Product Design in a Global Economy

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael D. Arnett ◽  
Manuel A. Forero Rueda ◽  
Dennis A. Guenther
Keyword(s):  
Product Design ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Consumer Products ◽  
Consumer Product ◽  
Manufacturing Processes ◽  
End User ◽  
Design And Manufacturing ◽  
New Challenges ◽  
Intended Use ◽  
Wine Bottle

The emergence of a global economy has proposed new challenges for the product design engineer and provided new risks for the consumer. While the design and manufacturing processes have changed, the objective of providing a consumer product that is safe for public use still remains. This task becomes challenging for the product design engineer since the ability to oversee all aspects of the design, manufacture, and use is very limited and yet the mentality of “if you build it, you will be sued” is ever present. This paper considers three very different consumer products and all suffered a failure which resulted in harm done to the user. The first product is a multipurpose tool that, even though abuse was observed, contained a concealed danger as a result of poor design and/or manufacture that resulted in the injury. Second is a hanging chair that fell from the supporting fastener causing injury. Analysis and testing were unable to repeat the failure, thus severe abuse by the user proved to be the causal factor. Finally, a wine bottle opener caused injury as the user attempted to remove a part of the device from the packaging. In this case, the product itself was adequately designed to prevent injury for its intended use, but the packaging containing the product suffered from a faulty design. These cases exhibit different scenarios in which a consumer product caused injury to an end user and shows the varying entities that can bear the burden of negligence.

Embedded RFID Solutions Challenges for Product Design and Development

2011 ◽  
pp. 106-118
Author(s):  
Alvaro M. Sampaio ◽  
António J. Pontes ◽  
Ricardo Simoes
Keyword(s):  
Product Design ◽  
New Products ◽  
User Interaction ◽  
Consumer Products ◽  
Rfid Tags ◽  
Rfid Technology ◽  
Rfid Tag ◽  
Production Distribution ◽  
Innovative Solutions ◽  
New Challenges

Full traceability of products is extremely difficult, although it has been sought after for as long as production, distribution and sales chains exist. Electronic traceability methods, such as RFID technology, have been proposed as a possible solution to this problem. In the specific case of RFID, the number of applications that promote innovative solutions in retail and other areas has been continuous growing. However, RFID tags are mostly placed externally on a surface of products or their packages. This is appropriate for logistics, but not for other applications, such as those involving user interaction. In those, not only is the placement of the RFID tag more complex, but it is also necessary that the tag is not visible or not directly accessible, to prevent accidental damage and intentional abuse. This certainly imposes challenges to manufacturing, but mainly creates new challenges to the development of new products and re-design of existing ones. This chapter presents some insights and what we consider to be the two main approaches to incorporating RFID technology into consumer products.

scholarly journals Consumer Product Design: Patterns of Innovation, Market Success and Sustainability

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (5) ◽  
pp. 25-33
Author(s):  
Robin Roy
Keyword(s):  
Product Design ◽  
Product Innovation ◽  
Design Patterns ◽  
Sustainable Design ◽  
Cell Phones ◽  
Consumer Products ◽  
Consumer Product ◽  
Environmental Concerns ◽  
Recent Book ◽  
Sustainability Challenges

This article summarizes some of the content and conclusions of the author’s recent book, Consumer Product Innovation and Sustainable Design, which discusses the innovation, design and evolution of six consumer products –bicycles, washing machines, vacuum cleaners, electric lamps, television and mobile (cell) phones – from their original inventions to the present. It discusses common patterns of innovation, how environmental concerns and legislation have influenced design, and some of the effects these products have had on the environment and society. The article also uses lessons from the successes and failures of examples of these products to draw out guidelines for designers, engineers, marketers, managers and educators on how to design successful new products and to design for the environment. It concludes with trends and sustainability challenges for future consumer product design and innovation.

Consumer Behavior Considerations in Product Design

1987 ◽  
Vol 31 (11) ◽  
pp. 1236-1240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph P. Ryan
Keyword(s):  
Consumer Behavior ◽  
Human Factors ◽  
Product Design ◽  
Primary Objective ◽  
Consumer Products ◽  
Consumer Product ◽  
Valuable Source ◽  
Product Use ◽  
Risk Of Injury ◽  
Safe Product

This paper has, as its primary objective, the provision of Guidelines for product designers to assist in safe design of consumer products. Presentation of the Guidelines is based on a Human Factors Perspective of consumer behavior in the reasonable and foreseeable use and mis-use of consumer products. The Guidelines for Safe Consumer Product Design included in this Paper emphasize the valuable source of Human Factors available to Designers. The paper concludes that safe product design can be planned and designed into products that will reduce the risk of injury, or even death, in product use.

Representation of Similarity and Dependency for Manufacturing Process-Based Product Modularity

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoxia Lai ◽  
John K. Gershenson
Keyword(s):  
Product Design ◽  
Manufacturing Process ◽  
Design Method ◽  
Cost Savings ◽  
Manufacturing Processes ◽  
Dependency Matrix ◽  
Modular Product ◽  
Product Modularity ◽  
Design And Manufacturing ◽  
Physical Interactions

Previously in this forum, we validated a product modularity measure and modular product design method and developed a way to extend these product modularity fundamentals to encompass the impacts of assembly process similarity and dependency. This paper expands the life-cycle process-based modularity representation to the manufacturing process and beyond. Modularity representation, including similarity and dependency, is an important aspect of modular product design and it is imperative for realizing the promised cost savings of modularity. The component-component similarity matrix is used to cluster components with similar manufacturing processes into one module. Similarities are based on component processing codes that represent their manufacturing attributes. Clustering these manufacturing process similarities leads to cost savings through module-wide sharing of process plans, manufacturing tools, and equipment, and the reduction of manufacturing tool and equipment changes during manufacturing. The component-component dependency matrix is based on physical interactions among the components that affect the material, shape, size, surface finish etc. of the components, and therefore affect the component manufacturing processes. If components are independent of other components not in the same module with respect to these physical interactions, the redesign of components in one module will not cause a cascade of design and manufacturing process plan changes for components not in the same module. A fishing reel example is used to illustrate the application of manufacturing process similarity and dependency representations, in association with a product modularity measure and a modular product design method, to form manufacturing process-based component modules. The work in this paper establishes how to represent manufacturing process similarity and dependency for use in product modularity decision making. The use of such modules improves the efficiency of manufacturing process planning, and reduces design and manufacturing process costs.

Collaborative Workflow Technology for Design and Manufacturing Coordination: An Overview

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qi Hao ◽  
Weiming Shen
Keyword(s):  
Web Services ◽  
Product Design ◽  
Software Agents ◽  
Manufacturing Processes ◽  
Manufacturing Companies ◽  
Comprehensive Overview ◽  
Workflow Technology ◽  
Heterogeneous Processes ◽  
Design And Manufacturing ◽  
Collaborative Product Design

Manufacturing companies often face a harsh problem caused by misunderstanding between engineering and manufacturing departments. Based on different perspectives, they both strive to achieve some goals without fully evaluating the impacts of their decisions. Ambiguity in the description of responsibilities, interactions and processes makes collaborative product design and manufacturing very difficult to address. This paper presents a comprehensive overview of collaborative workflow technology which is made up of three major parts, workflow, software agents and Web services. We propose to use collaborative workflow technologies to facilitate heterogeneous processes of product design and manufacturing processes.

Implications of Ergonomic and User Considerations on Manufacturing Consumer Products

1992 ◽  
Author(s):  
Venkat Allada ◽  
Parimal Kopardekar ◽  
S. Anand ◽  
Anil Mital
Keyword(s):  
Linear Programming ◽  
Product Design ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Programming Model ◽  
Design Guidelines ◽  
Consumer Products ◽  
Consumer Product ◽  
User Needs ◽  
Human Capabilities ◽  
Product Design Process

Abstract Most designers do not consider ergonomic guidelines in designing consumer products. Also, very little attention is generally paid to user needs and preferences. It is imperative that consumer products be designed keeping in mind the human capabilities and limitations. Such considerations in the product design process are necessary since the market is becoming competitive and users more picky. The purpose of this paper is to consider the implications of ergonomic design guidelines on consumer product design, its manufacturing, and associated costs. A Linear Programming model is also developed to assist designers in the product design process.

Status of Human Factors and Ergonomics Education: Are Universities Providing the Skills Required for Consumer Product Design?

1997 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 483-484
Author(s):  
Michael E. Miller ◽  
H. Boyd Morrison
Keyword(s):  
Human Factors ◽  
Product Design ◽  
Work Force ◽  
Consumer Products ◽  
Consumer Product ◽  
Quality Of Education ◽  
Multidisciplinary Teams ◽  
Human Factors And Ergonomics ◽  
Course Work

This debate explored the state-of-the-art in human factors education and the skills that are desired as professionals enter industry to design consumer products. This debate addressed the specific needs of consumer product design, where a consumer product was defined as a product that is purchased by the end user and used by this person. Inherent in this definition is the fact that both the purchase and use of this product are left to the discretion of the user. Therefore, this product must not only facilitate the efficient completion of a task but also satisfy a basic user need. This debate attempted to arrive at a consensus on potential improvements to the training of individuals within the university environment, and to identify potential industry contributions to improve the quality of education of human factors and ergonomics professionals in consumer product design. This consensus was obtained by bringing together industry representatives from Fortune 500 companies and design firms with professors from prominent universities. University representatives provided a short overview of their human factors curriculum, the skills that this curriculum provides their students and views on how additional industry involvement could improve the quality of education. Industry representatives provided an overview of their organizations and the skills that are expected of new employees as they enter the work force. The debate occurred as differences were identified between the views expressed during these presentations. Among the topics debated were: 1) the importance of student internships versus additional course work, 2) the importance of general human factors principles versus extensive course work within specialized areas, 3) the need for education of theoretical knowledge versus applied training where students learn to make tradeoffs when the ideal cannot be achieved, 4) training involving communication within multidisciplinary teams versus relatively homogeneous human factors programs, 5) a focus on methods for determining consumer needs versus historical methods for determining needs of trained operators of large systems, and 6) training the human factors graduate as an evaluator of consumer products versus a creator/generator of new product concepts.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document