5.1, Product design revolution
The ultimate focus of every production system is the product it yields. In recent years, the business press has reported on dozens of companies, such as General Electric, Ford Xerox, Marriott, IBM, Taco Bell, Motorola, Hewlett-Packard, 3M, and Cincinnati Milacron, that have dramatically reduced their costs, improved their quality, and shortened their product development time, primarily by using new product design philosophies and techniques. In many cases, improvements in the product design process have reduced production costs by 20-40%, cut product development time by more than half, and improved quality by a factor of 10 or more. The common features underlying these improvements are greater attention during product design to how the product be made, concurrent design teams that include personnel from operations, engineering, marketing, and purchasing, as well as from customers and suppliers.
5.2, Product development
Product development begins with identification of a consumer need or desire and a way to satisfy it with a good or service. To understand this, we need to identify and evaluate the market. After we know the needs from customers, product can be developed and prototyped. Later, have a small production and ramp-up the product. If necessary, product modification and redesign also need to be carried out.
5.3, Product design process
Now the design has changed from over-the-wall approach to concurrent design or concurrent engineering (CE). The product is designed with considering not only the characteristics of it but also the production process to satisfy the quality, cost and practice. To acchieve expected result, a team from different departments should be setup. If possible, try to interact with customers and suppliers.
5.4, Basic principles of designing products for production
The overriding principle of product design is "Make it simple!".