Product Design
Techniques in Reverse Engineering
and New Product Development
Kevin N. Otto
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Kristin L. Wood
University of Texas at Austin
Prentice [Qe
AIIM Upper Saddle River, Nj 07458Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
orzo, Kevin %
Product design/ Otte, Kevin W. and Mood, Kristin 1 j
P. cn.
includes blbliogzaphica? references end index
ISBN 0-13-021271-7
1, Design, Industrial. 2, New products. 3. Production Managenent
I, Wood, Kristin b. Ir. Title
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To those the
Laurie; my p
Bob, ard Jud
first kindledBaNcHPIARNING Ano Esraalisnine Aneinies CIAICATION:
ompory and should not Rather, one should identify competitors who #42 suc~
‘ologies, such ‘cessful in tae market. and then the benchmarking activity should
aking systen focus on determining what iis the carspetiors do that rakes therm
that "bench- success
pany Vistoon “The second point one should realize about benchmarking is one that
a student might think would go without sayirg except chat tis us-
tect partial ally the key problem with benchmarking, Most often a company wil
the roadmap complete of pay for an external benchmarking and then do ab
uct poryfoiie Solutely nothing with the results. They may read the results, bu:
lestones over soften companies will” explain asey” any shortcomings oftheir prod
foran indus- ties or processes and not make Fundantental change. This is espe
cially true when it will involve a major restructucing of company
mpanies for
processes. This consistently happens, because people are afraid of
steon can re-
mey remain necessary change.
rune ‘The point to take away is that benchmarking {s one activity in a
product development process, and as discussed in Chapter 1, dif
told realize ferent companies operate in different markets. As all Cecis.ons in
ing technol- product development, the decision over the level aad frequency of
snow: com. ‘benchmarking requires wisdom and judgment, and the act-ons thar
arkets rarely a benchmarking activity indicate are required should not be light
rm, Further, ly ignored
aan Ie any case, the establishment af opportunities and specifications fer
peampls: jure products is required whether er 10 benchmarking is done, We
processing next turn to discuss the activity of establishing product performance
saunas specifications.
“chasing the
tld be cere- V. SETTING PRODUCT
sidcsone SPECIFICATIONS
ategy to a
vald use the Having benchmarked competitive products on customer and techei
acompany cal criteria, one next step is to use this information to set targets fora
tition. Also, new product development effort, Since nev procict specifications are
nology that the purpose behind and culmination of the benchmarking process, we
"negate the discuss it next. The benchmarking process allows us to understand
Ald be care- ‘where there are potential openings in the market ard so establish what
mation, it would take to take advantage of suca opportunities, We now hegin
to mitigate to establish these new required levels of performance
ie competi- \We are therefore leaving behind the first phase of preduct develop~
rest no in- ment-—understand the opportunity—andare moving on o inmtiate the
u probably second phase of product develop: develop a concept: Figure 16)
263Proouer Desi
Specification Process
Specifications fora new product are quantitative, measurable criteria
that the product should be designed to satisfy. They are the measurable
goals for the des gn team. Specifications, like much design informa:
tion, should be established early and revisited often
‘There are two aspects toa specification that need to be clarified. First,
the specification: on a dimension that can support units, That i, there
are associated dirvensions: meters, degeees Fahrenheit, lumens, horse-
power,and so fort. A quantity that has units we will also callan engi- .
neering requirement. In addition to having units, though, a specification 4
‘nueds a arget value. Ths isa number along the dimensional unit that
establishes required performance. A target value can bea specific value
or a range: 1, 30-42, 270, blue, and so an.
Product specifications can occur at many levels at different points in
a development process: targets at the precancept phase are different
from cefined targets at the embodiment phase. For example, withthe
coffer mill, knowing or no: knowing that one will use a removable
chopping chamber in the new cortcept will obviously make 3 difference
in the appropriaieness of a “chamber removal force” specification.
‘ Early concept independent criteria (such as “Opening ease") get re he
Ht fined into performance specifications fora selected concept, which in
i term get refined into specifications for subspstems, assemblies. parts, 5
features, and so cn
Each specification should be measurable—testable or veriiable—at
i tach stage of the cevelopment process not just at the end of the process
H when the produc. is designed and buile. In the end, "if it isn't testable E
H and quantifiable, t isn'ta specification.” The testis), the means of mea- E
/ suring the perfomance of the product's system ‘and subsystems),
should always be stated and agreed on up front
i ‘We present here ove important milestone of establishing specifications, F
‘one that occurs justafiera benchmarking activity and just before new
concept development, Ths stage isa point in the development proces
‘when overall product specifications should be well considered. De-
tailed specifications for individual parts and assemblies can wait, but >
\ high-level performance targets should be established.
‘We develop specif cations using two approaches, the first from a check- =
list viewpoint and the second from a viewpoint of the translation of P
qualitative customer needs, Both are necessary. For the translation of E,
Customer needs, We present two methods, a Basic approach ting the
House of Quality and an advanced approach using value analysis. First, t
however, we will resentan important distinction among design spec :
i o LL 784BancMARKING ANb Esrabusiine ENeINEMING Seeccarions
fications, that of functional performance requirements versus overall,
product constraints
ttable criteria
ve measurable Functional Requirements Versus Constraints
ign informa When developing the eagincering requirements for a product devel
‘opment project, the design eam must coliect enough information from
lied. First r the customersand other sources to produce a specie set of needs, En
That is, there gincering requirements fall into two categories, fictional requirements
ens, horse: and constraits
veal an. engi- Eunctional requirensents are statements of the specific performance of
specication 1, that is, what the device should da. Functional requirements
tal uni that should he stated, initially, in the broadest {most generic) terms, They
Pevific vale should focus on performance, be stated in terms of logical relacion~
ships, and be stated, initially, in "solution neutral” terms
nt points in Aclear definitions) ofthe function(s} is essentil in design, To solve
are different any technical problem, we need to describe in a clear and repro~
ate. with the ducible way the relatioaship between each of the available (or spec:
‘removable ified) inputs and each of the desired (or required) outputs. These
a difference relationships between the inputs and the outputs establisa the fune-
vecification, tion af the system (Chapter 5). im this sense, the function is an ab-
Sse) get re: siract formulation of the task thar is te be acconeplisied ard is
Pt, which in independent of any particular solution (physical systema) tat is em
bhies, parts ployed toackieve the desired result Functions are generally stat in
terms of physically quantifiable (measurable) effects and in terms of
‘ifable—at mathematica relationships, Textual (or verbal) desriptions oF func
the process tions usual y consist of verb anéa nouns “increase presse "trans
an testable fer torque,’ 0° “reduce speed Functional requirements shoutd be
rnsof mea- stated in these terms followed hy appropriate quantification to mes-
systems) suce the specification
Constraints are external factors that, in some way, limit the selection
‘ifications, of system or subsystem characteristics. They aze not directly related
before new to the function (or functional objective) of the system. but apply
ent process across the set of functions for the system. They are generally im-
dered. Do- posed by factors outside the designers’ control. Cost and schedule
9 wait, but are constraints, Size, weight, materials properties, and safety issues
such as nontoxic, nontlammable materials are constraints. Specisi
cations relative to surface finish and tolerances may of may not be
considered constraints (e.., in the case of a mirsor a particular sur
face finish would be coasidered a functional recuirement rather than.
aconstraint),
macheck:
'slation of
'slation of
sing the
lysis, Fist, Constraints can drive the solution of many products, especially large
sign spec scale systems. Because of this fact, the constraints should be added with
285Paoover Besien
particular care, ard no constesint should be added frivolously, but only
if it really exists, These guidelines Iead to the following guideline
‘Constraints should e estab
hed only afer critical evaluation,
{n addition to identifying functional requirements and constraints it
is useful to guide she specification generation process with 2 function:
al decomposition straiegy, as in Chapter 5, That i, each specification
«can be considera: being met when several more-detaled specifications
are simultaneous met. By taking this flow-down approach, specifica-
tions witl be more directly elevant to particular subsystems and com-
ponents and so have @ greater likelihood of attainment. This will be
further developec in Chapter 9 in discussions on product architecture
and modularity.
Basic Method: Specification Sheets
Customer needs 4o not necessarily provide a complete picture for a
design task. ‘They provide the foundation to focus design efforts, but
there also exist other criteria that are important toa design task that the
customer may not even perceive, such as standards, ethics, and manu-
facturing, Therefore, itis important to supplement and complerment
consumer needs with engineering requirements. One method to sup-
plement consumer needs isto consider a larger “customer” base in
cluding stakeholders, such as the manufacturers, the assemblers, the
marketers, and the distributors, and consider them desiga customers,
{This approach tends to obscuze and diminish the point-of-view of the
person who will he buying the product,
Alternatively, we may apply an approach known as Specification List
Gereration that uses decompesition to guide a search for relevant spec-
ications. This approach focuses on specifications that are latent (the
customers do need them, but they do not think to express them}, such
as satty, regulations, and environmental factors, Designating eaca spec
ification as 2 required demand or a desirable wish will communicate
itslevel of imporance.
Consider the checklist in Table 7.2 that is qaite useful in identifying
specifications, (developed by Franke, 1975), Franke studied a number
of specification processes in industry to develop this list It provides a
decomposition strategy for developing specifcations, listing categories
that aid a comprehensiveness and completeness
‘Using the Franke breakéown, a convenient procedure for developing
general specifications will now be outlined, This procedure represents
basic approach fr specification generation, but it must be augmented
with the necessary effort and “perspiration.”
786BENCHMARONG AND ESTABLISHING ENGINEERING SPECIFICATIONS
TABLE 7.2, CATEGORIES FOR SEARCHING AND DECOMPOSING
utonl
7e: : SPECIFICATIONS (FRANKE, 1975).
Syecinenion enepey Descipe
‘Geant Diners, ae renee
hindi Kimersatics ‘Type and direction of macion, ve'ncity.
atl Forces Drrection and magnitude. frequency. load impened by.
Lain ‘ehesgy type. eflicieney, capacity: conversing. temperature
anene Materia Properties af final praduet, Now st materials. design for
xifica manufacturing «DEMO
Icom- Signa dep and utp py
will be sales Prteston ses
ecture xgommics Cv tes, tumaninetae ses
Prodeton Factory isting wate
Quy Cont Pri fort
Assenbly Seley BFMA or pci yulnans we eee
fora “Tansee
a peat Fvronmet es 6 48 mine
plied Mioemine Sg
iu _ Manuacting cons eras ots
a Schedules Time consis eee
‘sup:
eine
al 1. Compile specifications. Arrange the functional requirements (FR)
ihe and constraints (C) into dear order. Table 7,3 shows at exarnple
Specification-sheet template for compiling the specifications. toy
rocket product is shown in the te-piate
1 List When compiling the specifications, begin with the functional re
specs quirements and then ist the constraints. Also, vemen:be> thet at
(the the preconcept stage, specifications must not be domain or form
such specific; for example, a specification on “Gear speed" woud be in
pee appropriate initially. This guideline on domain specifications on!
a holds true before concepts are developed. Once a preferred con-
«cept is selected, che form-independent specifications are expannd-
ying ed into particular form-specific specifications,
aber 2. Determine if each of the functional requirements and constrairts
lesa is a demand or a wish,
mnies 3, Determine if the functional requirements and constraints are logi-
cally consistent. Check fr obvious confit. It is important to rzake
ving sure that the customer needs (and thus the specications) ean 2¢
ans ‘met and that they are technically and economically feasible. if asys-
xted tem cannot be buil to meet the stated speciicetions or within the
stated constraints the customer should be sold immediately
287Pay
wc Desks
&
TABLE 7.3. SPECIFICATION SHEET TEMPLATE, EXAMPLE OF ATOY ROCKET PRODUCT (PARTIAL)
Denard Project Toy rocker dig specication
Dats grain sheet func requiements/constcnts Responsibly ‘TewWerifeation
uncial Reguroments
12S Provicethnistfor maxima height DE Bemnoull and Conservation of
(Gelucity > 20m) ‘Moaentum Analysis
129 Dnt subi versal het pat es ha aR Flight ets wih rottype design of
than 28 m deciaton “rom vertal profile) ‘expevimerts
Const
Geometre
12S D_—_—Rockot length = 15em WE Seif with eng drawings during
‘concept generation, embodiment et,
ms ow
Kinernatis
NASD Safe cperaton = tua? wi Vesity Huis analysand proxnype
Safety
126 Nucdetachable parts es tha S em in Kw ify wit dimensional check of
Simeter ett pape al te est) ‘engineeing desing
4, Quart ver possible, The team may begin with rather qual=
itative statements,but :tisimportant, in the end, to develop a quan
titative statement of the specification—no remaining statements
such as “design ese of construction.”
5. Determine detailed approaches for ultimately testing and verity
ing the specifications during the product development process. Ex-
amples of tests and verifications include engineering analyses; ets
of scaled, fllsize, partial, or complete prototypes: checks of engi-
neesing drawings. flute modes analyses: or aser tests with an ap
propriate sample size.
6. Circulate specifications for comment and/cr amendment. Itis help-
ful to circulate the specificaions for comment to all members of
the design team, customers, interested colleagues, management,
and ethers
Evaltate comments and amendments. When comments are r
‘turned, examine objections and suggested amendments. Resolve
the objections and, if necessary, incorporate the amendments in
the specifications Itis critical that all specifications be clearly stat
‘ed and fully justiied, f specifications are too restrictive. we ray
288BENCHMARKING AND EcsABLSHG Encarm
AK TABLE 7.4, EXAMPLE: LOUDSPEAKER DESIGN, QUALITATIVE
SPECIFICATIONS VS, QUANTITATIVE
i Specification ype Spzuiicaions Quansifcatin
vot Qvalatve
Functiont:
design of Broad dynamic range
Broad frequency range
Very tinear
Conse
Use stenanre box shape
Functional
Dynamic ange 100175.
sop Frew age 20-2009 Ho wit =u
; THD Coal Ramon Doron) sets 7
. Comsrain
ce Geometry fo larger than XY « ZOE)
her quale miss better solution. If specifications are not restrictive enough,
Paquan. the goals of a project may notbe met. Table 7.4 depicts heth quan-
atements titative and qualitative specifications for a loudspeaker design be-
fore diffrent concept are developed
sd verify
e Basic Method: The House of Quality
sof eng At chis point, fom previous work the design team should understand
thanap- the customer needs, expressed in ther voice. They should also under
stand the current product (if it exists) and how it satisfies these needs.
fe ‘We now need to determine the priorities For design to achieve the de
Wesar sign goals and make the product beter. Ta accomplish this task we must
Bement, D find the weakly satisfied customer needs
D- theirdeperdencies or interreationships
Rech D determine what product changes we ca effect improve these
sents in weak points
ny stat. This process will define the level of modeling required, both in func-
pe ny, tion and in product components.
289)Paowucr Dexsx
Quality fetion deployment {QED} isa methodology for defining the cus
tomers desiresin the customers own voice, prioritizing these desires, tans-
lating them into engineering requirements ‘quantified specifications).
«establishing targets for meeting the requirements, I also embodies a toot
for defining the “right” problem to solve (scoping), where a series of max
‘rice are used to stricture information acquisition and dacumentation,
Each matrix is called a House of Quality (Hauser and Clausing, 1988).
FD was developed in 1972 at Mitsubishi's Kobe shipyard and basically
introduced into the United States by the Xerox Corporation after they
had learned of it from their Japanese partner Fuji Xerox (Clausing,
1994), thas been adopted ina number of industries, including txeau-
tomotive and electronics
Overview
In product design, the tility to fame the problem is important to suc-
25 to ask the right question atthe right time of the right person. QED
isa process intended to ad the design team in asking the right questions,
atthe right time, and of he right people. It isa development team com
sensus-building activity, to get agreement among the team on how the
product should perform It supports and documents the benchmarking
and customer-need-anshsis 2rocesses, and its inten: is to improve the
quality of products in the broadest sense. It means much more than
avoid-ng repairs for consumers. It means learning from customer
experience and reconciling what customers want with what engincers
can reasonably build It means aligning different disciplinary subsystem
boundary specificationsto establis a working whole product.
Before the irdustrial revclution, products were simple and the producers
vere close fo their customers, tey dealt with them and their needs ona
one-on-one basis, and thes they had a better sense of theie needs, With di
ciplinary specialization, shere has been an increasing degree of separa-
tion between producers and consumers. Many of those most responsible
for detailed disciplinary cesign decisions have“lost touch" with customer
needs. QFD is a too! thatcan be used to reestablish this connection,
‘To establishing the linkto the customer, QF, an in particular the
House of Quality, is used to first establish engineering requirements
that can be used as measicabie surrogates forthe more-qualitativecus-
tomer needs, QFD isalso used to make clear the elationships between
customer needs and engineering requirements, document bench
‘marking data (both quantitative and qualitative), form specifications
by establishing target values on each engineering requirement, check for
conflicts in engineering requirements, and finally record expected tech
nical dificult: These purposes establish our intended use for the House
of Quality. The House of Quality forms.aclear summary statement of
290BaNcHKARKING ANO EstaausHine Eneiizmne Spscmcarions
the product specifications anc: supporting data consisting of bench-
cance : rear sy
‘tcations), and Filling in the Matrix
bodies a tool Figure 7.12 illustrates a template for a House of Quality. The prace-
series of ma-
dure for documenting information in ths template i as follows
ccumentation.
sing, 1988). ; 1. Kdentify the customer(s) {both internal and external}
dand basically } Consumers, production (manufacturing), regulators, market-
tion ater they ingldiseributionisales
ox (Clausing, 4
luding the au-
‘ortant to sue-
person. QFD
tht questions,
nt team con-
00 how the
anchmarking J oo
improve the Requirements
bh more than
m customer
vat engineers
*y subsystem Pia
1 Tener)
seproducers
reeds ona
ds. With dis- Whar
‘eof separa
responsible seme
theusomer Requirements
1eetion,
How
Relationship
Mates
Trmporanse Rating
‘Customer Targets
Rings
ticular the
guitements
ltativecus-
psbetween
ant bench-
xifications
sw check for 7
ected tech,
the House
sement of
‘TARGETS
How Much
YY Figure 7.12.
Template tor the House of QualityProouer DEian
2. Determine the customer needs (or WHATS). Customer requirements
ate the" WHAT IS TO BE DONE” definition of a project. These cs
tomer needs may bedocumentee based on the results of Chapter 4
)The“what’ canbe liste in primary secondary. and tertiary se
quence.
List needs inthe customer's own voice (“ea5y“fast”“light-
weight”)
3. Determine the relaive importance or priority of the customer
needs (scale of 1-5 or 1-10). Importance levels should be deter:
‘mined following the methods in Chapter 4
4. Translate customer needs into measurable engineering requir
snents (or HOWS). Determine how the product can be changed in
performance to better meet customer needs. The customer dornain,
tells us wharto do, tieengineering domain tells us how to do itt
leas in terms of mecsurements For any customer need, there may
be multiple enginetring requirements that can be expressed in
‘quantifiable terms. One should document
> each how in terms of a label and specification value
) the direction fer improvement for each how, using a + or
Determine relationship of engineering design requirements to
customer needs. Indicate the relationship and the strength of the
relationship between the engineering requirements and the cus-
omer needs,
inietor Meaning Steagth
° Indiesosa strong telsicaship oe much imorance
° Indkeaessome relsonsip or some portance
luckcsesa sal
ieashp or importance
Incicaesno elton hip
If there are ao strong engineering requizements for a given cus
jomer need, there isa problem, Possible engineering requirement
responses for the customer need should be reconsidered
6, Perform or execute vompetitive benchmarking, Here the objective
is to determine how the customer perceives the competition's abit-
ity to meet cach of tneir needs, Use a simple device to capture,
omer input, stich as a compressed scale such as 1-5, with 1
representing not sitisfied and 5 fully satisfied, comparing the
benchmark’s design attributes with the list of customer needs. This
step represents a qualitative benchmarking exercise, capturing the
“feelings” of the customer.
22sirements§
‘hese cuse
‘hapter 4.
‘riary se=
lights
ustomer
ve deter
requires
anged in 4
domain
doit, at
vere may
essed in
ator
lents to
rof the
he cus-
Suengen
meus
ement
jective
‘sabil-
recus-
vith 1
vg the
s.This
ng the
BaicHnamina ano srasusNINs Enanesine Srscincanons
Rank the technical difficlty of each engineering requirement
‘Again a pair-wise comparison can be used to determine ranking,
‘The technical dificulty of aehiewing each customer need in tems
ofthe changes defined bythe engineering requirement should also
be defined, again using. seale of 1-5 or 1-10
Correlate technical relationships to determine interrlationships
of design requirements, Thi step entails completing the "roct” of
the House of Quality. Tecanical characteristics may be competing
rather than complementary. These reiationships must be defined
and resolve.
Indicator Meaning
@ Indicates high pontine eeelation
+ Inicetes postive corel
legones negative coneation
nccate high negative cortation
Set engineering requirement targets (specifications) forthe prod-
uct design, One can do this by comparing the requizemert mea-
suremerts of each of the benchmarking products and positioning
the new product among these specifications
Fundamentally, one must consider two factors when setting tar-
get: the cost and the benefit of achieving a value. One might gain
some from a very low coffee mill noise specification, but it may be
prohibitively costly. One must weigh these qualitatively i the basic
House of Quality approach. More quentitative means are discussed
in the next section of value analysis.
Setting targets early inthe design process is advantageous. Speci
{values work best for targets. Relatively narrow ranges of values
ate next best, but fa range is used, be wary of allowing the least
isfactory end ofthe range to be adopted a8 a defacto target, espe-
cially when such an approach is adopted for every range
Select areas for improvement. Similar in spirit to the proposal
for redesign above, here we can use analysis of the QED matrix
to define final design targets and to identify areas that need f
ther concentcated effort. To make these decisions, the impor
tance rating of the customer needs must be considered in
conjunction with the qualitative beachmarking. This analysis
leads to the choice of the most critical engineering requirernents
through the relationship matrix. The HOWs, technical difficul-
ty.correlation matrix, target values, and quantitative benchmarks
should be used to guide further development and product
improvements.
293Paooucr Daven
Product Example: Automatic Iced Tea Brewer
Figure 7.13 shows a partial House of Quality foran automatic eed es
brewer product. The primary customer need are ltd asthe rons of
the male, ranging fom “atronger tea" to"adequately contain steam”
‘These customer need: are converted to measurable engineering spec-
iz g
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Ey aise > oss 3
Bie hoger an AC sa
Contain stam oe as
Tinie SEO
Measurement nts Spee faba bt al
Onest urge vales pea aa 9 [sf
[Onccive [es Berd fa etna s oil ap
Menus fa Cote Teles fi Tiehid 2
NW cof Mater Tata o[ ps als
foi Fasion W pets lads fall
Powdered Tex = ote] [> [soll
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ingorance [Rete SPREEE ET ae
Y Figure 7.13,
‘Automatic iced tea maker House of Quality (paral)BancHWanxine arto dsvADLsHINe ENGINEERING SPECIACA-IONS
ifications sn the columns of the matrix, In this case, the metrics for
stronger tea (not a J:] mapping of a customer seed to « metric) are
temperature of the water end the time that tea isin contact with she
water, The metric for easy-to-add ice is the volume of the water in the
tank, since this volume, ata high temperature, will define the quentity
of ice needed, The greater the volume, the more ie that will be needed
Metrics ate listed for the rensaining customer needs,
For each of the metrics, units are listed below the customer needs asa
row. Artows ate included above the metrics to show the goal of the
metric, minimize, maximize, or a target value. In the case of volume of
water in the brewer lank, we wish to minimize it, because mor
‘water will require more ice io cool it. As longas the recuisite tea favor
is infused, additional cooler water may be added to the brewed tea to
obtain the desiced quantity of ised tex.
The matrix clls correlate the customer needs {rows} to the mel
{columns} This correlation is not necessarily Tel but i typically Limany.
that i there willenst more thas one metric,on average, foreach easter
need, The corelation cells ar filed with e strong, weak, or no rations.
Inthe case ofthe tea brewer, stronger tea, for example, i related strongly
to ts two metris, with no (o¢ minimal) correlation fo the othe metrics
‘The roof of the House of Quality, located above the metrics, shows the
relationships between the performance metrics. A strong positive rela-
‘tionship indicates that as one metic is significantly improved, the other
improves significantly as well (ané vice versa). negative celationship,on
the other hand, represents a conflict. If one metric improves, the other
will deteriorate. Such confliets must always be corefully analyzed and
"monitored, In the eave of the tea brewer, the total volume hes 4 strong,
negative relationship to the largest amount to brevs A large storage con
tainer is desired to brew large quantities of tea; however, a small total
volume of the brewer isalso desired for stowage purposes. These metrics
strongly conflict; yet, by separating the storage container from the brew
cr (separation in t.me and space), stowage problems are reduced, ce-
easing the importance of easy o store.” Overall, both of these metrics
st be analyeed together to understané the traceofs in the confit.
Qualitative and quantitative benchmack values are also shown on the
House of Quality. These values help to understand the market position of
a product. They «leo provide 2 logical means of seting target va.ues for
product evolution, In the case of the ta brewer, iceal goals are given by
the benchmark comparisons :o the powered tea brewing and old-fesh
ioned method of tea brewing. These goals provide a normalization when
ymparing products, The tea brewer QED also shows a comparison ot
‘b90 tea brewers currently on the market. if our products the West Bend
295Proswer |
1
Drewer, we need to set aggresive goals in stronger tea containing steam and
stowage space to compete in he equivalent value market. Target values of
the West Ben! show goals for mecting or surpassing the competition,
Finally, che House of Quality shows the celative and absolute ranking
of the product metrics. as listed at the bottom of the figure. Por the tea
brewer, product developmen: should focus on the fitst three or five
metric to satisfy the voice of the customer. These chcices depend on
the resources (time and money) available and the technical difficulty
expected for improving a metric (as shown in the matrix), The tex
brewer shows that the volumeof water in the tankis relatively easier to
address technically compared to the other high-ranked metres. This
retric should thus be addressed first, in conjunction with temper-
‘ure of the water due to the strong negative relationship.
In sum, the House of Quality srovides a large quantity of information
Jina very concise and well-organized forr.A logical progression through
this information leads tothe setting of priorities, allocation of resources,
and the development of real engineering specifications (metrics) for a
product. I: also establishes, a «basic level, the current market status of
a product and the desired target values (or surpassing the competition,
Comments on House of Quality
‘Anumbe of hits exist foreFetively using the House of Quality For
‘example, one should not let the matrix grow too large; one should keep
it under 0 rows and columns Lf it gets too large it beconses unwieldy.
‘Tokeep it simple, one should operate at different levels in the product,
For example, considering the benchmarking of automobile product, one
«can develop vehicle-wide specifications with a vehicle-wide House of
‘Quality. Entries might include overall dimensions and weight (measur
able) and “ease of unlocking” (ot measurable). These specifications can
then be flowed doven to doorlevel specifications and a separate House
‘of Quality completed atthe door level. Here the “ease of unlocking” spec
ification might flow into @ measurable key-turning torque specification.
Similarly, the “ease of unlocking” might flow down differently into dif
ferent measurable specification on the elgcironics subsystems House of
‘Quality, where a keyless remote specification might be established for
distance thatthe remote operates, Patting both of these and theie coun-
terperts in one large detaled vehicle House of Quality 3 unreasonable,
Separate House of Quality’s can be developed along the functional de-
composition of the product. Tais approach willbe further developed in
Chapter 9 in discussions on product architecture and modularity,
Another hint isto use the function structure to help establish the spec-
ications. Every subfunetion has fows in and out, Differences between
296ining steam
“Target vahues|
competition,
solute ranking’
ure. For the tea,
st three or five:
«es depend on
nical difficulty 4
uric). The tea
tively easier to
| metrics. This
sith tempera
finformation
ssion through
nnof resources,
netries) for a
arket status of
competition,
Quality. For
eshould keep
nes unwieldy.
the product
product, one
ide House of
ght (measur-
iffcations can
>arate House
acking” spec
specification,
tlyinto adif-
ns House of
tablished for
their coun-
reasonable,
netional de
Jeveloped in
larity.
sh the spec
ces between
JARKING AND EoramuisHiInG ENoIMeeRING SPscifICATIONS
these flows are readily measurable and so are candidates for spcifca-
tions, Chapter 6 details an approach for relating product functions to
engineering eoquirements {metrics
Finally. should be kept in mind that the intent of the House of Qual
ityis consensus building. Its tool to ensure thatthe variety of spec~
fications, typically eepresenting a variety of diferent disciplines and
development subgroups al converge toa successfil product The sa
trix does not generate specifications; it documents them.
Advanced Method: Value Analysis
In the approaches discussed so far, target values are established by de
sign team judgersent. Basically, forary engineering requirement a tar-
get value is determined by simul:aneously judging the cost of attaining
that target and the customer desire in delivering that target.
‘A more quantitative approach is to create models of these two factors,
For each specification value, one might e-eate 2 model of customer
preference over the possible target. This model can be developed by
using customer questionnaires ("How much more would you pay for
twice as much performance”) oF through conjoint analysis studies
bbath discussed in Chapter 4.
Similarly. one could estimate the cast of delivering different levels of
performance, based on estimation of components requirec and! their
cost of manufacture. With these to models of customer desire D and
cost to produce C both measured in dollars, one can determine the
foremost target value to use.
We can define value or worth asthe difference in the desire of the cus
tomer from the cast of producing it
vaD-c ma)
and then we can pick a target value that maximizes this quantity. Other
forms include
ves (12>
ce
normalized form that can be less sensitive to model ertors, such as if
all ofthe cost estimates are made using the same cost analysis tool and
are off by the same factor. A normalized form also need not have the
desire and the costs expressed in identical units.
‘This analysis can be completed in detail. For example, the cost function
can be expressed over the subassemblies and down to the components
‘ofa product. The desiced furiction can be expressed asan overall func
27