Prototyping for Desirability by Design of Experiments: A Case Study of a Hardware Startup

Author(s):  
Lasse Skovgaard Jensen ◽  
Daniel Vorting ◽  
Andreas Villadsen ◽  
Lasse Hylleberg Mølleskov ◽  
Ali Gürcan Özkil

This paper presents a study on how prototyping and ‘Design of Experiments’ principles can be applied in the early stages of product development. It is explored how four design parameters affect the perceived desirability of a physical alarm device, in development by a small start-up company. By utilizing recent advancements in the tools and platforms, available for the fabrication of prototypes, a range of physical prototypes are made. These prototypes are used to conduct 44 user tests and the results were used to establish a statistical model based on the Response Surface Methodology. The results of the model are outlined, highlighting the primary drivers of product desirability, as well as exemplifying the dynamics among the explored desirability parameters. The statistical model is tested through an experiment, which verifies the model’s ability to prescribe the perceived desirability for specific prototypes of the alarm device. The study hereby presents promising results for incorporating Design of Experiment principles in early stages of product development, and the authors encourage further studies to be conducted.

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 3159-3168
Author(s):  
Sohail Ahmed Soomro ◽  
Yazan A M Barhoush ◽  
Zhengya Gong ◽  
Panos Kostakos ◽  
Georgi V. Georgiev

AbstractPrototyping is an essential activity in the early stages of product development. This activity can provide insight into the learning process that takes place during the implementation of an idea. It can also help to improve the design of a product. This information and the process are useful in design education as they can be used to enhance students' ability to prototype their ideas and develop creative solutions. To observe the activity of prototype development, we conducted a study on students participating in a 7-week course: Principles of Digital Fabrication. During the course, eight teams made prototypes and shared their weekly developments via internet blog posts. The posts contained prototype pictures, descriptions of their ideas, and reflections on activities. The blog documentation of the prototypes developed by the students was done without the researchers' intervention, providing essential data or research. Based on a review of other methods of capturing the prototype development process, we compare existing documentation tools with the method used in the case study and outline the practices and tools related to the effective documentation of prototyping activity.


2009 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 594
Author(s):  
Peter Dighton

Flex LNG Limited is a producer of units for the production, storage and off-take of liquefied natural gas (LNG). It currently has four of these units committed for construction by Samsung Heavy Industries in Korea, utilising the SPB LNG containment system. The world’s first floating liquefaction unit will be delivered to Flex in 2012. Floating LNG facilities have unique potential for monetising uncommitted gas reserves. In June 2008 Flex and Rift PLC entered into a co-operation agreement under which they agreed to work together to develop a floating liquefaction project offshore Papua New Guinea (PNG). The project will utilise Rift’s gas reserves and one of Flex LNG’s floating liquefaction units. Annual production capacity will be 1.5 million tonnes of LNG and start-up is targetted for 2012. The paper will be a case study of this project including: critical path, project structure and contractual matrix, upstream reserves and facilities, feed gas quantity and quality, pipeline issues and, key design parameters and liquefaction operations for the LNG producer. The paper will also cover: direct and indirect stakeholders in the project; economics and financing; PNG-specific issues such as geography, permitting, fiscal regime, local employment opportunities, marine conditions, infrastructure and sovereign risk; LNG demand in the Pacific and LNG marketing and off-take arrangements.


Author(s):  
Patrik Boart ◽  
Ola Isaksson

Currently, mechanical design of aero engine structural components is defined by dimensioning of Design Parameters (DP's) to meet Functional Requirements (FR's). FR's are typically loads, geometrical interfaces and other boundary conditions. Parameters from downstream processes are seldom actually seen as DP's. This paper proposes that downstream process parameters are treated as DP's which calls for engineering methods that can define and evaluate these extended set of DP's. Using the proposed approach manufacturing process alternatives can be used as DP's in early stages of product development. Both the capability to quantitatively assess impact of varying manufacturing DP's, and the availability of these design methods are needed to succeed as an early phase design method. One bottleneck is the preparation time to define and generate these advanced simulation models. This paper presents how these manufacturing process simulations can be made available by automating the weld simulation preparation stages of the engineering work. The approach is based on a modular approach where the methods are defined with knowledge based engineering techniques-operating close to the CAD system. Each method can be reused and used independently of each other and adopted to new geometries. A key advantage is the extended applicability to new products, which comes with a new set of DP's. On a local level the lead time to generate such manufacturing simulation models is reduced with more than 99% allowing manufacturing process alternatives to be used as DP's in early stages of product development.


2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (6) ◽  
pp. 908-927 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Madzík

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to propose a structured procedure for the capture and evaluation of innovative ideas in the early stages of product development. The procedure is designed to take account of internal and external factors affecting the value of innovative ideas. Design/methodology/approach The proposed procedure is based on divergent and convergent approaches to innovation. Ideas are generated and captured using targeted questions and subsequently evaluated using modifications of the Kano model and failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA). Idea evaluation considers four criteria – delight, originality, market share potential and simplicity – which are used to compute an “idea priority number”. Findings A case study looking at innovations in swimming goggles verified the validity of the proposed procedure. The procedure also supports fact-based decision making and applies a structured perspective to the innovation process that makes it easier to manage. Research limitations/implications The case study made use of a pilot survey in which 32 customers participated. Although the case study was only intended as a demonstration of the method’s use, such a sample size could lead to unreliable results in certain cases. Originality/value Applications of standard or expanded FMEA do not add value to a product because the main purpose of the approach is to prevent failure. The proposed inversion of FMEA logic combined with customer view via the Kano model offers a method for the structured analysis of product innovations. No similar approach to the evaluation of innovations has so far appeared in the literature.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 69-85
Author(s):  
Brian J. Galli

This is a case study concerning technology start-up companies involved in systems thinking during new product development. It is found that systems thinking is pivotal to assisting project managers in moving a project from start to successful completion. The essence of systems thinking is getting all teams in a company to work together as one, to push forward new product development. The study reveals some of the challenges associated with implementing the systems theory in new product development for these companies. This area of study holds promise for continued future research. However, there are still some implementation issues in the real world that have been identified and perhaps are in need of further exploration.


2015 ◽  
Vol 735 ◽  
pp. 168-173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarehati Umar ◽  
Norhisham Bakhary ◽  
Airil Yasreen Mohd Yassin

This paper investigates the performance of design of experiment (DOE) in response surface methodology (RSM) for vibration-based damage detection. The ability of three major types of DOE, namely central composite design (CCD), Box-Behnken (BBD) and D-optimal (Dopt) for damage detection based on modal frequency are investigated and compared. A procedure comprising three main stages—sampling, response surface (RS) modelling and model updating—are employed for damage localisation and quantification. By considering Young’s modulus and modal frequency as respective input and output, a set of samples is generated from each DOE. Full quadratic functions are considered in RS modelling while model updating is performed for damage detection. The performances of DOE are compared based on damage detectability. A numerical simply supported beam is used as case study by considering several single damage cases. The results show that CCD provides better prediction compared to other DOEs.


Author(s):  
Hong Jia ◽  
Christopher A. Mattson ◽  
Gabrielle Johnson

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.


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