01 INTRODUCTION

02 NEEDS IDENTIFICATION

03 SPECIFICATION
GET 501 PRESENTATION 04 QUALITY FUNCTIONAL
DEPLOYMENT
Needs identification and specifications

VIEW SLIDES
 INTRODUCTION

A Seven-step model of
project work
 INTRODUCTION
The main project initiation stages are:
 Identifying the need for that project
 Developing various specification to guide the
design
 Accepting the specifications
 The needs of of the people you want to make the product for comes first. You have to identify
their needs first. which are a mixture of quantitative, qualitative, and intangible factors. Needs
come from a variety of sources with different motivations and expectations.
 The Specifications needed for the design of a project are developed from the needs.
 Agreement between the specifications and deliverables is required for a successful
project.
 It is good to always work toward a win-win set of specifications so that you know what to
deliver and your customers know what to expect.
 It is strictly unwise to proceed to the detailed design phase when a clear set of needs or
specifications are not established.
 NEEDS IDENTIFICATION

Needs start the design process. The sources of the initial needs will vary wildly. Some of
the methods for needs identification includes
 Meetings
 Market research
 Group review

At the end of needs identification stage we must have something that will drive the design
process. Given that the needs will be used to develop the specifications it is a good idea
to identify all of the necessary, assumed, and desired needs. it is even better if the needs
are expressed as measurable, or testable, qualities.
One common process error is to assume a solution and then select the needs and
specifications for that solution, hence constraining you to a single design.
 NEEDS IDENTIFICATION
The steps in needs identification include:
 Form a general idea of the problem and the motivation for a solution.
 Further define the problem and need.
 Check the need for completeness and consistency
 Iterate as necessary

It is essential that a detailed description of customer needs should focus on what the design needs
to do, not how to do it. In other words, the needs should avoid requiring a specific design
implementation.
Examples of needs include:
 Specific maximum airspeed
 Maximum engine thrust output
 Specific Lift to drag ratio
 Material integrity
 NEEDS IDENTIFICATION
Forms can be used in the acquisition of customer needs. The form provides a few prompts that
are often found in needs statements. These needs can be captured as freeform bullet lists, sketches,
diagrams, photographs, and so on.

A NEEDS WORKSHEET
 NEEDS IDENTIFICATION
The methods for needs identification includes:

Research Benchmarking and surveys Patents Market-driven designs

• • A list of competitive products • Do a simple search to find •
Internet Region
patents using some technical
• Crowd sourcing • A list of features of features keywords • Culture
• Library • Consumer perceptions of the • Read the abstracts to • Personal history
• determine relevance •
Consultant device features • For patents that are related to Interests
• Network • An engineering analysis of key your design, read the • Ethics/morals/
components disclosure for technical religion
• Your devices tested against the design details, read the
background for needs (i.e.,
• Financial standings
same criteria design motivations), and , if
the patent is less than 20
years old, read the claims to
see if your work infringes.
• Use the patent references to
search for older related
patents.
• Use the patent number to
search for related, parallel,
or newer patents
 SPECIFICATIONS
Specifications are developed from the needs and help to define the project and guide the
work. It is best to select a set of specifications that you know are feasible, so that you
know what you must do and the customer knows what to expect.
Some attributes of acceptable specifications include the following:
 Define the project performance in detail.
 Include numbers, graphs, diagrams, etc.
 Details are provided first, then text; avoid the vagueness possible with the written word.
 Ensure that specifications allow you to agree how much and what is to be done.
 Avoid feature creep.
 Provide focus.
 Incorporate constraints.
 Define sign-off procedures to close the project.
 Specifications should be defined as minimum requirements, not a wish list.
 SPECIFICATIONS

Specifications worksheet

Mapping needs to specifications

A complete set of specifications will be exact and testable. At the end of the project they will be used to test
the deliverables, as the final acceptance criteria
 SPECIFICATIONS

Consumer specifications are a mix of technical specifications, embodiment, and design.

For example specifications for an aircraft might be maximum airspeed, maximum altitude, or cost of
maintenance. The technical specification would have referred to variables such as engine type (piston
engine or jet engine), aircraft type (unpressurized or pressurized). lift to drag of the aircraft wings, and
its mass. Likewise the consumer specifications for a computer might include a specific processor
number. The technical specification would have referred to the Intel or AMD processor.
The technical specifications define design objectives, the consumer specifications provide the design
outcomes.
The design specifications tell us what the paddle blade SHOULD DO while the consumer specifications
tell us what the blade IS.
 SPECIFICATIONS
A number of good practices for specifications development includes:
Industrial designers get early/pre-approval for look and feel, usage model, function, and aesthetics.
Use benchmark designs when developing needs and specifications.
If the specifications contain optional requirements, leave these out or connect them to a design bonus.
Push for evolutionary before revolutionary designs.
If a customer pushes for open design items to see what is possible or to leave room for change, add these as
an option in the specifications. But do not plan to change the specifications without renegotiation.
Try to talk in general terms that focus on the function instead of solution (e.g., “the automobile should be able
to move on ground with a 12-inch variation in height” instead of “the axle clearance should be 12 inches”).
Break requirements into separate measurable or testable values.
Keep the requirements as simple as possible. l Avoid vague language; use numbers and technical goals.
Do not include more specifications than the minimum needed. If extras are added mark them as optional.
If there are optional specifications, define a point of frustration or use a development bonus.
 SPECIFICATIONS

Flowchart for screening specifications

 QUALITY FUNCTIONAL DEPLOYMENT
Quality is a measure of how well the final product meets the specifications. It is also a
measure of how well the product meets the customer needs. The goal is to select the
right specifications to prioritize the design process. A high-quality design will strike the
best combination of wants and needs in the specifications. As a supplier, you have limited
design resources and many customer needs. The customers can compare your product
to those of competitors.
The Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is used for this purpose. The QFD method helps
to:
 compare your design capabilities with the customer needs
 compare the customer needs of your product to other competitors
 compare the technical aspects of your product to other products
 outline the effort required for design improvement
QUALITY FUNCTIONAL DEPLOYMENT

The House of Quality layout and steps.

QUALITY FUNCTIONAL DEPLOYMENT

A sample voice of the customer (VOC) needs worksheet for a floor cleaner (1a)
 QUALITY FUNCTIONAL DEPLOYMENT

Including the Voice of the Supplier Capabilities (1b)

 QUALITY FUNCTIONAL DEPLOYMENT

Step 2(a): The customer–supplier compatibility matrix.

QUALITY FUNCTIONAL DEPLOYMENT

Step 2(b): The supplier capability interaction matrix

 QUALITY FUNCTIONAL DEPLOYMENT

Step 3: Customer expectations are compared to competitive products.

 QUALITY FUNCTIONAL DEPLOYMENT

Step 4 and Step 5: Technical difficulty and deployment matrix

 CONCLUSION
It would totally be a wastage of time and resources creating solutions to the wrong
problems. You would not want to climb up the ladder only to find out you were leaning
on the wrong wall.
Our goal as Engineers is applying the basic Scientific Principles in solving societal
problems and thereby meeting human needs. In meeting these needs, it is first
paramount to identify what the societal problems are. Having identified these needs,
specifications in the form of requirements are then carried out which is inline and
correlates with what the needs are.
The specifications ensure a clear understanding of deliverables throughout the project,
and Control the work, budget, and delivery date for the project, which therefore helps
in attaining the overall goal of making the world a better place.
 MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS
1. A design project starts with the process of discovery during the ⸻ stage of a project?
(a) conceptual stage (b) initiation stage (c) detailed stage
Ans: b

2. When it is not possible to establish a clear set of needs for a project, it is very unwise to advance to the detailed design
stage.
(b) true (b) false (c) no idea
Ans: b

3. The most common and troublesome project issue is called?

(c) feature creep (b) project problem (c) project closure
Ans: a

4. ⸻ is a collection of individual who want different solutions to their own particular needs?
(d) Gathering (b) Market (c) Customers
Ans: b

5. People who buy design in the early stages are called?

(e) early adapters (b) early designers (c) early customers
Ans: a
 MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS
6. ⸻ is a measure of how well the product meet the customers need.
(a) Quantity (b) Precision (c) Quality
Ans: c

7. Specifications are developed from ⸻ ?

(b) want (b) need (c) longings
Ans: b

8. A formal document prepared for a customer by a supplier is called?

(c) documentary (b) quota (c) quote
Ans: c

9. The person who develops the projects from the needs to closure phases is known as the?
(d) winner (b) champion (c) head
Ans: b

10. ⸻ starts the design process?

(a)want (b) need (c) longings
Ans: b
 MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS

11. When a design is a major departure from previous approaches, it is called?

(a) detailed design (b) revolutionary design (c) conceptual design
Ans: b

12. A fast approach to evaluating a feature is?

(b) house test (b) neighbor test (c) friend test
Ans: b

13. ⸻ model concept is valuable for setting an expectation for design?

(c) customer (b) kano (c) specification
Ans: b

14. More consumer products are? (a) revolutionary design (b) incremental design
Ans: a

15. It is wise for designers to do a search as a/an ⸻ step when determining the novelty of a new
concept. (a) preliminary (b) detailed (c) initializing
Ans: a
 MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS

16. The CFD method requires an existing product and ⸻ ? (a) competitors (b) customers (c) suppliers
Ans: a

17. In the customer capability rating, a positive position means the competition is ahead of the
supplier.
(a) true (b) false (c) no idea
Ans: a

18. The value of CFD method is the ability to ⸻ analyze design effort.
(b) quantitatively (b) qualitatively (c) verbally
Ans: a

19. At a high precision level, the cost of production is very high.

(c) true (b) false
Ans: a

20. When precision above expectation are noticed by customers, the customers always care.
(d) yes (b) no
Ans: a
 THEORY QUESTIONS
1. (a)Enumerate the stages involved in a design project.

ANS: Initiation phase

Detailed Design phase
Conceptual design phase

(b)Enumerate the steps required in each stages mentioned in 1(a).

ANS: In the initiation phase, the need for the project is defined.
In the detailed design phase, detailed specifications to guide the design is developed
At the conceptual design phase, the specifications are accepted. Then, the work can start
 THEORY QUESTIONS
2. (a) What are the criteria required to determine need?

ANS:
I. Form a general idea of the problem and the motivation for a solution
II. Further define the problem and need
III. Check the need for completeness and consistency
IV. Iterate as necessary

(b) Differentiate between broad marketing and narrow marketing.

ANS: Broad marketing plans to be everything to everyone and fail to more focused products while narrow marketing plans
prepare a design for one customer and assume that they will decide to adopt it.
 THEORY QUESTIONS
(2c.) List the marketing tools.

ANS:
I. Survey opinions: which consist of Customers, Review of publicly information

II. Multiple survey and testing to refine the details

III. Use of scientific method for hypothesis testing

IV. Developing critical questions such as:

i. How often will this be used?
ii. what feature is the most important?
iii. Do you own something familiar?.

V. Market Study output

i. Estimate the market size
ii. Minimum Features
iii. Desired Features
iv. Competitors
 THEORY QUESTIONS

3. (a) What is the difference between quality and precision?

ANS: Quality is a measure of how well the final product meets the specifications while precision means how accurate the
final product meets the precision.

(b) What is the meaning of the acronym QFD and what other name can it be called?

ANS: QFD means Quality function deployment. It can also be called house of quality.

4. What does the QFD method do?.

ANS:
i. compare your design capabilities with the customer needs
ii. compare the customer needs of your product to other competitors
iii. compare the technical aspects of your product to other products
iv. outline the effort required for design improvement
 THEORY QUESTIONS

5. (a)List the reasonable process for developing specifications

ANS:
I. Approve Reasonable and testable specifications
II. Continue looking at untestable and unreasonable specifications
III. Be prepare to reject specifications

5. (b)List the attribute of acceptable specifications

ANS:
IV. Define the project performance in detail
V. Include numbers, graphs, diagrams e.t.c
VI. Details are provided first, then test
VII. Ensure the specification allows you to agree how much and what is to be done
VIII.Avoid feature creep
IX. Provide focus
X. Incorporate constraint
XI. Design sign off procedure to close the project
XII. Specifications should be defined as minimum requirement not a wish list