the team to predict rapidly, what type of
performance can be expected from a particular choice of design
variables, without costly physical experiments.
Examples for suspension fork:
analytical model for the brake mounting stiffness
dynamic model to predict vibration attenuation

2) Physical model
In some cases, analytical models are not available or those are
very complicated and difficult for analysis. So physical model is
built and tested.
Example for suspension fork:
Usually, it is not possible to model analytically the fatigue
performance of the suspension. For this purpose a physical model
of suspension must be built.
Generally it is necessary to build a variety of different physical
prototypes in order to explore the influence of several
combinations of design parameters.
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Technical modeling and analysis

prevents the team from setting

a combination of specifications that cannot be achieved using the product
concept.
Technical model is almost always unique to a particular product concept.
The modeling can only be performed after the concept has been chosen.

Example: Different technical models for an oil-damped

suspension system

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Step 2. Develop a cost model of the product

The goal of this step is to make sure that the product can be produced
at the target cost

The target cost is the manufacturing cost at which the company and its
distribution partners can make adequate profits, while still offering the
product to the end customer at a competitive price.

Evaluation of manufacturing cost is made by drafting a bill of

materials (a list of all parts) and by estimating a purchase price or
fabrication cost for each part.
At this point, the team does not generally know all of the components
that will be in the product. But team makes an attempt to list the
components it expects will be required.

Early estimation of the cost of components will make it possible to

estimate roughly the assembly and other manufacturing costs.
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Example: a bill of materials for the

suspension fork with cost estimates

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Step 3. Refine the specifications, making

trade-offs where necessary
Technical performance models and preliminary cost models are
used to develop final specifications.

Final specifications can be formed in a group session in which

feasible combinations of values are determined through the use
of the technical and cost models.
In an iterative fashion, the team approves the specifications which:
will most favorably position the product relative to the
competition
will best satisfy the customer needs
will ensure adequate profits
Important tool for supporting this decision-making process is the
competitive map. This map is simply a plot of the competitive
products along 2 dimensions, selected from the set of metrics.
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Example:
Competitive map for suspension fork
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The competitive map allows to

position the new product
relative to the competitive ones.

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Final specifications
for the suspension fork

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Step 4. Reflect on the results and the process

The final step is to reflect on the outcome and the process.

Some important questions

the team may want to consider:
1) Is the product a winner ?
2) How much uncertainty is there in the technical and cost models?
3) Is the concept chosen by the team best suited to the target
market, or could it be best applied in another market?
4) Should the firm initiate a formal effort to develop better technical
models of some aspects of the products performance for future
use?

Final specifications are one of the key elements of the

development plan, which is the main result of the concept
development process.
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