ME6613D Advanced Methods in

Engineering Design

Dr. P.K. Rajendrakumar

Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
National Institute of Technology, Calicut
 Advanced Methods in Engineering Design
Product Design
Concepts of Product Design
Modeling and simulation
Material selection
Design for Manufacturability
Reliability
Importance of Reliability
Factor of Safety and Reliability
Reliability tests
Reliability techniques
Failure Analysis
Sources of Failures
Methodology of Failure Analysis
Failure of Metals
Failure of Polymers, Ceramics and Glass
Failure Analysis Case Studies
 Product Design & Development
 To design is “to prepare a plan, sketch etc. (of something to be
made)”

 For an engineer, to design is “to pull together something new or

to arrange existing things in a new way to satisfy a recognized
need of the society”

 A product is a set of attributes offered to consumers to fulfill

their needs or requirements
 A product can be any item from a book, musical composition, or
information service, to an engineered product such as a computer,
hair dryer, or washing machine
 The present study focuses on discrete engineered products
 Product Design & Development (Contd)
Product design is the process of defining the physical form of a
new product to best meet the customer needs
 Product design refers to the activities involved in:
 Creating the styling, look and feel of the product
 Deciding on the product's mechanical architecture
 Selecting materials and processes
 Engineering the various components necessary to make the product work

Product development is the set of activities beginning with the

perception of a market opportunity and ends with the production,
sale and delivery of a product
 Product Development refers collectively to the entire process of:
 Identifying a market opportunity
 Creating a product to appeal to the identified market
 Testing, modifying and refining the product, until it is ready for production
 Research and Development

Basic Technology Product

Research Development Development
 Discovery process • Loosely structured  Structured methods
 No set timing • Difficult to plan  Planned timing
 Unpredictable returns • Less predictable  Predictable outcome
 Long term • Medium term  Short term
 Changing Dimensions of Competition

Manufacturing: Product Development:

Cost and Quality Features and Function

 Competitiveness today is more than ever based on

product development capability
 Creating value through product development
Apple: Simply Better Products
Black & Decker Snake Light
GoodGrips Angled
Measuring Cups
Target Prescription Pill Bottle
 Five specific dimensions for assessing a
product development effort
 Product quality
 How good is the product resulting from the development effort?
 Does it satisfy customer needs
 Is it robust and reliable
 Product cost
 What is the manufacturing cost of the product?
 Manufacturing cost includes cost of capital equipment and tooling as well as the incremental
cost of producing each unit of the product
 It determines how much profit the firm can make for a particular sales volume and price
 Development time
 How quickly did the team complete the product development effort?
 Determines how well the firm responds to competitive forces and technological developments
 Determines how quickly the firm receives the economic returns through the team’s efforts
 Development cost
 How much the firm had to spend to develop the product?
 Development capability
 Did the team and the firm attain better capability to develop future products as a
result of the experience gained from the product development project?
 Functions of a product development project
 Marketing
 Mediates the interactions between the firm and its customers
 Identifies product opportunities and customer needs
 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 a new
product to best meet the customer needs
 Includes Engineering design (Mechanical, Electrical, software, etc.) and industrial design
(aesthetics, ergonomics, user interfaces)

 Manufacturing
 This function is primarily responsible for designing, operating and/or coordinating
the production system in order to produce the product
 It also includes purchasing, distribution and installation
 Collection of the above two sets of activities is sometimes called the supply chain

Product development is carried out by a group of people specialized in

various areas forming a project team
 Product development Process

 Product development process is the sequence of steps or activities

which an enterprise employs to conceive, design and commercialize
a product

 The process of developing new products varies between companies,

and even between products within the same company

 Regardless of organizational differences, a good new product is the

result of a methodical development effort with well defined product
specifications and project goals

The key activities of a generic product development process is

shown next
A generic product development process
Phases of the generic product development process
0. Planning
 It precedes the project approval and launch of the actual product
development process (i.e., based on a product vision statement: Eg.
Develop a networked, mid-range, digital platform for imaging and printing)
 Begins with corporate strategy and includes assessment of technology
developments and market objectives
 Output of this phase is the project mission statement which specifies the
target market of the product, business goals, key assumptions and
constraints. (Example : a multi-functional printer → )

1. Concept development
 In this phase, the needs of the target markets are identified, alternative
product concepts are generated and evaluated, and one or more concepts
are selected for further development and testing
 A concept is a description of the form, function and features of a product
and is usually accompanied by a set of specifications, an analysis of
competitive products, and an economic justification of the project
Phases of the generic product development process (Contd)

2. System-level design
 This phase includes the definition of the product architecture and the decomposition of
the product into subsystems and components
 Output of this phase includes:
1. A geometric layout of the product
2. A functional specification of each of the product’s subsystems
3. A preliminary process flow diagram for the final assembly process
3. Detail design
 This phase includes:
 Complete specification of the geometry, materials, and tolerances of all the unique parts in
the product
 Identification of all of the standard parts to be purchased from suppliers
 A process plan is established and tooling is designed for each part to be fabricated
within the production system
 Output of this phase is the control documentation for the product:
 Drawings or computer files describing the geometry of each part and its production tooling
 Specifications of the parts to be purchased
 Process plans for the fabrication and assembly of the product
Phases of the generic product development process (Contd)
4. Testing and refinement
 This phase involves the construction and evaluation of multiple pre-production
versions of the product
 Early (alpha) prototypes are usually built with production-intent parts (i.e., parts
with the same geometry and material properties as intended for the production version
of the product, but not necessarily fabricated with the actual processes to be used in
production)
 Tested to determine whether the product will work as designed and whether the product
satisfies the key customer needs
 Later (beta) prototypes are usually built with parts supplied by the intended
production processes, but may not be assembled using the intended final
assembly processes
 These are evaluated internally, and are tested by customers in the real use environment
 The output of this phase is the evaluation of the performance and reliability to
identify the necessary engineering changes for the final product
Phases of the generic product development process (Contd)
5. Production ramp-up
 In this phase the product is made using the intended production system
 The work force is trained and any remaining problems in the production
processes are worked out
 Products produced are supplied to the preferred customers and are
carefully evaluated to identify any remaining flaws

 Gradual transition takes place from production ramp-up to ongoing

production

 At some point in this transition, the product is launched and made

available for widespread distribution (→ )
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 Variants of generic product development process
 The development process described so far is for generic products
 Particular processes will differ in accordance with a firm’s unique context
Variants of generic product development process (Contd)
 Product development process flows
 Product development process generally follows a structured flow of
activity and information flow

 Once the product development process is established within an

organization, a process flow diagram is used to explain the process
to everyone in the team

 Process flow for a generic product development process is shown

below

Concept System-Level Detail Testing and Production

Planning Development Design Design Refinement Ramp-Up

Mission Concept System Spec Critical Design Production

Approval Review Review Review Approval
 Product development process flows (Contd)

 Quick-build products enable a spiral product development process

 Detail design, prototyping and test activities are repeated a number of times

Many Iteration Cycles

Concept System-Level Production
Planning Design Build Test
Development Design Ramp-Up

Mission Concept Cycle Plan Cycle

Approval Review Review Review
 Product development process flows (Contd)

 Complex Systems development process

 Process is decomposed into parallel stages of work on the many subsystems and
components
Design Test

Design Test
Concept System-Level Integrate Validation
Planning Development Design and Test and Ramp-Up
Design Test
Mission Concept System Production
Approval Review Review Approval
Design Test

 Successful firms form product development organizations internally,

in addition to crafting an effective product development scheme
 Functional organizations : Organizational link correspond to development functions
 Project organizations : Organizational link correspond to development projects
 Standard
development
process of a
reputed firm

(American Machine &

Foundry : Transformed
to AMF Bowling later)
EX.1 Formulate a process for planning and cooking a family
dinner. Does your process resemble the generic product
development process? Is cooking dinner analogous to a
market-pull, technology-push, process-intensive, or
customization process?

 One process might consist of the following steps:

 Ask spouse, children, or family members what they feel like eating and when
they would like to eat.
 Make a survey of available ingredients.
 Generate three or so alternatives that are both feasible and meet the desires of
the other diners.
 Select an alternative through a survey or by a subjective judgment.
 Plan (usually informally and intuitively) the best sequence for preparing the food.
 Cook and serve.
 Reflect on the results and the process ( !!! ).
EX.1 Formulate a process for planning and cooking a family
dinner. Does your process resemble the generic product
development process? Is cooking dinner analogous to a market-
pull, technology-push, process-intensive, or customization
process?

 The process of cooking dinner could be analogous to any of the four

alternatives.
 It could be market-pull.
 What do we want for dinner? Let’s go get what we need.

 It could be technology-push.
 What ingredients and equipment do we have? What can we make with the
available resources?

 It could be process-intensive.
 The only equipment we have in the house are a gas stove and a pressure cooker.

 It could be a customization process.

 All we know how to make, is rice & subji. Do we want plane rice, fried rice, or
biriyani?
EX .2 What type of development process would you expect to
find in an established company successful at developing
residential air conditioning units? How about for a small company
that is trying to break into the market for racing wheelchairs?

 Air conditioners are fairly standard products embodying relatively

stable technologies.
 We would expect companies developing air conditioners to have a
customization process with some measure of market-pull (such as a
change in shape, convenience in installation etc.

 Initially the racing wheelchair company is likely to have a market-pull

process.
 The firm will be looking for ways to satisfy the needs of the customers
in the market.
 Eventually, the firm may adopt more of a customization process in
which each customer receives a product tailored slightly to their own
needs, but built around a standard product concept.