A Simple Starting Point for Designing for and/or Assessing the Social Impact of Products

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans Ottosson ◽  
Emma Hirschi ◽  
Christopher A. Mattson ◽  
Eric Dahlin
Keyword(s):  
Product Development ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Development Process ◽  
Social Impacts ◽  
Product Development Process ◽  
Impact Categories ◽  
Functional Characteristics ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Impact

In this paper we present a starting point for designing for and/or assessing the social impact of engineered products. The starting point is a set of tables comprising products, their general functional characteristics, and the accompanying social impacts. We have constructed these tables by first extracting a set of social impact categories from the literature, then 65 products were qualitatively reviewed to find their social impact. The resulting product impact tables can be used at either the beginning of the product development process to decide what social impact to design for and discover product functions that lead to it, or later to qualitatively assess the social impact of a product being designed and/or to assess the impact of an existing product.

A Method for Creating Product Social Impact Models of Engineered Products

2019 ◽  
Vol 142 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Phillip D. Stevenson ◽  
Christopher A. Mattson ◽  
Eric C. Dahlin
Keyword(s):  
Social Impact ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Social Impacts ◽  
Impact Categories ◽  
The Social ◽  
Impact Indicators ◽  
Mexico Border ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Impact Models

AbstractAll products impact the lives of their users, this is called social impact. Some social impacts are commonly recognized by the engineering community, such as impacts to a user’s health and safety, while other social impacts can be more difficult to recognize, such as impacts on families and gender roles. When engineers make design decisions, without considering social impacts, they can unknowingly cause negative social impacts. Even harming the user and/or society. Despite its challenges, measuring a program’s or policy’s social impact is a common practice in the field of social sciences. These measurements are made using social impact indicators, which are simply the things observed to verify that true progress is being made. While there are clear benefits to predicting the social impact of an engineered product, it is unclear how engineers should select indicators and build predictive social impact models that are functions of engineering parameters and decisions. This paper introduces a method for selecting social impact indicators and creating predictive social impact models that can help engineers predict and improve the social impact of their products. As a first step in the method, an engineer identifies the product’s users, objectives, and requirements. Then, the social impact categories that are related to the product are determined. From each of these categories, the engineer selects several social impact indicators. Finally, models are created for each indicator to predict how a product’s parameters will change these indicators. The impact categories and indicators can be translated into product requirements and performance measures that can be used in product development processes. This method is used to predict the social impact of the proposed, expanded U.S. Mexico border wall.

Consideration of Social Impacts During the Early Stages of Product Development for Sustainable Design

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hong Jia ◽  
Christopher A. Mattson ◽  
Gabrielle Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Product Development ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Development Process ◽  
Social Dimension ◽  
Product Development Process ◽  
Design Parameters ◽  
Sustainable Solutions ◽  
Early Stages ◽  
Design Engineers ◽  
The Social

Abstract Besides the explicit economic and environmental impacts, the product development process also produces an implicit social value — known as social impact. To help product designers better understand and plan for the social impact that their product may have, we present a social impact checklist table. This checklist table was constructed after a simple study was conducted on the design and reuse of corrugated cardboard. The checklist table provides the designer the opportunity to more deeply consider eleven social impact categories, map those categories to key indicators, and ultimately design parameters that influence social impact. We introduce this checklist table at the early stages of the product development process, aiming to make the otherwise implicit notion of social impact more explicit and recognizable. The checklist table has the potential to make the social dimension of sustainability more accessible to design engineers; they can then better conceive of sustainable solutions and create products that generate positive social impact.

Analysis of Perceived Social Impacts of Existing Products Designed for the Developing World, With Implications for New Product Development

2019 ◽  
Vol 142 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans J. Ottosson ◽  
Christopher A. Mattson ◽  
Eric C. Dahlin
Keyword(s):  
Product Development ◽  
New Product Development ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Social Impacts ◽  
Product Development Process ◽  
Impact Categories ◽  
Product Review ◽  
Simple Method ◽  
Probability Table ◽  
Data Points

Abstract Engineered products often have more social impacts than are realized. A product review was conducted to bring this to light. In this paper, we show the extent to which different social impacts in 11 impact categories are co-present in 150 products and how this can help engineers and others during the product development process. Specifically, we show how social impact categories not previously considered can be identified. The product review resulted in 13,200 data points that were divided into two data sets, one with 8800 data points from which a social impact probability table was created. The remaining data points were then used to validate the table. All data points were then combined to create a final social impact probability table. This table provides insight for how various social impact categories correlate and can assist engineers in expanding their views to include additional social impact objectives and thus achieve a design with broader social impact or a design with minimized unwanted negative social impact. A simple method for predicting social impact is also created in order to assist engineers when developing products with social impacts in mind.

scholarly journals A CONTROL LIST FOR THE SYSTEMATIC IDENTIFICATION OF DISTURBANCE FACTORS

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 51-60
Author(s):  
Peter Welzbacher ◽  
Gunnar Vorwerk-Handing ◽  
Eckhard Kirchner
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Product Development ◽  
Model Theory ◽  
Development Process ◽  
Product Development Process ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Disturbance Factor ◽  
Systematic Identification

AbstractThe importance of considering disturbance factors in the product development process is often emphasized as one of the key factors to a functional and secure product. However, there is only a small number of tools to support the developer in the identification of disturbance factors and none of them yet ensures that the majority of occurring disturbance factors is considered. Thus, it is the aim of this contribution to provide a tool in form of a control list for the systematic identification of disturbance factors. At the beginning of this contribution, the terms “disturbance factor” and “uncertainty” are defined based on a literature review and different approaches for the classification of uncertainty are presented. Subsequently, the fundamentals of multipole based model theory are outlined. Moreover, a first approach in terms of a control list for a systematic identification of disturbance factors is discussed. Based on the discussed approach and taking the identified weaknesses as a starting point, a control list is presented that combines the existing basic concept of the control list with the fundamentals of multipole based model theory.

Towards a Universal Social Impact Metric for Engineered Products That Alleviate Poverty

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phillip D. Stevenson ◽  
Christopher A. Mattson ◽  
Kenneth M. Bryden ◽  
Nordica A. MacCarty
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Multidimensional Poverty ◽  
Social Impacts ◽  
Five Dimensions ◽  
Multidimensional Poverty Index ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Impact

More than ever before, engineers are creating products for developing countries. One of the purposes of these products is to improve the consumer’s quality of life. Currently, there is no established method of measuring the social impact of these types of products. As a result, engineers have used their own metrics to assess their product’s impact, if at all. Some of the common metrics used include products sold and revenue, which measure the financial success of a product without recognizing the social successes or failures it might have. In this paper we introduce a potential metric, the Product Impact Metric (PIM), which quantifies the impact a product has on impoverished individuals — especially those living in developing countries. It measures social impact broadly in five dimensions: health, education, standard of living, employment quality, and security. The PIM is inspired by the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) created by the United Nations Development Programme. The MPI measures how the depth of poverty within a nation changes year after year, and the PIM measures how an individual’s quality of life changes after being affected by an engineered product. The Product Impact Metric can be used to predict social impacts (using personas that represent real individuals) or measure social impacts (using specific data from products introduced into the market).

Designing the Product Development Process

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda Bligh ◽  
Manbir Sodhi
Keyword(s):  
Product Development ◽  
Process Design ◽  
Development Process ◽  
Process Development ◽  
Product Development Process ◽  
Time To Market ◽  
Quality Product ◽  
Development Processes ◽  
Product And Process ◽  
The Impact

Even though the literature on product and process development is extensive, not much attention has been devoted to categorizing the product development process itself. Existing work on product development processes such as Total Design, Integrated Product and Process Design among others advocate common approaches that should be followed throughout the organization, without any consideration of product characteristics. In this paper we review several existing development methodologies. Extensions of these are categorized by their applicability to different classes of products. We propose that development processes should be matched to product attributes and organization goals. Towards this end, we associate development processes along with their components such as House of Quality, Robust Design, TRIZ etc. with goals such as time to market, customer needs satisfaction, intellectual property generation, protection and exploitation, quality, product cost and others. We examine the impact of this association on the development process itself and propose guidelines for constructing specific processes associated with one or more goals. Tools and benchmarks for various applications are discussed, along with some case studies on the design of different development processes.

PROJECT-LEVEL INFLUENCES ON THE MANAGEMENT AND ORGANISATION OF PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT IN ENGINEERING

2001 ◽  
Vol 05 (04) ◽  
pp. 517-542 ◽  
Author(s):  
NEIL ALDERMAN ◽  
ALFRED THWAITES ◽  
DAVID MAFFIN
Keyword(s):  
Product Development ◽  
Development Process ◽  
Engineering Industry ◽  
Product Development Process ◽  
Development Projects ◽  
Engineering Product ◽  
Traditional Process ◽  
Project Structure ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Project Level

Many current models of the product development process pay insufficient attention to the impact of project-level influences. This paper looks at the case of the engineering industry in which product development is seen to proceed in two very distinct ways: the traditional process in which development takes place "off-line", and the contract process in which development takes place as part of a contract to manufacture a product for a specific customer. Drawing on two recent studies of engineering product development projects, the paper looks at how project-level influences lead to differences in project organisation and management in terms of the particular project structure adopted and in the involvement of different disciplines, internal and external to the company. This has implications for the way in which companies should interpret generic prescriptions regarding product development.

Benchmarking Product Development Performance of Manufacturing Companies Using Analytic Network Process: A Field Study

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gu¨ls¸en Akman ◽  
Gu¨l E. Okudan
Keyword(s):  
Product Development ◽  
Field Study ◽  
Development Process ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Performance Measure ◽  
Performance Criteria ◽  
Product Development Process ◽  
Performance Measurement System ◽  
Manufacturing Companies ◽  
The Impact

Product development is important more than ever for manufacturing firms. A well-designed performance measurement system can assess the impact of product development on the whole company. Such a system can also be utilized for motivating employees, especially product development staff. Naturally, a set of suitable product development measures can provide valuable information for managing the activities and continuous improvement of the product development process. In this paper, via our literature review, we first establish that “a suitable set of performance measures” to assess product development performance is not readily available. Then, we identified performance criteria for assessing product development process effectiveness based on competitive priorities (cost, quality, flexibility, delivery and innovation) followed by ANP analysis. Finally, using a two tier survey setting, the validity and reliability of the criteria set were ascertained, and field data for its (performance measure set) usage as an assessment tool for product development is demonstrated. The field study was conducted by participation of a sample of manufacturing companies in Turkey.

scholarly journals The Impact of Concurrent Engineering Strategy on New Compex Product Development Process in Organization: An Empirical Study of Manufacturing and Service Industry in Malaysia

2013 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amran Rasli ◽  
Saif ur Rehman Khan ◽  
Tan Owee Kowang
Keyword(s):  
Product Development ◽  
New Product Development ◽  
Concurrent Engineering ◽  
Development Process ◽  
Service Industry ◽  
Reliability And Validity ◽  
New Product ◽  
Product Development Process ◽  
The Impact ◽  
New Product Development Process

Taking into account the customers, supplier and organization involvement in the new product development (NPD), this article focuses on the synthesis, evaluation, and selection of various sub-factors of concurrent engineering involved in new product development process. The aim of this study was to provide the reliability and validity of six sub-factors of concurrent engineering model of the 49-item questionnaire and to analyze its association with concurrent engineering and new product development process in a sample of 35 manufacturing and services organization located in Johor, Malaysia. Methods: A self reported survey was conducted in 35 manufacturing and services organization located in Johor, Malaysia. Results: Appropriate internal consistencies of the six sub-scales: customers relationship, team development, continuity, tools and techniques, suppliers involvement and corporate focus and their association with concurrent engineering, were obtained. Zero-order correlation and regressions analysis replicated the theoretically assumed structure of the effective concurrent engineering (ECE). Evidence of criterion validity was obtained from cross-correlations of the scales and from their linear and multiple regression analysis. Finally, all seven scales were associated with a highly significant ratio of concurrent engineering as predicted by fundamental theory. Conclusion: Based on the results of this study the seven version of the model, questionnaire is considered a reliable and valid instrument for measuring association in developing the new complex product development process.

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