Product Design

Background Designing new product and getting them to the market is the challenging job faced by most of the manufacturers in this competitive market. Customers demands are changing rapidly so it is the main responsibility of manufacturers to add the customers’ specifications in the product and deliver it to them in lowest cost. The product development activity links customers needs and expectations to the activities required to manufacturer the product. How manufactured products are designed and how the process to produce them is selected are the main concern of this topic.

Product design is process of creating a new product to be sold by a business to its customers. A very broad concept, it is essentially the efficient and effective generation and development of ideas through a process that leads to new products.

PRODUCT DESIGN - DEFINATION Product design is concerned with form and functions of a product. It refers to the arrangement of elements or parts that collectively form a product. Although the potential opportunities to be realized in developing new products are exciting. Making them happen is a demanding challenge. Product design specifies which materials are to be used, determines and tolerances, defines the appearance of the product and sets standards for performance. An organization can gain a competitive edge through designs that brings new ideas to the market quickly, do a better job of satisfying customer needs, or are easier to manufacture, use and repair the existing products.

PRODUCT DESIGN – DEFINATIONcont…. In any business venture, product design is the first step immediately after accepting the concept of a product. It has direct bearing on plant layout,and in process material flow. In the process of product design, one has to critically analyzedifferent design features with relevance to places of use, substitute materials, and carefully plan equipment alternatives for manufacturing the product. Therefore, the purpose of product design is to determine and specify products that will be profitable to manufacturers and distributors and will give customers satisfaction.

Various aspects in product design The various aspects in product design are as follows: Design for function: A product must perform the function which its customers expects it to do. If a product is designed by taking its functional features in to account, then it will create satisfied customers, and will further lead to having more repeat customers. The factors which are to be considered for functional design are strengths and wearbility of the product and its components.

Various aspects in product design cont…. Design for making: A product design that solves the functional problem smoothly, but is impossible to manufacture, is of no use. Attention must be given to materials, fastening devices, etc., while designing a product. The hardness of the material specified at the design stage must be within the permitted range while machining. Making use of standard parts in an important aspect of product design. Also, operational convenience of the machineries must be taken into account at the design stage.

Various aspects in product designcont…. Design for selling: A product that functions well and is easy to make, but is wanted by no one in the market is of no avail. It makes no differences whether the product is a per or aero plane, it has to sell itself to the customers. The features like, appearance and convenience, depending on the customers needs, are to be considered. So, engineers, designers, psychologist and workers need to work together to design a better product and deliver it to the market.