MSE-415: Product Design
Lecture #6
Chapter 6
Concept Generation
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MSE-415: B. Hawrylo
Lecture Objectives:
• Discuss Homework #4
• Discuss Midterm Presentation
• Concept Generation
5 Step method
 Tools

• Design and development project
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Project plan
MSE-415: B. Hawrylo
Dates
Date
Event
Assignment
Due
Topic
Chpt.
N/A
Introduction
1
Development Processes and
Organizations
2
N/A
Product Planning
3
12-Sep Lecture 3
Homework #1
Gantt, PERT charts, Managing
Projects, etc.
16
19-Sep Lecture 4
Homework #2
Identifying Customer needs
4
26-Sep Lecture 5
Homework #3
Product Specifications
5
3-Oct
Lecture 6
Homework #4
Concept Generation
6
10-Oct
Lecture 7
Homework #5
Concept Selection
7
17-Oct
Lecture 8
Homework #6
Concept Testing
8
24-Oct
Midterm/Mid
Pres.
N/A
N/A
N/A
29-Aug Lecture 1
5-Sep
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Lecture 2
MSE-415: B. Hawrylo
Concept Development Process
Mission
Statement
Identify
Customer
Needs
Establish
Target
Specifications
Generate
Product
Concepts
Select
Product
Concept(s)
Test
Product
Concept(s)
Set
Final
Specifications
Plan
Downstream
Development
Development
Plan
Perform Economic Analysis
Benchmark Competitive Products
Build and Test Models and Prototypes
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MSE-415: B. Hawrylo
New Concept Examples
• Radar; use of magnetron in domestic appliances (microwave oven)
• Cyclone used in wood mills applied to vacuum cleaner (James
Dyson)
• Failed industrial adhesive used in stationery yellow “Post-it” notes
(3M)
• Tensator spring used in wind-up generator (Trevor Bayliss)
• Semi-conductor laser used in data storage devices (CD/DVD)
• High strength magnetic fields led MRI scanners (Oxford
Instruments)
• Use of large prime numbers in data encryption
• Use of platinum catalyst in gas powered hair curlers/ portable
soldering irons
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MSE-415: B. Hawrylo
Iterative Process of Concept Generation
Target
Specification
Concept generation
Concept screening
Concept scoring
Concept testing
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MSE-415: B. Hawrylo
Concept Generation
Why emphasize concept generation early in the process?
“Thorough exploration of alternatives early in the development
process greatly reduces the likelihood that the team will stumble upon
a superior concept late in the development process or that a
competitor will introduce a product with dramatically better
performance than the product under development.” pg. 99
Concept generation answers the question of “how” the
team will satisfy the customer needs as expressed in
the functional specifications.
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MSE-415: B. Hawrylo
Advantages of Early Concept Generation
•
•
•
Reduce the likelihood of costly problems later in
the development process.
Early concept generation is a very affordable way
of looking at a lot of alternatives.
Develops confidence in the team that you are not
going to be surprised later on.
–A product solution with only one alternative is not an
acceptable solution--
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Problems encountered without a
structured approach
• Many alternatives can be missed
• Particular concept influenced by the most
dominant person on the team
• Doesn’t consider product concepts from other
companies or unrelated products
• Team doesn’t get a “buy in” to the final proposal
• May miss entire an entire category of solutions
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MSE-415: B. Hawrylo
The 5-step Concept Generation Process
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Clarify the Problem

Problem Decomposition
External Search

Lead Users

Experts

Patents

Literature

Benchmarking
Internal Search

Individual Methods

Group Methods
Systematic Exploration

Classification Tree

Combination Table

Pugh Matrix
Reflect on the Solutions and
Process

Continual Improvement
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Clarify the
Problem
Search
Externally
Search
Internally
Explore
Systematically
Reflect on the
solutions and
the Process
MSE-415: B. Hawrylo
1. Clarify the problem
• Understanding the problem
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Assumptions in the team mission statement
– The lock will be digital
– The lock will be lighted
– The lock will be waterproof
– The lock will be durable
Identify customer needs
– “I don’t want to pay a lot of money for a lock”
– “I want something that is weatherproof”
– “I want something easy for me to open but difficult for someone to break
into”
– “I want something that looks modern”
– “I want something that lights up for easy use in the dark”
– “I don’t want to change batteries frequently”
– “I want to be able to program my own combination”
MSE-415: B. Hawrylo
Assumptions can make or
break a development project
Strategy or Solution
Critical Assumptions
Body of Facts - BOFs
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What happens assumption are invalid?
Assumptions Changed!!
Unstable
Strategy!!
Body of Facts - BOFs
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MSE-415: B. Hawrylo
“Systems” approach to design
• Decomposition of design concepts
The goal of problem decomposition is to help identify the few
critical functions for your design.
 Every product function has a series of inputs and outputs that
describe the behavior of the function.

inputs
outputs
Functional
description
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MSE-415: B. Hawrylo
Problem Decomposition:
Function Diagram for Automatic Nailer
INPUT
OUTPUT
Energy (?)
Energy (?)
Material (nails)
Hand-held
nailer
Signal (tool "trip")
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Signal (?)
Store or
accept
external
energy
Convert
energy to
translational
energy
Nails
Store
nails
Isolate
nail
"Trip" of
tool
Sense
trip
Trigger
tool
Energy
Material (driven nail)
Apply
translational
energy to nail
Driven
nail
MSE-415: B. Hawrylo
In class exercise
• Develop a decomposition function diagram for a
toaster.
• What would be some of the inputs and outputs?
inputs
outputs
Functional
description
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MSE-415: B. Hawrylo
2. External Search
• Lead Users
 benefit from improvement
 innovation source
• Benchmarking
 competitive products
• Experts
 technical experts
 experienced customers
• Patents
 search related inventions (www.USPTO.org)
• Literature
 technical journals
 trade literature
• Take the best ideas others have developed and build on them.
• You don’t have to do everything perfectly. It only takes a couple of
areas of differentiation to have a success in the market.
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3. Internal Search
• Avoid assuming you know more than you do about a subject.
• Be careful to not over-simplify a problem

“For every complex problem there is a simple, easy-to-understand, wrong
answer.”
• Use your personal and team knowledge and creativity to
generate solution concepts.
• Some guidelines for generating concepts:











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Suspend judgment. Don’t be quick to jump to conclusions.
Generate a lot of ideas. Don’t spend time evaluating ideas, just capture
them.
Welcome “out of the box” ideas. Don’t worry about feasibility during the
initial brainstorming.
Use graphical and visual methods to capture ideas. Quick drawings and
sketches are great.
Infeasible ideas are welcome
Use graphical and physical media
Make analogies
Wish and wonder
Use related stimuli
Set quantitative goals
Trade ideas in a group
MSE-415: B. Hawrylo
4. Explore Systematically
• The team should have a collection of concept
fragments—solutions to the subproblems. The goal
of systematic exploration is to synthesize a complete
solution from the concept fragments.
• The problem is that not all fragments will work
together in a final solution space. Your job is to come
up with practical concepts from all the pieces.
• Tools help navigating through the maze of concept
fragments:
Concept classification tree –
– Divides the solutions into independent categories
 Concept combination table
– Helps in the selection of possible fragments
 Pugh Matrix -a matrix that helps determine which items or
potential solutions are more important or 'better' than others.
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MSE-415: B. Hawrylo
Concept Classification Tree
Paper maps
Pre-printed maps
Color maps
Plastic maps
Palmpilot
computer files
Distribution
media
Streets and trips
mapquest
Print on demand
maps
inkjet
laserjet
Audio-files
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MP3
MSE-415: B. Hawrylo
Concept Classification Tree
What are we trying to accomplish with the tree?
– Prune less promising branches quickly.
– Identify independent approaches to the problem.
– Find where gaps may exist in the concept fragments.
– Refine the thought process for a particular branch.
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Concept Combination Table


This is a tool to link fragments into complete solutions.
The first step is to identify the general functional diagram for the
anticipated solution.
– For example, in a simplified Innovative Directions solution:
Gather
data on
campus
locations
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Format
data for
customer
use
Provide
portable
copy for
user
Distribute
data to
users.
MSE-415: B. Hawrylo
Concept Combination Table
• Step 1- add fragments to the table
• Step 2 is to put all concept fragments into a column
of the combination table. This helps to identify if
concept fragments are missing or redundant.
• Step 3 is to link concept fragments into complete
solutions. This also shows where more evaluation
or exploration is necessary.
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Concept Combination Table
Gather
data on
campus
locations
Use CSUN
maps
Create audio
instructions
Create new
maps
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Format
data for
customer
use
Provide
portable
copy for
user
Measure
distances
on campus
On-line
download
Format in
Mapquest
Print on
demand
Record
instructions
in MP3
Distribute
data to
users.
Print on
demand kiosk
CSUN
Website
Pre-printed
maps
Signs at
major
locations
Stationary
maps around
campus
Maps at
newspaper
locations
MSE-415: B. Hawrylo
Concept Combination Table
• Many combinations are available. (3 x 3 x 4 x 4)
• Many don’t make sense and can be quickly
eliminated.
• However, you often find a new idea by looking at the
possible combinations of concept fragments.
• This is an iterative process where you may have to
go back to square one quite often.
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Pugh Matrix
• Pugh matrix–a tool to facilitate the concept evaluation and
selection process
• The base-case gets a score of ‘5’ for each of the customer
requirements
• New concepts are scored relative to the base-case with a 15-9 approach:
• Much worse than the base-case, score a ‘1’
• Roughly equal to the base-case, score a ‘5’
• Much better than the base-case, score a ‘9’
• Work across the matrix for each customer requirement
Important:


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Dialog, listening, communication –understand team differences􀂙
Consensus -do not average individual scores or matrix will fail to yield
useful info.
Directional tool-only much better or worse matters
MSE-415: B. Hawrylo
Completed Pugh Matrix
1. Date: February 27, 2007
2. Objective: Design a transportation system to get to class
3. Target Customer: The Average CSUN Engineering student
5. Importance
Weighting
Factor (1-3-5
scale)
Walk
Drive
Low Cost
5
5
1
5
5
5
5
5
Reliability (Year-Round)
5
5
5
1
5
5
9
1
Flexibility to class schedule
3
5
5
5
5
1
9
1
Short Commute time
1
5
9
9
5
5
9
1
Comfort ability
3
5
9
5
5
9
9
1
Safe
5
5
9
5
1
9
9
1
Marketing - Fashionable
1
5
9
9
5
1
1
1
Ability to socialize on the way
3
5
5
1
1
5
1
5
Environmentally Friendly
5
5
1
5
5
1
5
5
4. Customer Requirements
Totals
9. Weighted totals
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Bike
Rollerskate
Bus
Telecommute
Hitchhike
45
53
45
37
41
57
21
151
155
131
123
151
207
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MSE-415: B. Hawrylo
Pugh Matrix
• Identify the best 2 – 3 concepts
• Exclude the base case (walking)
• Look at the highest weighted totals
• Mix and match the best parts of concepts
• Look for hybrid solutions
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MSE-415: B. Hawrylo
Completed Pugh Matrix
1. Date: February 27, 2007
2. Objective: Design a transportation system to get to class
3. Target Customer: The Average CSUN Engineering student
5. Importance
Weighting
Factor (1-3-5
scale)
Walk
Drive
Low Cost
5
5
1
5
5
5
5
5
Reliability (Year-Round)
5
5
5
1
5
5
9
1
Flexibility to class schedule
3
5
5
5
5
1
9
1
Short Commute time
1
5
9
9
5
5
9
1
Comfort ability
3
5
9
5
5
9
9
1
Safe
5
5
9
5
1
9
9
1
Marketing - Fashionable
1
5
9
9
5
1
1
1
Ability to socialize on the way
3
5
5
1
1
5
1
5
Environmentally Friendly
5
5
1
5
5
1
5
5
4. Customer Requirements
Totals
9. Weighted totals
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Bike
Roller-skate
Bus
Telecommute
Hitchhike
45
53
45
37
41
57
21
155
155
131
123
151
207
83
MSE-415: B. Hawrylo
Pugh Matrix
(In class example)
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MSE-415: B. Hawrylo
5. Reflect on the results and the process
•
•
•
•
•
•
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Can you decompose the problem in an alternate
way?
Is the team confident the solution space is fully
explored
Are there alternative function diagrams
Are there alternative ways to break down the
problem
Have external sources been thoroughly explored
Have all ideas been integrated into the process
MSE-415: B. Hawrylo
Competency Matrix
Knowledge
You know
Awareness
You Know
You Don't Know
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You Don't Know
Conscious Competent
•Facts and data
•Past experience
•Observations
Conscious Incompetent
•Information that needs to
be researched.
•You find people with the
required knowledge.
•You will avoid making
assumptions without data
Unconscious Competent
•Skills you possess even
though you don't know it
•Data you know that you
don't know you will need.
Unconscious Incompetent
•This is the area to avoid.
•This is where you get really
surprised.
•Don't assume that not
knowing won't hurt you.
MSE-415: B. Hawrylo
Next Week
October 10, 2007
• Homework #4
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

Chapter 6, pg. 122, Exercise #1
Chapter 6, pg. 122, Thought questions #2
Chapter 6, pg. 122, Thought questions #4
• Final Design and Development Project
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Show evidence of at least two areas where you have researched some
external inputs for concept generations.
Show five concept alternatives for your actual project. We will discuss
these in class next Thursday.
Use a concept combination table, pugh matrix or concept
classification tree as a method for concept selection.
Review of lab note book
• Read Chapter 7 – Concept Selection
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Discuss structured methods for selecting a single concept design from
several available designs.
MSE-415: B. Hawrylo