WHAT DOES PRODUCT AND SERVICE DESIGN DO?
– Primary focus should be on customer
satisfaction
1. Translate customer wants and needs into product
and service requirements (marketing, operations)
2. Refine existing products and services (marketing)
3. Develop new products and/or services (marketing,
operations)
4. Formulate quality goals (marketing, operations)
5. Formulate cost targets (accounting, finance,
operations)
6. Construct and test prototypes (operation,
marketing, engineering)
7. Document specification
8. Translate product and service specifications into
process specifications (engineering, operations)
OBJECTIVES OF PRODUCT AND SERVICE DESIGN
– Customer satisfaction (Primary consideration)
– Cost or profit, quality, ability to produce a
product or provide a service, ethics/safety,
and sustainability (Secondary considerations)
KEY QUESTIONS
1. Is there a demand for it? What is the potential size
of the market, and what is the expected demand
profile.
2. Can we do it? Do we have the necessary
knowledge, skills, equipment, capacity, and supply
chain capability?
3. What level of quality is appropriate? What do
customers expect?
4. Does it make sense from an economic
standpoint? What are the potential liability issues,
ethical considerations, sustainability issues, costs
and profit
REASONS FOR PRODUCT AND SERVICE DESIGN OR
REDESIGN
1. ECONOMIC (low demand, excessive warranty
claims, the need to reduce costs)
2. SOCIAL AND DEMOGRAPHIC (aging baby
boomers, population shifts)
3. POLITICAL, LIABILITY, OR LEGAL (government
changes, safety issues, new regulations)
4. COMPETITIVE (new or change products or
services, new advertising/promotions)
5. COST OR AVIALBILTY (raw materials, components,
labor, water, energy)
6. TECHNOLOGICAL (in product components,
process)
TECHNOLOGY
– Can also indirectly affect product and service
design
– Advance in processing technology may require
altering an existing design to make it
compatible with the new processing
technology
– Illustrated by digital recording technology that
allows television viewers to skip commercials
when they view a recorded program.
REVERSE ENGINEERING
– Dismantling and inspecting a competitor’s
product to discover product improvements
– Some forms of reverse engineering are illegal
under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT (R&D)
– Organized efforts to increase scientific
knowledge or product innovation
R&D MAY INVOLVE:
1. Basic research
– Objective of advancing the state of knowledge
about a subject, without any near-term
expectations of commercial application
– Does not lead to near-term commercial
application, is generally underwritten by the
government and large corporations
2. Applied research
– Has the objective of achieving commercial
applications.
– Because of the potential for commercial
application, appeals to a wide spectrum of
business organization, same with
development.
3. Development
– Converts the results of applied research into
useful commercial applications
The benefits of successful R&D can be tremendous.
The cost of R&D can be high.
Some companies are now shifting from a focus primarily
on products to a more balanced approach that explore
both product and process R&D. ‘
LEGAL AND ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS
– Designers must be careful to take into account
a wide array of legal and ethical
considerations.
– They are mandatory
PRODUCT LIABILITY
– The responsibility of a manufacturer for any
injuries or damages caused by a faulty
product.
UNIFORM COMMERCIAL CODE
– A product must be suitable for its intended
purpose
– Carry an implication of merchantability and
fitness
IMPORTANCE
– Increasing customer awareness of product
safety cam adversely affect product image and
subsequent demand for a product
– It is extremely important to design products
that are reasonably free of hazards
– When hazard exist, it is necessary to install
– Often arise in the design of consumer products
– Safety and liability are two critical issues and
they must be carefully considered
– Another issue in designers is adding new
feature to their products or services.
– It can sometimes be “too much of a good
thing” and be a source of customer
dissatisfaction
– Creeping featurism is particularly evident in
electronic products such as a handheld device
that continue to offer new features, and more
complexity, even while they are shrinking in
size
– May result in low consumer ratings in terms of
“ease of use”
CULTURAL FACTORS
– Must take into account any cultural
differences of different countries or regions
related to the product
– Can result in different designs for different
countries or regions
GLOBAL PRODUCT AND SERVICE DESIGN
– Can provide design outcomes that increase
