Etm551 lecture05

ETM 551 Lecture 5 -Concept Generation.ppt

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Product Design & Development

Concept Generation


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Concept Generation Example:Power Nailer

• What existing solution concepts, if any, could be successfully adapted for this application?

• What new concepts might satisfy the established needs and specifications?

• What methods can be used to facilitate the concept generation process?


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Concept Development Process

Perform Economic Analysis

Benchmark Competitive Products

Build and Test Models and Prototypes

IdentifyCustomer

Needs

EstablishTarget

Specifications

GenerateProduct

Concepts

SelectProduct

Concept(s)

Set Final

Specifications

PlanDownstreamDevelopment

MissionStatement Test

ProductConcept(s)

DevelopmentPlan

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The Activity of Concept Generation• A good concept is sometimes poorly

implemented in subsequent developmentphases, but a poor concept can rarely bemanipulated to achieve commercial success.

• Concept generation typically consumes lessthan 5% budget and 15% of the developmenttime

• Because the concept genaration activity is not costly, there is no excuse for lack of diligenceand care in executing asound concept generation method.


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Preliminary questions

After identifying customer needs and establishing target product specifications, the team should ask:

• What existing solutions could be adapted for this application?

• What new concepts might satisfy these needs and specifications?

• What methods can be used to facilitate concept generation process?


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Concept generation activity• Structured approaches reduce the

likelihood of costly problems– Common dysfunctions during concept

generation:– Consideration of only one or two alternatives, often

proposed by the most assertive members of the team.– Failure to consider carefully the usefulness of concepts

employed by other firms in related and unrelated products.

– Involvement of only one or two people in the process, resulting in lack of confidence and commitment by other team members.

– Ineffective integration of promising partial solutions.– Failure to consider entire categories of solutions.


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A Five-Step Method

• Step 1: Clarify the Problem• Step 2: Search Externally• Step 3: Search Internally• Step 4: Explore Systematically• Step 5: Reflect on the Results and the

Process

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Concept GenerationProcess

1. Clarify theproblem

• Understanding• Problem

decomposition• Focus on critical

subproblems 3. Search internally

• Individual• Group

2. Search externally

• Lead users• Experts• Patents• Literature• Benchmarking

4. Explore systematically

• Classification tree• Combination table

5. Reflect on solutionand process

• Constructive feedbackSUBPROBLEMS

NEWCONCEPTS

EXISTINGCONCEPTS

INTEGRATEDSOLUTIONS


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The nailer: Step 1

Review assumptions underlying mission statementThe nailer will:– use nails (as opposed to adhesives, screws

etc.).– be compatible with nail magazines on existing

tools.– nail into wood.– be hand-held.


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Customer needs

• Customer needs (for a hand-held nailer):– The nailer inserts nails in rapid succession.– The nailer works into tight spaces– The nailer is lightweight.– The nailer has no noticeable nailing delay

after tripping tool.


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Target specifications

• No noticeable nailing delay after pulling trigger

• Nail lengths from 25 to 38 mm.• Maximum nailing energy of 40 J/nail.• Nailing force of up to 2,000 N.• Peak nailing rate of 12 nails/second.


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Target specifications (cont)

• Average nailing rate of 4 nails/min.• Maximum trigger delay of 0.25 second.• Tool mass less than 4 kg• Maximum trigger delay of 0.25 sec.


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Problem decomposition

• Decompose complex problem into simpler sub-problems. Many design challenges are too complex to solve as a single problem.

• Split a complex problem into simpler sub-problems.(Problem decomposition)


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Problem decomposition

• Split system into modulesExamples:– document copier– paper clip

• Many schemes – Functional decomposition

Possible submodules:• Document handler• Paper feeder• Image capture device• Printing device• ...

More dificult to split,but still possible...


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Problem Decomposition: Function Diagram

Storenails

Store oraccept

externalenergy

Isolatenail

Convertenergy to

translationalenergy

Applytranslational

energy to nail

Sensetrip

Triggertool

Energy

Nails

"Trip" oftool

Drivennail

Hand-heldnailer

Energy (?)

Signal (?)

Material (nails)

Energy (?)

Signal (tool "trip")

INPUT OUTPUT

Material (driven nail)


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Some useful tips to get started• Create a function diagram of an existing

product.• Create function diagram based on an

arbitrary product concept already generated by the team or on a known subfunction technology. Be sure to generalize the diagram to the appropriate level of abstraction.


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Tips to get started• Follow one of the flows (e.g., materials)

and determine what operations are required.The details of the other flows can be derived by thinking about theirconnections to the initial flow.


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Two other approaches

• Decomposition by sequence of user actions. – Move tool to approximate nailing position,– Position tool precisely,– Pull trigger.

• Decomposition by key customer needs– Fires nails in rapid succession,– Fits in tight places,– Has large nail capacity.

Products with very simpletechnical functions involvinga lot of user interactions

Products in which form, andnot working principles ortechnology, is the primaryproblem


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Focus on critical sub-problems

• The aim of decomposition techniques is to split a complex problem into simpler sub-problems, then tackle each in a focused way.


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The Nailer: Step 2 - Search externally

• Conduct external searches to find existing solutions to either the overall problem or a sub-problem identified during the decomposition step.

• Use search engines (in advanced mode) to find existing solutions discussed on Internet sites.


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External and Internet Searches:Hints for finding related solutions

• Lead Users– see emerging needs

before others– adopt and generate

innovations first• Benchmarking

– competitive products• Experts

– technical experts– experienced

customers

• Patents– search related

inventions• Literature

– technical journals– conference

proceedings– trade literature– government reports– consumer information


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Patents

• Try the European patent office• http://ep.espacenet.com• US patent office• http://patft.uspto.gov


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Step 3 - Search internally

• Suspend judgment– Suspend evaluation for the days or weeks

required to generate a large set of alternatives is critical to success.

• Generate a lot of ideas– Most experts believe that the more ideas a

team generates, the more likely the team is to explore fully the ‘solution space’.


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Step 3 - Search internally (cont)

• Welcome ideas, even if they do not seem very feasible– Ideas which initially appear infeasible can

often be improved, “debugged” or “repaired”by other members of the team.

• Use graphical and physical media.– Reasoning about physical and geometric

information with words is difficult.


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Hints for Generating Solution Concepts

• Make analogies– Experienced designers always ask

themselves what other devices solve a related problem.

• Wish and wonder– Beginning a thought or comment with “I wish

we could.....” or “I wonder what would happen if ....” helps to stimulate oneself or the group to consider new possibilities.


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Hints (cont)

• Use related stimuli– Most individuals can think of a new idea when

presented with a new stimulus.• Use unrelated stimuli

– Occasionally, random or unrelated stimuli can be effective in encouraging new ideas.

• Set quantitative goals– Set a goal of 10 or 20 concepts.


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Hints (cont)

• Use the gallery method– Use the gallery method to display a large

number of concepts simultaneously for discussion.


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TRIZ

• In the 1990’s, a Russian problem solving methodology called TRIZ (a Russian acronym for theory of inventive problem solving) began to disseminate in Europe and USA.

• Useful in identifying physical working principles.

• The key idea is to identify a contradiction that is implicit in a problem.


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Solutions for two of thenailer’s subproblems


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The nailer:Step 4 - Explore systematically

• After external and internal search there are probably tens or hundreds of solutions to subproblems, or concept fragments

• Navigate the space of possibilities…– With the concept classification tree– With the concept combination table


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Concept classification tree

• Use it to:– Prune less promising

branches (carefully)– Identify related versus

independent approaches– Highlight inappropriate

emphasis (certain branches)

– Refine problem decomposition.


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Refining problem decomposition• Too much instantaneous power (~10000Watt)

for an outlet, battery or fuel cell to deliver in fewmiliseconds– Must accumulate and then trigger


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Concept combination table

• A systematic approach to combine partial solutions


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Managing the explorationprocess

• Combination tables and classification treesare not unique– Just simple ways to organize thoughts– Exploration step acts as a guide for further

creative thinking• Often the concept generation phase is not

so straightforward– In fact its almost always iterative...


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Step 5: Reflect on the Results and the Process

• Is the team developing confidence that the solution space has been fully explored?

• Are there alternative function diagrams?• Are there alternative ways to decompose

the problem?• Have external sources been thoroughly

pursued?• Have ideas from everyone been accepted

and integrated into process?


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Summary

• A product concept is an approximate description of the technology, working principles, and form of the product.

• The concept generation begins with a set of customer needs and target specifications.

• In most cases an effective team will generate hundreds of concepts, of which 5 to 20 will merit serious consideration.


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Summary

• The concept generation consists of 5 steps– Clarify the problem– Search externally– Search internally– Explore systematically– Reflect on the solutions and the process

Etm551 lecture05

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