Product Design Influence 11

standardization

1) The process of designing and altering products, parts, processes, and procedures to establish and use standard specifications for them and their components. 2) Reduction of the total numbers of parts and materials used and products, models, or grades produced. 3) The function of bringing a raw ingredient into standard (acceptable) range per the specification before introduction to the main process.

glocalization

A combination of "globalization" and "localization." In a supply chain context, [this] is a form of postponement where a product or service is developed for distribution globally but is modified to meet the needs of a local market. The modifications are made to conform with local laws, customs, cultures, and preferences.

quality function deployment (QFD)

A methodology designed to ensure that all the major requirements of the customer are identified and subsequently met or exceeded through the resulting product design process and the design and operation of the supporting production management system. [It] can be viewed as a set of communication and translation tools. [It] tries to eliminate the gap between what the customer wants in a new product and what the product is capable of delivering. [This] often leads to a clear identification of the major requirements of the customers. These expectations are referred to as the voice of the customer (VOC). See: house of quality.

design for quality

A product design approach that uses quality measures to capture the extent to which the design meets the needs of the target market (customer attributes), as well as its actual performance, aesthetics, and cost. See: total quality engineering.

postponement

A product design, or supply chain strategy that deliberately delays final differentiation of a product (assembly, production, packaging, tagging, etc.) until the latest possible time in the process. This shifts product differentiation closer to the consumer to reduce the anticipatory risk of producing the wrong product. The practice eliminates excess finished goods in the supply chain. Sometimes referred to as delayed differentiation.

design for manufacture and assembly (DFMA)

A product development approach that involves the manufacturing function in the initial stages of product design to ensure ease of manufacturing and assembly. See: early manufacturing involvement.

standardized product

A product that can be made in large quantities, or continuously, because it has very few product designs.

multicountry strategy

A strategy in which each country market is self-contained. Customers have unique product expectations that are addressed by local production capabilities. Syn: multidomestic strategy.

product differentiation

A strategy of making a product distinct from the competition on a nonprice basis such as availability, durability, quality, or reliability.

design for X (DFX)

Also referred to as design for excellence. A design process that ensures the outcome is manufacturable, maintainable, cost-effective, and of high quality.

design for six sigma

An approach to designing products and processes that attempts to ensure the firm can provide products or services that meet six sigma quality levels. These quality levels correspond to approximately 3.4 defects per million opportunities.

During the initial design phase of a product, a manufacturer recognizes that a supplier may have specialized expertise regarding the design and construction of a unique part. How can the manufacturer best formally collaborate with the supplier to take advantage of that expertise?

Ask the supplier to design the subcomponent for the item. In formal collaboration on design, an organization may go as far as asking the supplier to design a subcomponent, if the supplier has specialized expertise that will benefit the design process. VOC is customer-oriented, not supplier-oriented, and holding a series of conversations would be an example of informal collaboration. Hiring designers away from the supplier would potentially damage the relationship between the manufacturer and the supplier and may be a poor investment if the need for the expertise in design is short-lived.

The term used to describe the increased focus on integration and synchronization of the entire supply chain in pursuit of agility is:

design for the supply chain. Design for the supply chain refers to "enhancement of a firm's product design in consideration of the issues that will arise in the supply chain, from raw materials to the final stage of the product's life cycle" (APICS Dictionary, 16th edition).

McDonald's, a global fast food chain, offers unique menus in different countries or regions that appeal to the tastes of local communities. This is an example of:

glocalization. Coined by Japanese economists in the 1980s and popularized by sociologist Roland Robertson, "glocalization" refers to the globalization of a product that is then adapted specifically to the local culture in which it is marketed.

An advantage of using quality function deployment (QFD) over design for quality is that, in QFD, quality of design is:

measured relative to competitor product features. QFD uses precise steps and a methodology such as a "house of quality," which is essentially a comparative spreadsheet that ranks how a product or service stands up to customer wants as well as to what the competition is offering. Both systems could employ any of the quality measurement methods listed.

Both supply chain management and design for the environment have which of the following in their focus?

Both focus on all phases of the product life cycle. Design for the environment is consistent with supply chain management's attention to all phases of the product life cycle. The reverse supply chain is typically an expense that needs to be minimized rather than a source of profits. Design for the environment may result in products that have higher cost and are marketed to customer segments willing to pay a premium for their enhanced environmental sustainability.

A retailer decides to commission the creation of a line of shoes to sell as an accessory to designer evening gowns. Which of the following would be the most appropriate business strategy?

Collaborative design for a unique look A niche marketing strategy, such as selling specialized shoes, is most compatible with collaborative design to achieve a distinctive product for limited use on special occasions. Price, responsiveness, and durability are important characteristics but are most likely not key competitive factors in this type of market.

A design team modifies an existing clothing line by making the buttons used on one item work for all the other items. This exemplifies which of the following?

Component commonality Component commonality is a form of design standardization where a single part is used to replace a variety of similar parts. Another example of component commonality is designing an assembly in such as way that the same size bolt will work for all purposes rather than using a variety of bolt sizes.

Which of the following design strategies would most likely be responsible for the fact that only one screwdriver is needed to remove all the screws securing a computer case and to unfasten all components from the motherboard inside?

Component commonality Component commonality is the design strategy of substituting one common component for a variety of similar components.

Which of the following design strategies offers streamlined production and lower purchasing costs with a possible tradeoff against reduced design flexibility and lower quality?

Component commonality Using common components for a variety of purposes provides economies of scale in purchasing and manufacture but can limit design flexibility and reduce quality.

quality

Conformance to requirements or fitness for use. [It] can be defined through five principal approaches: (1) [The transcendent type] is an ideal; a condition of excellence. (2) [The product-based type] is based on a product attribute. (3) [The user-based type] is fitness for use. (4) [The manufacturing-based type] is conformance to requirements. (5) [The value-based type] is the degree of excellence at an acceptable price. Also, [it] has two major components: (1) [conformance—it] is defined by the absence of defects, and (2) [design—it] is measured by the degree of customer satisfaction with a product's characteristics and features.

design for the environment (DFE)

Considering health, safety, and environmental aspects of a product during the design and development phase of product development.

Which of the following could best help promote organizational adoption of new design and development collaboration efforts?

Create simple graphics that make the goals easy to understand at a glance. A proof-of-concept phase should precede development of formal concepts and processes. The proof of concept should start with small projects that can show results quickly. Successes can be advertised using simple graphics that make the goals easy to understand and accept.

A company manufacturing a product containing hazardous materials redesigns the packaging so that the box containing the product can be used to return the product to the manufacturer. This is an example of which of the following?

Design for reverse logistics Design for reverse logistics includes designing for repair, replacement, and returns as well as designing packaging to account for common consumer frustrations. This might include ease of disassembly for repairs, an affordable warranty program, a box that can be used for shipping and return, well-trained and accessible customer service personnel, and comprehensible instructions as well as a product designed to endure.

Which of the following approaches to product design is compatible with the requirement that German brewers use refillable bottles?

Design for reverse logistics Design for reverse logistics looks for ways to make products that can be easily reused, returned, or recycled. (Whether the beer bottles can be reused or not has little effect upon logistics in the forward chain. It primarily affects the reverse chain that brings the container back one or more times during its life cycle.)

An organization designs product documentation with large pictographs showing how to avoid common user errors that have previously resulted in customers believing that an otherwise good product is defective. This is an example of which of the following?

Design for service Clear instructions or a help line can reduce the number of returns based on user error. This can be described as design for service.

Inventory turnover is a metric for which of the following approaches to product design?

Design for supply chain Inventory turnover measures the relative speed at which inventory is produced and then sold and so is an important metric used to measure the effectiveness of design for the supply chain.

How can an organization best design for logistics?

Design to maximize standardization. Design for logistics is concerned with minimizing supply chain costs by maximizing standardization, among other methods.

An organization is looking to use quality function deployment (QFD) when designing products. It starts by using group decision making to ensure that design conflicts are resolved with the customer in mind, and it embraces the methodology wholeheartedly. However, the resulting designs are not meeting customer requirements. What is the likely cause of this shortcoming?

Failure to translate customer segment demand data and voice of the customer information into design requirements QFD must start with design by translating customer segment demand data and voice of the customer information into design requirements. QFD uses precise steps and a methodology such as the "house of quality," which is essentially a comparative spreadsheet that ranks how a product or service stands up to customer wants as well as to what the competition is offering. All of this is translated into a set of technical specifications to meet customer priorities.

simplification

Improving quality and cutting costs by removing complexity from a product or service.

modularization

In product development, the use of standardized parts for flexibility and variety. Permits product development cost reductions by using the same item(s) to build a variety of finished goods. This is the first step in developing a planning bill of material process.

Which of the following statements about product design for service is true?

It may compete with the design goal of minimizing development costs. Design for service may compete with other design goals such as minimizing development costs or aesthetics.

Which of the following is a supply chain strategy based on the business strategy of product differentiation?

Keeping minimal inventory of the base model and expanding inventory of options Supply chain strategies appropriate to product differentiation include modular design combined with postponement to allow last-minute customization to meet specific consumer demands, minimal inventory of the base model to prevent obsolescence, and collaboration with suppliers to develop innovative designs and numerous options (also kept in inventory) appealing to different customers.

Which of the following might participate on a team with design engineers in the process known as concurrent engineering?

Manufacturing engineers, market researchers, and customer representatives Concurrent engineering (CE) is known by several other names, such as design for manufacture and participative design. Early instances in the 1980s focused on the importance of including manufacturing engineers in the design process to spot any design decisions that would make production more difficult and expensive. Other stakeholders—suppliers, customers, people from other functional areas—may also participate.

The authors of a Harvard Business Reviewarticle think that an intense focus on glocalization will soon be coming to an end. Supporters of this perspective believe that multinational corporations (MNCs) should instead be focusing their efforts on:

reverse innovation. Supporters of this theory believe that since success in developing countries is contingent on ongoing sales in developed countries, MNCs that want to maintain a competitive lead should focus on reverse innovation of their products. Reverse innovation is developing innovative new products that meet specific needs and budgets of customers in particular markets using a decentralized, local market focus.

A motorcycle manufacturer redesigns a line of bikes to allow customers to put together a variety of gas tank styles, fenders, motors, and wheels to create models for different purposes. This exemplifies which of the following?

Mass customization This is mass customization. It may also be called delayed differentiation, which is actually a description of the process that leads to mass customization. That is, a basic product or set of components remains in undifferentiated form as long as possible before being converted or assembled into a customized, or differentiated, configuration. Sometimes differentiation doesn't occur until the end customer selects the specific components to be assembled to order.

What is one of the tradeoffs of focusing on transportation and storage when designing for logistics?

Maximizing items on a pallet may cause issues with slow-moving goods for retailers. Maximizing items on a pallet needs to be balanced against the needs of retailers; slow-moving goods may not be desired in larger quantities. Warehouse capacity pressures should drop if warehouses are able to store goods more efficiently as a result of the design. Item density may need to be altered to balance between cubing out and weighing out, as design that is too size- or weight-efficient may otherwise cause issues with transportation. Master cartons can be designed to be more recognizable through this process, not less, making them easier to differentiate.

Which of the following design strategies is the polar opposite of integral design?

Modular design Modular design creates mix-and-match components that can be combined into different products, whereas integral design creates one product from a unique set of components.

An organization designs products to be built to order, featuring modular parts that are easy to combine to meet customized orders from customers. Product assembly and customization occurs just prior to shipping. What is this an example of?

Postponement Postponement is defined in the APICS Dictionary, 16th edition, as "a product design or supply chain strategy that deliberately delays final differentiation... until the latest possible time in the process." Modular design with postponement allows last-minute customization to meet specific consumer demands.

What strategy can be used to reduce the bullwhip effect?

Postponement Postponement is useful as a countermeasure against the bullwhip effect because it reduces the need for safety stock in multiple varieties.

Which of the following warehouse operations assumes that there will be costs for training or hiring staff with final production skills?

Postponement With postponement, there will be costs for training or hiring staff with final production skills. Processing at the warehouse may be more expensive than finishing the product at the plant would have been.

design for remanufacture

Products developed in a manner that allows components to be used in other products. This process is associated with green manufacturing.

An organization using mass customization has had complaints of defective products. The cause is a valve installed backward in final assembly at the distribution centers (DCs). Which of the following would address the root cause of the problem?

Redesign the product so the valve can be installed only one way. While training the employees may reduce the number of errors, in a fast-paced assembly environment, errors will be inevitable, so the only lasting solution is to make assembly foolproof.

Reducing the number of steps in a service to just those specified by the most recent core customer segment survey and offering a few other steps as options exemplifies which of the following design strategies?

Simplification and customization Simplification is "improving quality and cutting costs by removing complexity from a product or service" (APICS Dictionary, 16th edition). Customization is a design goal that allows products or product families to be adapted to changing customer demand over time. The service still allows for options and can be changed on a regular basis, so it is not standardized. Design for service refers to designing products for ease of serviceability, not the design of a service.

design for service

Simplification of parts and processes to improve the after-sale service of a product. Syn: design for maintainability.

design for manufacturability

Simplification of parts, products, and processes to improve quality and reduce manufacturing costs.

Which of the following strategies represents the traditional "over the wall" approach to product design?

Supplier plays no role in design. In the traditional design process, the supplier plays no role in the design. The design is created by design engineers and passed "over the wall," figuratively, to manufacturing and other stakeholders.

universality

The strategy of designing a product initially intended for one market in such a way that it can also be sold in other markets. A form of standardization.

modular design strategy

The strategy of planning and designing products so that components or subassemblies can be used in current and future products or assembled to produce multiple configurations of a product. [...].

mass customization

The use of mass production techniques to create large volume of products in a wide variety keeping production costs low while enabling customized output primarily utilizing postponement or delayed differentiation.

A trend in extending the design of products originally made for emerging economies for sales in developed economies is an example of which of the following?

Universality The APICS Dictionary, 16th edition, defines universality as follows: "The strategy of designing a product initially intended for one market in such a way that it can also be sold in other markets. It is a form of standardization."

Which of the following is a method of replacing physical inventory with better information?

Use postponement centers. Avoid filling warehouses with the wrong mix of finished goods by setting up postponement centers to delay product assembly until an actual order has been received.

Which of the following is a goal of design for manufacture and assembly (DFMA)?

Using concurrent and parallel processing to reduce work-in-process time DFMA uses concurrent and parallel processing to reduce work-in-process time, reduces the number of parts, and simplifying process steps during assembly. DFMA designs components that do not require extremely tight tolerances.

design for the supply chain

Enhancement of a firm's product design in consideration of the issues that will arise in the supply chain, from raw materials to the final stage of the product's life cycle.