Qns: What is product development? State its advantages and disadvantages.

Ans: Product development is the creation of new product to fill the new demands
of the market, improvements in the old products to conform to the changes in
consumer demand and addition or deletion of a product line if it is out dated.

The term product development has been defined as under:

“Product development encompasses the technical activities of product research,

engineering and design” – William J. Stanton

a) Introduction of new products

b) Improvements of existing products

Advantages of product development:

a) Product development helps in producing goods and services in best quality.

b) It helps in expanding the market for the products.
c) It provides maximum possible satisfaction to the customers.
d) It helps in achieving stability in the demands of the product.
e) It increases the goodwill of the organization.
f) It increases the profit earning possibilities of the organization.

Disadvantages of product development:

a) It can be easy to set unrealistic expectations for a product.

b) Products can fail unexpectedly.
c) External sources can change procedures, which can alter your product
development.
d) Product testing can result in a failed idea.
Qns: What is a product design? State its characteristics and factors affecting the
design of a product.

Ans: Product design means determining the shape, standard and pattern of the
product. Product design has an important role to play in product development.
Product design includes specification, experimental and development work for
the production of desired product, calculation of estimates and drafting of
estimates of contract for new inquiries.

A design once prepared, need not be used on a permanent basis. It can be

improved over a period of time. In case of need, it can be redesigned.

Characteristics of product design:

a) Function
b) Reliability
c) Producibility
d) Simplification
e) Maintainability
f) Minimum cost
g) Warranties

Factors affecting the design of a product:

a) Customer requirements and psychological effects.

b) Facility to operator
c) Fuctionability
d) Materials
e) Work method and equipment
f) Cost/Price ratio
g) Quality policy
h) Process capability