What is the Importance and Stages of Good Product Design? Every product that stands manufactured by an employer supposes to have a distinguishing bodily attribute. That will make it appealing to customers, this attribute stands regarded as a design. Product design, therefore, is all about manufacturing a product that will entice clients and additionally grant price for them. Since the graph of a product is the first influence a patron has about a precise product. There is consequently the want for agencies to graph merchandise that meet and exceed the customer’s expectations.

Here are the articles to explain, the Importance and Stages of Good Product Design!

This, therefore, the potential that an organization’s most important focal point needs to be to hire skilled operation managers that would graph well-articulated and favored merchandise that will fulfill the desires of clients at all times. Based on this, consequently, the primary goal of this record is to study the product plan by using an explanation. How it is stood influenced by the way of the patron and to additionally exhibit the place it can recognize on the cost chain of an organization.

This file stands written with the resource of tutorial textbooks, journals, and articles and it divides into 5 primary sections. Which are the introduction, and the literature review. The effect of the clients on product design, figuring out product layout on the fee chain, and the conclusion.

Literature Review:

Product design is a very important aspect of any organization and as such this part of the report aims to review comments on product design from various authors. Product design is a means of adding value to a product by ensuring that its layout is attractive to the customer. Also, Product design is all about trying to link customer needs to product attributes, therefore providing the customer with value.

“Good design satisfies customers and communicates the purpose of the product to its market. The objective of a good product design is to satisfy the customer by meeting their actual needs or expectation. This, therefore, enhances the competitiveness of the organization; product design can therefore be seen as starting and ending with the customer. The job of product designers is to achieve designs that exceed customers’ expectations. They also try to design a product that performs well and is reliable during their lifetime, a product should be designed in such a way that it is easy to manufacture. Using design through a business ultimately boots the bottom line by helping to create better products that compete on value rather than price”.

According to Schroeder product design is crucial to the survival of most firms. While a few firms experience little product change, most firm must continually revise their products. Product design is seldom the responsibility of the operations function. But operations exist greatly affected by new product introductions and vice versa. Product design is a prerequisite for production. The result of the product design stands transmitted to operations as product specifications. These specifications state the desired characteristics of the product and allow production to proceed.

Review 01:

Designing new products is a critical capability, particularly as life cycles for products become shorter. New product design must introduce to replace outdated design. According to Chase et al, The design of a product differs depending on the industry; for example for consumer products, understanding consumer preference, market testing and prospective product are very important activities. Companies that specialize in the design of products have highly developed processes to support the activities needed for the industry.

To ensure the proper design of products that will attract customers, a firm must decide what its core competency should be. A core competency is the one thing that the firm can do better than other competitors in the market, with the use of the core competency the firm can design valuable products for example if a firm has a core competency in the manufacturing of mobile phones, it can invest most of its resources into the designing of the more attractive design of mobile phones.

Nigel et al, Further state that good design also helps businesses connect strongly with their customers by anticipating their real needs, this in turn give them the ability to set themselves apart in increasingly tough markets. The use of design in generating new ideas and turning them into realities allows organizations to set the pace in their markets. Bennett et al, The design of a fast-food restaurant, for example, will comprise elements such as scheduling operations, inventory system, quality control, etc.

Review 02:

Hill states that all organizations have a range of products at a given time. To meet up with the competition in the product design market, it is necessary to have a complementary fact, relate to the organization’s strategic decisions associated with issues such as completeness of range, process capability, and distribution costs. New product design is necessary for survival and growth. Hill further stated that there are three important factors to consider during product design. These factors are;

• The development and introduction of new product designs are both risky and costly.
• The product tends to follow a life cycle.
• Some product designs are or have the potential to be more successful than others.
• Based on these statements, it is necessary for management to critically analyze ideas before investing in product design.

It is the responsibility of the product designers to ensure that the product satisfies customers. This can achieve through the use of modern technology to design products in line with the trend in technological development. The product should also design to be functional, attractive, have acceptable dimensions, not too noisy, and can maintain. It is also the responsibility of the finance department to demand a product that will generate an adequate return on investment.

Review 03:

The decision made at the design stage of a new product can have a long-term influence on the efficiency of the organization. Product design should stand made in such a way that it is within the budget of the organization. But at the same time meets the expectations of the customers and consumers. This is not usually an easy task because the determinants of quality are frequently difficult to identify.

Supporting the statement above according to Bennet et al. ″Time and cost of manufacture both need to keep to a minimum and the design of any new product should reflect this”. Bennet et al further state that these two aspects are usually closely interdependent. A cheap grade of the material may require slow machining speeds and thus generate high labor costs. And a simple design solution in preference to a complex one may allow the use of unskilled labor rather than skilled workers who stand highly paid. Consequently, a cheap design will not attract customers and as such, there is a need for a more complex design but at a lower cost.

Importance of good product design:

• Good product design attracts more customers thereby giving an organization a hedge above other competitors in the market.
• It is also important because it brings together three important issues, the concept, the package, and the process.
• Good design makes a business grow by enhancing profitability and turnover. Because it transforms the needs of customers into the desired shape and value of the product demanded.
• It makes life easy and comfortable for the customer by introducing products that are easy to use.
• Good product design is important in replacing obsolete designs.

The stages of product design:

According to Nigel slack et al, fully specified designs rarely spring, fully formed from a designer’s imagination. The design activity passes through several key stages before it gets a final design, this, therefore, forms an approximate sequence. The stages of product design are concept generation, concept screening, preliminary design, evaluation and improvement prototype, and final design.

The first stage of product design develops the concept behind the design; most times ideas from. This stage stands gotten from customers through the use of questionnaires or interviews, or by listening to customers daily based. On their complaints about a product, ideas at this stage stand sometimes also gotten from staff who interact with the customers. The next stage is the concept screening stage whereby the concept stands screened to ensure the addition of a relevant product portfolio that meets the defined concept. This stage also ensures proper screening of ideas by assessing the worth or value of each design option.

The next stage in product design is the preliminary design; this is usually the first attempt at designing the product to ensure that it includes the entire component product. It also involves specifying the components of the product this means specifically outlining the components that will make up the design of the product. The next stage of product design is the evaluation and improvement stage, the purpose of this stage is to examine the preliminary design to find out if it requires any further improvement.

Other Stages:

Nigel et al, outlined three techniques that can be useful in design evaluation and improvement, they are; quality function deployment (QFD), value engineering (VE), and Taguchi methods. The final stage of a product design is the prototype and final design. At this stage, the improved design turns into a prototype for testing. An organization cannot go into the full design without prototype testing. If satisfied with the performance of the product after testing. The final design is then rolled out and displayed for customers and consumers.

It should note that at the beginning of the product design stage. There is a very high level of uncertainty regarding what the final design would look like. This is because there could be several ways in which a concept could translate into a final design. During the stages, all these possible end designs stand successfully eliminated until the end of the process. There is a high level of certainty about what the final design would be like. Various costs affect the design stages.

The more the changes in the design stages, the higher the cost of design, it is important that as organizations try to design attractive products for their customers there is also the need to watch the cost level because a higher level of product design cost will affect the organizations turnover, so if an organization intend to design a more sophisticated product, it should, first of all, calculate the returns it would get from such a product.

The five stages of product design can narrow down into three stages as explained below, these stages are;

The concepts:

This defines as a clear outline or specification which includes the use and value of the product. Which can use to assess the stages of the design. It means understanding the nature, use, and value of the products.

The package:

This provides the benefits defined in the concept and stands made up of the core and supporting products. The cores are the items that are fundamental to the purchase and cannot remove without destroying the nature of the package. The other parts serve to enhance the core, and these are the supporting products. According to Nigel et al, the core good is the car. While the leather seats and guarantee are the supporting goods.

By changing the core, or adding and subtracting supporting goods, organizations can provide packages and create a quite different concept. Finch, the design of a product and the process that produce them cannot be completely independent. The design of a product determines the type of process used to create it. This perspective has guided process design for decades. Recently products have stood designed with the view that product design can make a process simpler and less costly.

The process:

This is the method by which the product will create and delivered. The process is the various activities that take place from the beginning to the end of the assembly line. When the product stands delivered to the customer or the showroom. The packages of components which make up a product are the ingredients of the design. Nigel et al, further state that producing design for products is a process that conforms to the input transformation output model.

Therefore it has to design and managed like another process. It is important to note that although organizations strive to produce an attractive design of products. This desire is most affected or influenced by the availability of materials and hi-technology.

The Influence of a Customer on Product Design and a Business Perspective:

A well-designed product makes a great difference to a customer’s perception of the product. And certain factors influence the decision of a customer about the design of a particular product. These factors are the value attributes, they stand for the value perceived by a customer. These are what the customer considers before, deciding to buy a product, these factors are; convenience, cost, technology quality, style/fashion.

The design of a product to a large extent influences the decision of a customer to buy the product. For example, the newly designed touch screen phones introduced by almost all mobile phone manufacturers have increased. Their turnover is because it is easy and convenient to use. So it can be said that one of the factors that influence the customer concerning product design is how convenient and easy the design is to the customer.

Influence Part 01:

Another factor that can influence a customer is cost, the cost of a well-designed product is sometimes too expensive for a customer. And thereby the customer may either decide to buy it or choose an alternative with a lesser design to save cost. On the other hand, from the business perspective, a well-designed product will increase turnover. But the cost of manufacturing will be high.

Sometimes an organization can create a cost advantage either by reducing the cost of the individual value chain activities or redesigning the product. Redesigning means, changing some aspects of the design. So that it can manufacture at a lower cost. Technology is another factor that influences customer perception of a product design. The need for modern technology can influence a customer’s perception of a product. And therefore influence the decision to buy or not buy a particular product just because its design does not meet the customer’s expectation.

For example, the introduction of Windows 7 by the Microsoft corporation will encourage customers to buy laptop computers that have this application rather than buying one without windows 7, because Windows 7 is a more sophisticated and modern technology and customers will prefer it to an outdated version of the same computer, this means that the introduction of modern technology or application into a product design will enable the organization sell more and increase its turnover.

Influence Part 02:

Quality with stands also known as fitness for a purpose is also a factor. That can influence the customer about product design. Improved quality of a product design can further attract customers. This involves the use of high-quality materials in the product design process. The outcome of this is that the product will well designed and durable. Therefore the customer will be willing to pay more and have a product. That has a longer life span and can withstand adverse weather conditions rather than buying a low-quality product that will not serve its purpose.

For example, a company that manufactures shoes like Clarks may decide to use high-quality leather skin in its product design process. This will lead to the production of quality shoes which has good weather-resistant, which will attract customers. Style and fashion is also a value attribute to customers’ perception of product design. Because the latest changes in style and fashion around the globe will seriously influence a customer. To ensure that organization’s products are attractive to customers, there must be a constant change in the design of products.

This means that the organization should endeavor to produce goods that follow the trends of current style and fashion, this attribute is normally feasible in the cloth industry and the target market should be the youths who are fashion crazy, a typical example would be George a subsidiary of ASDA, in the Wal-Mart family, George will increase its turnover if it can produce clothes that meet with the latest and current standard of style and fashion.

Reference;

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