Chapter 5

5.
Chapter 5 The design of products and services
5.1
Slack, Chambers and Johnston, Operations Management, 6th Edition, Nigel Slack, Stuart Chambers, and Robert Johnston 2010
5.2
Key operations questions

In Chapter 5 The design of products and services Slack et al. identify the following key questions: Why is good product and service design important? What are the stages in product and service design? Why should product and service design and process design be considered interactively?
5.2
5.3
Nature and purpose of the design activity
Products, services and the processes which produce them all have to be designed. Decisions taken during the design of a product or service will have an impact on the decisions taken during the design of the process which produces those products or services and vice versa.
5.3
5.4
The design of products/services and processes are interrelated and should be treated together
Products and services should be designed in such a way that they can be created effectively.
Product/service design has an impact on the process design and vice versa.
Processes should be designed so they can create all products and services which the operation is likely to introduce. In manufacturing operations, overlapping the activities of product and process design is beneficial. In most service operations the overlap between service and process design is implicit in the nature of service.
5.4
5.5
What is designed in a product or service?
A concept
the understanding of the nature, use and value of the service or product;
A package
the group of component products and services that provide those benefits defined in the concept; the way in which the component products and services will be created and delivered.
A process
5.5
5.6
The product and service design activity is a process in itself
Transformed resources, e.g. Technical information Market information Time information

Inputs
The product/service design process whose performance is measured by its

Quality Speed Dependability Flexibility and Cost Outputs
Transforming resources, e.g. Test and design equipment Design and technical staff
5.6
Fully specified products and services
5.7
The stages of product / service design
Concept generation
Concept screening
Preliminary design
Evaluation and improvement
Prototyping and final design
5.7
5.8
Concept generation
Ideas from customers formally through Marketing activities
Listening to customers on a day-to-day basis

Ideas from competitor activity For example, reverse engineering
Ideas from staff Especially those who meet customers every day
Ideas from research and development.
5.8
5.9
Concept screening
Broad categories of evaluation criteria for assessing concepts
Feasibility How difficult is it? The criteria for screening concepts Acceptability How worthwhile is it? What investment both managerial and financial, will be needed? What return in terms of benefits to the operation will it give? What risks do we run if things go wrong? Overall evaluation of the concept
Vulnerability What could go wrong?
5.9
5.10
Design involves progressively reducing the number of possibilities until the final design is reached
Large number of design options
Choice and evaluation Screens CONCEPT
Uncertainty regarding the final design TIME
One design
FINAL DESIGN SPECIFICATON
Certainty regarding the final design
5.10
5.11
Preliminary design
The component structure for remote mouse
LEVEL 0
Remote mouse
LEVEL 1
Upper casing
Lower casing
Control unit
Packing
LEVEL 2
Moulding Logo
Mould- Battery Button housing ing
Spring base
Outer
Leaflet
LEVEL 3
Lead
Plug
Speaker
Cover
5.11
5.12
Design evaluation and improvement

There are various ways of evaluating preliminary designs. These include:

quality function deployment; value engineering; Taguchi methods.
5.12
5.13
Prototyping and final design

Prototypes are needed, so products and services can be tested. Prototypes come in various forms: card models; clay models; computer simulations.
CAD has considerably simplified the production of prototypes.
5.13
5.14
A delay in the Time to Market disproportionally delays the financial break-even point
Cash
Sales revenue Cash flow Delayed sales revenue Delayed cash flow
Development costs Development costs of delayed project
Time
Delay in time to market
Delay in financial break-even

5.14
5.15
Sequential and simultaneous arrangement of the stages in the design activity

First stage in the design activity Second stage in the design activity First stage in the design activity Second stage in the design activity Third stage in the design activity Simultaneous arrangement of stages Third stage in the design activity etc.
Sequential arrangement of stages
Communication between stages
etc.
5.15
5.16
Where should the management attention be?

KNOWLEDGE CONCEPT AQUISITION INVESTIGATION BASIC DESIGN INITIAL TESTS PILOT MANUFACTURING LAUNCH PRODUCTION RAMP-UP
Ability to influence the final design
Management activity profile TIME

5.16
5.17
Sorting out problems early saves greater disruption later
Slow time to market Low Degree of agreement over design decisions and changes in design
Fast time to market
High Early stages of the total design activity
Later stages of the total design activity
5.17
5.18
Organization structures for the design activity
F.M. F.M. F.M. F.M. F.M. F.M. F.M. F.M. P.M. P.M. P.M. P.M. P.M. P.M. F.M. F.M. F.M. F.M.
PURE FUNCTIONAL ORGANIZATION
PURE PROJECT ORGANIZATION

P.M. P.M. P.M.
INCREASING PROJECT ORIENTATION

P.M. P.M. P.M.
F.M. F.M. F.M. F.M.
F.M. F.M. F.M. F.M. P.M. P.M. P.M.
F.M. = Functional manager P.M. = Project manager
5.18

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5.

Chapter 5 The design of products and services

Key operations questions

Nature and purpose of the design activity

What is designed in a product or service?

The product and service design activity is a process in itself

Transformed resources, e.g. Technical information Market information Time information

The product/service design process whose performance is measured by its

Fully specified products and services

The stages of product / service design

Evaluation and improvement

Prototyping and final design

Listening to customers on a day-to-day basis

Vulnerability What could go wrong?

Uncertainty regarding the final design TIME

Certainty regarding the final design

Mould- Battery Button housing ing

Design evaluation and improvement

quality function deployment; value engineering; Taguchi methods.

Prototyping and final design

CAD has considerably simplified the production of prototypes.

Development costs Development costs of delayed project

Delay in time to market

Delay in financial break-even

Sequential and simultaneous arrangement of the stages in the design activity

Sequential arrangement of stages

Communication between stages

Where should the management attention be?

Ability to influence the final design

Management activity profile TIME

Sorting out problems early saves greater disruption later

Fast time to market

High Early stages of the total design activity

Later stages of the total design activity

Organization structures for the design activity

PURE FUNCTIONAL ORGANIZATION

PURE PROJECT ORGANIZATION

INCREASING PROJECT ORIENTATION

F.M. F.M. F.M. F.M.

F.M. F.M. F.M. F.M. P.M. P.M. P.M.

F.M. = Functional manager P.M. = Project manager

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