COURSE OF ME 362

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
DESIGN
Part 3.2
M M Jan

TODAYS TOPICS

Design

Review

Re-Design
Technology
Product

innovation

life cycle

DESIGN REVIEW
It is a vital aspect of Design Process
in which specialists review the design
Provides an opportunity for specialists
from different disciplines to interact
with generalists to ask critical
questions and exchange vital
information
Provides a systematic method for
identifying
Problems with the design
Aids in determining possible
courses of action
Initiates action to correct the
problem areas

DESIGN REVIEW
Design review teams consist of representatives from
Design, manufacturing, marketing, purchasing, quality
control, reliability engineering and field service
Design Reviewer should
Have broad technical and products knowledge
Have not direct responsibility for design under review
Depending on the size and complexity of the product,
Design Review should be held from 3~6 times in the life
of the project

DESIGN REVIEW
Minimum review schedule consists of
Conceptual Reviews
It has a greater impact on design
Changes can be made at this stage at lower costs
Interim Reviews
This is performed when embodiment design is
finalized, product architecture, subsystems and
performance characteristics are established
Final Reviews
At the completion of detailed design and establishes
whether the design is ready for transfer to manufacture
Outcome of review
Each review of the product design may have two
outcomes
Technical aspect
Business aspect

DESIGN REVIEW TECHNICAL ASPECT

Product Design Specification (PDS)

PDS is the basic reference document for both product

design and design review

Essence of Technical Review of design is to compare the

finding against detailed PDS formulated at the product
definition stage of the project

PDS is a detailed document that describes what the

design must be in terms of
performance requirements,
environment in which it must operate,
product life, cost,
reliability and
a number of other design requirements

RE-DESIGN
A common situation in Design
Process
The task may be to improve an
existing design.
Or it may be due to reason that
a component in a product is
failing in service
Sometimes, we redesign a
component so as to reduce its
cost of manufacture. e.g., the
change in the shape of a part to
reduce a stress concentration
Sometimes, a new material is
substituted to reduce weight or
cost

Engineering design

Original design
Adaptive design
Redesign

Selective design
Industrial
design

RE-DESIGN

As a result of Design Review, Details of design

are changed many times as prototypes are
developed and tested

Categories of Re-design

Fixes

Updates

RE-DESIGN CATEGORIES
o Fixes
A fix is a design modification that is required due to less than
acceptable performance (after the product has been
introduced into the market) unplanned activity!
o Updates
Usually planned as part of the products life cycle before the
product is introduced to the market
An update may add capacity and improve performance or
incorporate its appearance to keep it competitive
The most common situation in re-design is the modification
of an existing product to meet new requirements e.g. banning
of the use of fluorinated hydrocarbon refrigerants because of
Ozone-hole problem, required the extensive re-design of
refrigeration system
Often re-design results from the failure of the product in
service

RE-DESIGN

Case study of redesign of a railroad

vehicle wheel

The steel railroad wheel has been in its

present design for nearly 150 years

In spite of improvements in metallurgy and

the understanding of stresses, the wheels
still failed at the rate of about 200 per year

The chief cause of failure is thermal buildup

caused by failure of a railcars braking
system

Long-term research by the Association of

American Railroads has resulted in the
improved design

RE-DESIGN

Old Vs. New design

The chief design change is that the flat plate,

the web between the bore and the rim, has
been replaced by an S-shaped plate

RE-DESIGN

Case study of redesign of a railroad

vehicle wheel

The advantage of the curved shape is that it

allows the plate to act like a spring, flexing
when overheated, avoiding the buildup of
stresses that are transmitted through the
rigid flat plates

The second change in the design of the

wheel is the wheels tread it has been
redesigned to extend the rolling life of the
wheel

The new wheels last for many thousands of

miles longer, and the rolling resistance is lower,
saving on fuel cost

RE-DESIGN
Case study: GM Ignition Switch
GM: 1908 US
Head office: Detroit
A leading car manufacturer
Products

Alpheon, Chevrolet, Buick, GMC,

Cadillac, Holden, HSV, Opel, Vauxhall,
Wuling, Baojun, Jie Fang, UzDaewoo

Worldwide collaborations
Pakistan: Ghandhara Industries

RE-DESIGN
Case study: GM ignition switch
GM began developing new small cars
in the late 1990s

Chevrolet Cobalt
Saturn Ion

In an effort to improve its new cars

they listened to customers who
complained about cheap-feeling
switches that required too much
effort to turn
The new design of the switch was
such that it was working more
smoothly and gave drivers the
impression that they were better
designed

RE-DESIGN
Example: GM ignition switch the
other side of the story:
The ignition switch consists of

Mechanical
Electronics

GM made the mechanical alteration

in the spring of the ignition switch
Anyhow, GM engineer approved the
new design
The result was a smooth-turning key
However, it was so smooth that it
could also slip out of position

RE-DESIGN
The slipping of the key to other position occurred in
many cars
That caused the engine to stop during running of the car
The stopped engine deactivated the air bag!

More than 50 car crashes

13 deaths
More than 100 injuries
The company has to
recall about 2.5 million
cars (until 2014)

All 2005-2010 Chevrolet Cobalt

2007-2010 Pontiac G5
2003-2007 Saturn Ion
2006-2011 Chevrolet HHR
2006-2010 Pontiac Solstice
2007-2010 Saturn Sky

[Ref. Automotive news]

RE-DESIGN
Example: GM ignition switch the
other side of the story:
What is the difference between these
pictures?

RE-DESIGN

TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION AND DESIGN PROCESS

Technology innovation is the process through
which new (or improved) technologies are
developed and brought into widespread use
A successful technological innovation requires a
good idea or concept that satisfies a societal need

Advancement of technology has three phases:

Invention
Innovation
Diffusion

TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION AND DESIGN PROCESS

Invention: Creative act whereby an idea is
conceived, articulated and recorded
Innovation: Process by which an invention or
idea is brought into successful practice
and is utilized by the economy
Diffusion: The continual and widespread
implementation and adoption of successful
innovation
Innovation is the most critical and most
difficult of three phases

STEPS IN A TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION ACTIVITY

Innovation is the most critical and most difficult of three phases

Because, developing an idea into a product that people will buy

requires hard work and skill.
Technology innovation activity consist of different stages:

Identification
of market
need
sometimes,
Market need
is stronger
than
technological
research
opportunity

Product
idea

Development

Product ideas Time and

management
must be
about 35 to
checked for
50% of new
their fit with
products fails
the ongoing
due to above
technology

Pilot
lot

Trial
Sales

Commercial
development
Generally, the technical
problems comprise the
smallest category of
failure during the
development

KEY FACTORS FOR THE SUCCESS OF THE PRODUCT

1.

Product planning and research:

2.

Product superiority:

3.

Product should be such that it delivers real value to customer

i.e. meeting customer needs (example: energy savor lights)

Quality marketing:

4.

It is important that adequate time spent on problem definition,

concept generation and evaluation, market research and
assessment, technical assessment, business and financial
reviews before embodiment and detail design stages

Better marketing activities to be executed from concept of idea

to launch of product in market.

Proper organizational design:

Successful products are most often developed by cross

functional teams, led by strong product champion, supported by
top management and accountable (responsible!) for the entire
project from beginning to end.

KEY FACTORS FOR THE SUCCESS OF THE PRODUCT

Which qualities are expected from Innovators?

FIVE KINDS OF PEOPLE NEEDED FOR

TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION
1. Idea generator: The creative individual

2. Entrepreneur: (organize & manage)The person who carries the ball

and takes the risks
3. Gatekeepers: People who provide technical communication from
outside to inside the organization

4. Program manager: The person who manages without hindrances

5. Sponsor: The person who provides financial and moral support, often
senior management

Roughly 70 to 80% of people in technical organizations are routine

problem solvers and are not involved in innovation. Therefore it is
important to identify and nurture the small number who gives
promise of becoming technical innovators

INNOVATORS
People in a technical organization, who are most current with
technology and who have developed contacts with technical people
outside the organization

Receive information directly and diffuse to others in organization

Tend to be predisposed to do things differently as contrasted with
doing things better

Able to deal with unclear and ambiguous situations without feeling

uncomfortable as they have high degree of self-reliance and self-esteem

Respond well to the challenge of diverse projects and the opportunity to

communicate with people of different backgrounds

A successful innovator is a person who has sound picture of what needs

to be done, not necessarily a detailed picture

Emphasis goals, not methods of achieving goals

Have been failed in previous ventures and knows why and how to get
them?

Works the element of problem in parallel not serially

PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE

o During the lifetime of a product, each product goes through a
cycle
o This life cycle consists of
Birth stage
Initial growth stage
Stable period
Declining state

PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE

Introductory stage: Product is new, consumer acceptance is low, so sales are low,
rate of product change is rapid as management tries to maximize its performance or
uniqueness

Growth Stage: Knowledge of the product and its capabilities reaches to growing
number of customers. In this stage there is an increase in sales as the time passes

Birth Stage

Initial Growth Stage

PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE

Maturity Stage: Product is widely accepted, sales are stable, grow at the same rate.
Products at this stage experience considerable competition
Great emphasis is on reducing the cost of a mature product

When product reaches at this stage, attempts should be made to renew it by incremental
innovation or development of still new applications
Decline Stage: At some stage each product enters in this stage
Sales decrease because a new better product is in the market to fulfill the same societal
needs
Birth Stage

Initial Growth Stage

Mature stage

Decline stage

PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE

If we look more closely at the product life cycle, we will see that
the cycle is made up of many individual processes
These are Premarket phase and Market phase processes
Premarket Phase

Market Phase

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.

Idea generation
Idea evaluation
Feasibility analysis
Technical R&D
Product (market) R&D
Preliminary production
Market testing
Commercial production

Product introduction
Market development
Rapid growth
Competitive market
Maturity
Decline
Abandonment

Market Phase

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.

Idea generation
Idea evaluation
Feasibility analysis
Technical R&D
Product (market) R&D
Preliminary production
Market testing
Commercial production

investments

sales

PRODUCT LIFE
CYCLE

Premarket Phase

Product introduction
Market development
Rapid growth
Competitive market
Maturity
Decline
Abandonment