In this paper, innovation and management during the objective stage of the product design process are studied. The idea of innovation for the whole product concept at the objective design stage was put forward in view of the overall development trends and mode of product design. The strategies of product innovation as well as its related process are also discussed. Finally, some recommendations regarding diminishing uncertainty in this stage of product design process are being made

Kong-Fan Rang

Yin-Cheng Long

Zhu Lin

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Management, Vol. 10, 2005, 2, pp. 99-109Y. ChengLong,  Z. Ling, K. FanRang: Study on innovation and management of the objective…Management, Vol. 10, 2005, 2, pp. 99-109Y. ChengLong,  Z. Ling, K. FanRang: Study on innovation and management of the objective…STUDY ON INNOVATION AND MANAGEMENT OF THE OBJECTIVE STAGE IN PRODUCT DESIGN Yin-ChengLong*, Zhu Lin**, Kong-FanRang***Received:  7. 11. 2004.					Professional paper Accepted:  9. 11. 2005.					UDC: 001.895							           658.624In this paper, innovation and management during the objective stage of the product design process are studied. The idea of innovation for the whole product concept at the objective design stage was put forward in view of the overall development trends and mode of product design. The strategies of product innovation as well as its related process are also discussed. Finally, some recommendations regarding diminishing uncertainty in this stage of product design process are being made.1. INTRODUCTIONWith the further development of science and technology, it became an accepted idea that innovation should be included into the entire process of product-design and that it should play an important role, if an enterprise is to succeed and exist in a competitive market. From the viewpoint of design-methodology, the process of product design should be divided into the following phases (Kong-FanRang, Li-ChuanQi, Zhen-QinHe, 1993): objective design, conceptual design, parameter design and optimum design. The above phases can not be separate one from the other. Furthermore, screening and evaluation, as well as strategy design, should be thought about during the whole design process, as shown in Fig.1. In theory, innovation coming from any stage of the design process could make the product innovative. However, the most vital element of the whole product design stage is objective design, which has not been completely clarified, because it determines whether or not a design succeeds. There is another noteworthy problem: if there is little information available and the degree of «fuzziness» is large at the beginning of the design process - a designer could be restrained, which is inappropriate for supporting innovation. At the same time, as information becomes more sufficient, the «fuzziness» of the design decreases greatly. Figure 1. Different functions of the product design processFrom the viewpoint of the design methodology, objective design is the first phase of the process design. During that stage, a lot of fuzzy factors exist, such as customer requirements, the related technology, the competing environment and the uncertainty of the resources required to finish the project. Those account up to 70% of errors during the design process. So, the method dealing with correcting those errors is very important. Otherwise, the chances emerging from the market could be lost (Ren-ShouQu et al., 2000). But, those fuzzy factors could make the product design more flexible, that is, they could widen the view of the designers. However, in the latter phases or in the manufacturing process, because of all kinds of objective factors, the sources of innovation could be restrained and the innovation of the product not achieved. Based on the above analysis, it could be suggested that the objective design plays the most important part in the design process, implying that both innovation and management should be strengthened just at the beginning of the process. 2. INNOVATION OF THE FUZZY FRONT END OF PRODUCT     DESIGNIn essence, from the innovation viewpoint, the fuzzy front end of product design is a process which drives the innovation of the product. From the views of both the methodology of the design process and innovation of the product, objective innovative design is defined as a concept that combines the general trends of designing a product with the innovative strategy – both during the stage of the objective design, as well as during the entire innovative process design. 2.1 Innovation of whole product conceptThe concept of the integral product starts with the assumption that a modern product consists of three components: the core, the “formative” layer and the “additional” layer – consisting of related services, as shown in Fig. 2.Figure 2. Different perspectives of a productIn this context, the inner is the “core product”, emphasizing the function of the product. Then, the middle one was “formative”, emphasizing the style, the quality and the brand. Lastly, the external one is “additional”, emphasizing different kinds of services, including consultation, delivery of goods, etc. Therefore, the product innovation could include innovation of function, formation and service. Here, there is an important fact that should be noted: the type of innovation to be carried out should be determined at the objective design stage. An enterprise is concerned, depending on its economic situation, could perform the innovation of the core product or the innovation of one of the two additional product “layers”, or even innovations of all the three “layers”, in order to obtain advantage over its competitors. Therefore, the innovative teams should include product-developing engineers, industrial engineers and personnel from the sales and service departments. During the whole objective design, each functional department should participate in the work or cooperate.2.2. Strategy of product innovationIn order to make the process of product-design efficient, it is necessary for a product designer, at the very beginning of the objective design stage, to determine which innovation style (radical or gradual innovation) and which innovation direction (market- or technology-based), should be adopted (see Figure 3). Besides, it is vital to clarify that innovation of different kind(s) of product(s) calls for different conditions of innovation, as well as for the appropriate managerial approach. Figure 3. Strategy of product innovation2.3. Product innovation processThe fuzzy front end of product design - the stage of objective design - should develop a lot of the innovative sources of product, adopt a series of methods giving the idea of the product, as well as screen and evaluate the above ideas. The criteria used should include the social environment, economic cost, technology, time, etc. 2.3.1. Product innovation sources Conceiving a product is the key to the innovative product design process, so development of the numerous sources of product innovation could be interpreted as a significant aspect of success. Chinese scholars have done a preliminary study on the subject among Chinese enterprises (Chen-GuoQuan, Maxin, 1999). Thirty seven high-tech companies and one foreign company in the Zhong Guan Cun district of Beijing were chosen for the study. Based on their findings, the sources of ideas for new product development in Chinese companies were analyzed and summarized as shown in Figure 4.Figure 4. Sources of ideas for new productsIn addition, the internal and external sources of innovation for new products were divided as shown in Table 1. The value of each innovation source depended on the repository an enterprise had at hand and its ability to obtain, assimilate and exploit new ideas.Table 1. Internal and external sources of product innovationInternal sources of product innovation	External sources of product innovationan inner personnel for developing	the suggestion, the advice, the desire from a customer an inner personnel for sale	the information on an competitora superior administrator 	a wholesaler, a shopkeeper, an agentan operator from production department	the patent	a researcher, an inventor, a consultant company	the related information on the government 	an on-the-spot investigation, an elicitation from a real object	the information from a news media	the information from the internet	an elicitation from the nature2.3.2. Methods of product innovationOver the years, a series of product innovation methods have been developed:	Quality – the “deep” analysis of the products at hand leads to innovation of a new product;	Demand – analysis of all kinds of customer requirements as well as the possible market segmentation; 	Conjunction – analysis of production methods and sources of product innovation by studying the relationships between the enterprises;	Trend – analysis of future needs by forecasting the life and the work circumstances;	Collective creativity – leveraging the collective wisdom in order to innovate a new product.All methods can not be used in each context and with the ideas from all innovation sources, nor can each designer choose the best from the above methods. On the contrary, the numerous innovation methods might have been adopted to cover as many potential conceiving sources as possible. Therefore, the purpose of the paper is to assess the “right” objective of the product design process, no matter which innovation method is used. 2.3.3. Screening and evaluation of product innovationProduct innovation at the objective design is the result of a certain work process. Though seeking product ideas is the foundation of developing a new product, it is impossible to test all ideas, as resources, time available, etc. are limited. A lot of ideas might not be achievable and would have wasted much valuable time, if all of them had been put into practice. So, one should both screen and evaluate whether the object of product innovation should be actually allowed to enter into the conceptual design stage, as shown in Figure 5.Figure 5. Screening flow of conceiving innovationIn order to assist the process, the index of attractiveness has been used, which is computed according to the following formula: T×C×P/D,  where: T – Probability of successful product development with the currently available technology;C –   Probability of market success, P – Amount of profit in the case of market success; D – Development costs and/or fees. The highest value of index signifies the most attractive project, which could supply the data for the designers by screening and evaluating the different design options. Furthermore, the evaluation fundamental criteria were taken into account, including such as the degree of “fit” with the social environment, cost, technology available, etc. (Yin-ChengLong et al, 2004). The synthetic evaluation is used to eliminate the unfeasible or unrealistic design alternatives, which helps to avoid spending both time and money on probably unsuccessful design objects. The remaining design objects can enter the next stage of the product design process, as shown in Figure 6. However, by the final stage of the process, they will be further evaluated by the criteria of “fit” with the enterprise development plans, as well as compatibility with the prevailing technology and their economic strength. Figure 6. The judgment of feasibility2.3.4. Fuzzy evaluation of product innovation ideasThe evaluation of product design alternatives by using multiple criteria and incomplete data calls for use of new quantitative techniques, such as fuzzy evaluation. Fuzzy evaluation is a method of fixed quantity evaluation on fuzzy information by using fuzzy mathematics. Each new product idea involves several quantitative constructs - the “evaluation object set”, the “evaluation set”, the “weight coefficient set” and the “evaluation matrix”.Evaluation object set is represented by the following formula:  Y= {y1, y2, y3, y4, y5}, where: yi – “generic” criterion, y1 –  the social environment criterion, y2 – the cost criterion, y3 – the technology criterion, y4 – the time criterion, y5 – the value criterion.Evaluation set is:X={x1, x2, x3, x4} = {excellent, good, medium, bad}.E.g., in a specific case of product development, the following weight coefficient set has been adopted:A= {0.3, 0.2, 0.1, 0.2, 0.2}.This has resulted by the function of subjection degree illustrated in Fig. 7.Figure 7. The function of subjection degreeThen the following evaluation matrices of two schemes were obtained:         	Synthetic evaluation was:B=A○R= [b11 b12   b13 b14]By applying M(∧•∨):	 b11= (a1∧r11)∨(a2∧r12)∨(a3∧r13)∨(a4∧r14)∨(a5∧r15)   	    = 0.3∧0.8)∨(0.2∧0.5)∨(0.1∧0)∨(0.2∧0.3)∨(0.2∧0.75)         	    = 0.3∨0.2∨0∨0.2∨0.75           	    = 0.3According to the same method, the following evaluation is obtained: b12=0.2, b13=0.1, b14= 0 and  B1= [0.3  0.2  0.1  0].If counts returns one, the evaluation is: B1=[0.5  0.33  0.17  0].According to the same method, B2 is evaluated as follows: B2 = [0.2  0.2  0.2  0.3], while the alternative evaluation is: B2=[0.22  0.22  0.22  0.34]. Therefore, it can be concluded that the first scheme excels the second one. Computer-based tools make it easy to evaluate any product design alternatives by using the specified criteria set.3. MANAGEMENT OF THE PRODUCT DESIGN PROCESSSince product innovation might be described as the “soul” of an enterprise, strengthening the management of this process is the key to innovate the product efficiently. Generally speaking, the stage of the object design seems to be the most significant for the success of product innovation and managing it efficiently, which requires different groups of employees (coming from different departments) to cooperate with each other. Designers have to be able to communicate mutually and often have the same goal in order to achieve the innovation as soon as possible.The reasons for uncertainty and “fuzzy” factors of the product development process seem to be the following:	The uncertainty coming from the incomplete customer requirements, as the customer(s) often can not express their requirements clearly, and are often not even aware of it, because of their unconscious characteristics and limited cognitive abilities; 	The uncertainty from the technology sources is caused by the fact that the technology available - at this early stage - might be advanced, but could be out of date when the relative design is finished;	The uncertainty can be also caused by the competition, as the product innovation itself can be out of date, due to the (re)action(s) of the competitors; 	The uncertainty may be also linked to the enterprise resources, required to sustain the product innovation process.To ensure successful innovation and decrease the quantity of uncertainty of the product innovation process, the market research should provide as much information as possible to understand the customer. In the same time, the competitive situation and other relevant sources of influence should be investigated, in order to improve the success of product innovation. Besides, the efficient management of the process should be strengthened and supported by the inter-departmental groups. For example, the sales department is able to assist in decreasing the uncertainty by providing market information. 4. CONCLUSIONSIn manufacturing, product design is a vital part of the enterprise success. During the product design process, the stage of objective design bears a high importance, because it influences the quality of the products, as well as the trends of their future development. This requires the careful management of this stage, which includes the application of innovative qualitative tools, such as the fuzzy logic.REFERENCES 1.	Kong-FanRang, Li-ChuanQi, Zhen-QinHe. Design and Invention. Journal of University of Science and Technology of China, Vol.23, 1993.10 2.	Ren-ShouQu et al.: Modern Manufacturing System Analysis and Design. Beijing,Science Publishing Company, 2000.3.	Yin-ChengLong et al.: Study on the Screening and Evaluation System for Design Front End of New product, Operations Research and Management Science, No. 3, 2004. 64.	Chen-GuoQuan, Maxin. Demonstration Study of New Product Development Ideas for High-Technology Enterprise, J. Transaction of Management Science. 1999. 3 INOVACIJA I UPRAVLJANJE FAZOM DIZAJNA OBJEKTA U DIZAJNIRANJU PROIZVODASažetakU ovom se radu proučavaju inovacija i upravljanje procesom dizajna proizvoda tijekom njegove faze dizajna objekta. O ideji inovacije cjelovitog koncepta proizvoda tijekom faze dizajna objekta raspravlja se u kontekstu cjelovitih razvojnih trendova i pristupa dizajnu proizvoda.  Također se raspravlja o strategiji proizvodne inovacije i s njom povezanim procesima. Na kraju se donose određene preporuke o načinu smanjenja neizvjesnosti u ovoj fazi dizajniranje novog proizvoda. “Washing out” the product ideas No No No No No Entering the stage of conceiving evaluation YesFeasibleMarket uncertainty Should computer-based methods be used ? Yes financial resources of the enterprise ?,In accordance with the technology, production  and the Yes Yes In accordance with the plan of the enterprise ? Yes In accordance with the  market requirements ? In accordance with the law and rules in the country ? UnfeasibleSource of product idea99102107

STUDY ON INNOVATION AND MANAGEMENT OF THE OBJECTIVE STAGE IN PRODUCT DESIGN

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