PRODUCT DESIGN and

DEVELOPMENT
Chapter 6: Product Specification

Lecturer
Tetuko Kurniawan

Teaching sourebook:
Chapter 6 of
Product Design and Development
Karl T. Ulrich & Steven D. Eppinger

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

establishing
Target Specifications:
1. Prepare the list of metrics
2. Collect competitive benchmarking
information
3. Set ideal and marginally acceptable
target value
4. Reflect on the results

Set Final Spec.:

1. Develop technical models of the product
2. Develop a cost model of the product
3. Refine the specifications, making tradeoffs where necessary
4. Flow down the specifications
5. Reflect on the results and the process

What are specifications?

Product Specification is precise description of
what the product has to do.

Customer needs
language of the customer
Example
- Easy to install

Product specifications
metric and a value
Example:
metric: time required for
assembly of fork to the
frame.
Value: 20 seconds.

Customer need

Metric and values

Need - metric
Table

A few guidelines...

Metrics should be complete: all metrics correlate with

satisfaction of need.
Metrics should be dependent variable.
Dependent: mass of fork vs independent: material of fork.

Metrics should be practical

Some needs cannot easily be translated into quantifiable
metrics. Example pride when using the product
The metric should include popular criteria for comparison
in the marketplace

Collect Competitive Benchmarking Information

Compare all the
metrics in competitor
products
Time consuming
activities
Data from
competitors not
always true

Other format of benchmarking

Dot: customer perception of the relative degree to which their products

satisfy their needs
Need more time to collect customer perception data
**** more dots means better satisfaction

Set Ideal and Marginally Acceptable Target values

Two types of target values

Ideal values: best result the team could hope for

Marginally acceptable value: value of the metric that could just

barely make the product commercially viable

Five ways to express:

At least X

At most X

Between X and Y

Exactly X

A set of discrete values

Example

Setting the final Specifications:

Develop technical models of the product
Develop a cost model of the product
Refine the specifications, making trade-offs where necessary
Flow down the specifications
Reflect on the results and the process
(recommended steps)

Develop technical models of the product

Technical model of a product is a tool for predicting the

values of the metrics for a particular set of design
decisions analytical and physical approximations of the
product
This modeling:

Allows prediction if set of spec. is technically feasible by exploring different

combinations of design variables predict technical performance

prevents the team from setting a combinations of specifications that

cannot be achieved

Simulation/theory

Built and test

Input: independent
variable

Output: dependent
variable

Cost Model of the Products

Product can be produced at a target cost

Target cost is the manufacturing cost at which
the company and its distribution partners can
make adequate profits while still offering the
products to the customer at competitive price
Creating Bill of Material estimate cost for each
part + rough estimate assembly & overhead cost
Cost model predict cost performance

Cost Model of the Products

Competitive map and trad off curves

Competitive map: position the new product relative to the competition

Trade off curves: performance of the product concept for a range of design
variables

Set the Final Specification