Towards handling worker emotions for improved product development

Product development is a process in which important decisions pertaining to the artefact and its interaction with other life-phase systems are made. The consequences of these interactions influence in a direct manner the degree of success of product development in terms of cost, time and quality. One type of consequence which emanates from the interaction involving the human worker and other lifephase systems is the elicitation of human emotions. The investigation presented in this paper indicates that the elicitation of negative emotions from human workers can have significant ramifications on the product development process. The main contribution of this paper is the development of a support means which enables product development stakeholders to foresee the type of emotions elicited from human workers as a consequence of decisions made.peer-reviewe

Cleaning genie : an international case study in integrated product development

This paper documents the product development project that was carried out following the first session of the Integrated Product Development Summer School (ipdISS14). The first part of this summer school was held in Malta in May 2014. The second part was held in Magdeburg in September. The team was comprised of six members from five EU institutions and the aim of the project was develop a cleaning solution for delicate objects by using an Integrated Product Development methodology. The report presents the process in detail as well as important lessons learned. The final solution proposed, Cleaning Genie, is a cleaning add-on for cordless screwdrivers for the consumer market. Many households are lacking effective and cost efficient means of cleaning delicate objects, little did they know that the common cordless screwdriver that most of them have in their toolbox together with the affordable Cleaning Genie add-ons can solve their cleaning problems. Cleaning Genie is targeting an enormous consumer market by applying bundling and low price strategies.peer-reviewe