Design In New Product Development Research Articles

ALIGNING FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS PROCESSES WITH DESIGNERS' NATURAL COGNITIVE FLOW

AbstractEngineering design in new product development is a constant battle between creativity and strict structure. As researchers look to optimize the process, each stage is placed under a microscope to put designers in the best position to develop better products for companies in a cost effective manner. One idea in improving product development is the concept of incorporating the Human-centered Design into functional analysis. However, critiques of these functional analysis methods cite an unnecessary amount of resources needed to invest in these steps, a restriction in creativity, and a high necessary level of effort from the design teams. The goal of this research will be to address these critiques by incorporating theories from cognitive research and Human-centered Design into the functional analysis process. This work will propose a new method aimed to improve the quality of the function model of the design space, increase the creativity freedom of the designers, and be accessible to engineering students and industry engineers alike.

Towards Idea Generation for Fashion Product Design and Development in Bangladeshi Industry

New Product Development (NPD) has always been one of the most significant components for the fashion industry. Research has shown that investments in design can lead to the development of completely new trends or can transform an existing trend in such a way that can offer newer aspects in the industry in general. However, there is insufficient evidence on the most appropriate or effective role that design could play in the real-life scenario. Previous case-based research has identified alternative roles for designers in NPD, but there is only tentative evidence over such roles’ contribution to NPD outcomes. By using data on a large sample (c. 1300) of Irish manufacturing plants Bangladesh is now able to examine the effectiveness of three different levels of involvement of designers in NPD and their impact on NPD novelty and success. This analysis suggests that design is closely associated with enhanced performance regardless of the type of role it plays. However, from a practical point of view, the potential effects of involving design throughout the process appear to be much greater. It is important to note here that the relationship between design and NPD outcomes is also strongly moderated by contextual factors; for example, its significance is only evident for organizations which also engage in in-house R&D. Also, while both small and larger plants do gain from using design as functional specialism and in some stages of the NPD process, the additional benefits of a continuous involvement of design throughout the process are only evident in larger plants. Finally, while discourse and perceptions over design's role in NPD has certainly changed over time, suggesting a much more widespread and strategic use of design, providing a more static picture, showing that design engagement with the NPD process has not changed significantly over the last two decades.

Grounding the “mirroring hypothesis”: Towards a general theory of organization design in New Product Development

Abstract The similarity between product architecture and organization design has become known as the “mirroring hypothesis”. We present a theoretical model of new product development using the NK-model, in which we represent organization design with varying degrees of mirroring. The main result holds that perfectly mirroring organizations only perform well in designing products with many components and low complexity, while imperfectly mirroring organizations do better in designing product with few components and high complexity. Our theoretical model can inform future empirical research, which hitherto lacked a common representation framework for organization design.

On Styles in Product Design: An Analysis of U.S. Design Patents

Products combine function and form. This paper focuses on product form. We combine state-of-the-art clustering techniques with experimental validation to identify styles (groupings of new product designs of similar form) among the more than 350,000 U.S. design patents granted from 1977 through 2010. Thus we compile, for the first time, a rich data set of styles that can serve as an empirical platform for a rigorous study of the role played by product form in new product development. Building on this platform, we analyze the determinants of “style turbulence”—the year-to-year unpredictability of changes in a style’s prevalence. We find that (i) style turbulence follows a U-shaped relationship with respect to function turbulence (the turbulence of product functions associated with a given style), and (ii) style turbulence increases over time. We discuss the implications of these findings for managing design in new product development. Data and the e-companion are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2016.2653 . This paper was accepted by David Hsu, entrepreneurship and innovation.

Resourceful Sensemaking: Overcoming Barriers between Marketing and Design in NPD

New product development (NPD) success depends on the capacity of different functions to effectively collaborate. In particular, while recent studies have highlighted the importance of marketing and design working together, research suggests this relationship is often fraught with conflict due to different “thought worlds.” However, empirical research also identifies that the solution lies not in reducing the psychological distance between the two functions, but in the sensemaking practices used by designers and marketers to expand each other's understanding of the potential NPD solution. This process is known as resourceful sensemaking, and it refers to practitioners’ capacity to transform knowledge with the aim of expanding each other's horizons to ensure better team outcomes. Drawing on 71 interviews with designers and marketers in Australia and New Zealand, we examine how each function strategically deploys knowledge of the other to improve NPD outcomes. Building on the sensemaking literature, we demonstrate that while still drawing on different thought worlds, the inputs of both designers and marketers are necessary for effective NPD. We also identify that both are capable of creating a common framework of meaning through three resourceful sensemaking practices: exposing, co‐opting, and repurposing. Moreover, we identify the need for resourceful sensemaking that results in horizon‐expanding discourse among those involved in NPD. These practices are found to enable marketers and designers to expand the range of considerations and inputs into NPD; help organizations reconcile either/or dualisms; and lead them to identify unmet consumer needs, which result in the creation of innovative products. This paper thereby advances understanding of interfunctional coordination in NPD, integration of design into NPD, and sensemaking more broadly.

The roles and effectiveness of design in new product development: A study of Irish manufacturers

Investments in design can make a significant contribution to successful new product development (NPD). However, there is insufficient evidence on the most appropriate or effective role that design could play. Previous case-based research has identified alternative roles for designers in NPD, but there is only tentative evidence over such roles’ contribution to NPD outcomes. Using data on a large sample (c. 1300) of Irish manufacturing plants we are able to examine the effectiveness of three different levels of involvement of designers in NPD and their impact on NPD novelty and success. Our analysis suggests that design is closely associated with enhanced performance regardless of the type of role it plays. However, the potential effects of involving design throughout the process appear to be much greater. The relationship between design and NPD outcomes is also strongly moderated by contextual factors; for example, its significance is only evident for organisations, which also engage in in-house R&D. Also, while both small and larger plants do gain from using design as functional specialism and in some stages of the NPD process, the additional benefits of a continuous involvement of design throughout the process are only evident in larger plants. Finally, while discourse and perceptions over design's role in NPD have certainly changed over time, suggesting a much more widespread and strategic use of design, our findings provide a more static picture, showing that design engagement with the NPD process has not changed significantly over the last two decades.

Resourceful Sensemaking: Overcoming Barriers Between Marketing and Design in NPD

Although new product development (NPD) success results from marketing and design working together, research suggests this relationship is often fraught with conflict due to different interpretive s...

The Evolution of Product Form: Identifying and Analyzing Styles in Design Patents

Products combine function and form. This paper focuses on product form. The authors combine state-of-the-art clustering techniques with experimental validation to identify styles (groupings of new product designs of similar form) among the more than 350,000 US design patents granted from 1977 through 2010.Thus the authors compile, for the first time, a rich data set of styles that can serve as an empirical platform for a rigorous study of the role played by product form in new product development. Building on this platform, the authors analyze the determinants of “style turbulence”: the year-to-year unpredictability of changes in a style’s prevalence.The authors find that (i) style turbulence follows a U-shaped relationship with respect to function turbulence (the turbulence of product functions associated with a given style) and (ii) style turbulence increases over time. The authors discuss the implications of these findings for managing design in new product development.

Health Office Chair Design Based on Ergonomics

Starting from human design perspective of the product and using ergonomics knowledge, measurement method and model method are adapted to analyze harmonious relations between people in the sedentary state and office chairs in various parts. The research aims at how to correctly apply the theory of ergonomics in the design of new product development to ensure that the technical problems related to design fitness. And for the “Chair family ”--- the sedentary population, the user-friendly design elements of health office chairs, methods and performance evaluation are studied and summarized as well.

Kansei clustering for emotional design using a combined design structure matrix

Consumers' emotional requirements, or so-called Kansei needs, have become one of the most important concerns in designing a product. Conventionally, Kansei engineering has been widely used to co-relate these requirements with product parameters. However, a typical Kansei engineering approach relies heavily on the intuition of the person who uses the method in clustering the Kansei adjectives, who may be the engineer or designer. As a result, the selection of Kansei adjectives may not be consistent with the consumers' opinions. In order to obtain a consumer-consistent result, all of the collected Kansei adjectives (usually hundreds) need to be evaluated by every survey participant, which is impractical in most design cases. Therefore, a Kansei clustering method based on a design structure matrix (DSM) is proposed in this work. The method breaks the Kansei adjectives up into a number of subsets so that each participant deals with only a portion of the words collected. Pearson correlations are used to establish the distances among the Kansei adjectives. The subsets are then integrated by merging the identical correlation pairs for an overall Kansei clustering result. The details of the proposed approach are presented and illustrated using a case study on wireless battery drills. The case study reveals that the proposed method is promising in handling Kansei adjective clustering problems. Relevance to industryThis study presents a generic method to deal with consumers' Kansei requirements for emotional design in new product development. It appears that the proposed method can be utilized to capture and analyze consumers' Kansei needs as well as to facilitate decision making in practical industrial design cases.

RISK ASSESSMENT AND ACTION SELECTION IN PRELIMINARY DESIGN

New product development (NPD) has typically had strategic implications for the success and prosperity of an organization. This paper applied refined failure mode and effect analysis and genetic algorithm techniques to develop and establish an integrated risk analysis model for improving preliminary design of NPD. Three core items, technological performance, cost, and schedule risk, were used to improve the process of preliminary design and resource allocation in NPD projects. Risk severity, occurrence, and correlation characteristics are collected for each core item. A real study case was implemented to conclude an improving design decision and process change for NPD project.

Maximizing the Value of Industrial Design in New Product Development

OVERVIEW:Industrial design is essential for the creation of products that satisfy user needs and aspirations and can be differentiated from the competition. However, most companies fail to reap the full benefits of design. This is often due to cultural and language barriers, between design and other functional areas, and barriers to the introduction of industrial design into new-product development (NPD) process. In this paper we show how designers and NPD managers have different perceptions of “good” design and the ways to achieve it. We also illustrate the challenges in attempting to introduce industrial design into a structured NPD approach. It is by identifying and tackling these issues that managers can exploit the full potential of design, thus making their companies more innovative and competitive.

Integration of marketing domain and R&D domain in NPD design process

PurposeTo solve the trade‐offs between marketing and R&D domains and to minimize information loss in new product development (NPD), this study proposes an integrated design process as a new solution to the interface system between the two domains.Design/methodology/approachHouse of Quality integrated with multivariate statistical analysis is used for determining important design features. These design features are used as parameters for conjoint analysis and Taguchi method, and then the results of analyses are compared. Sequential application of conjoint analysis and Taguchi method, depending on the differences in utilities and signal to noise ratios, is applied for the integrated design process. An automotive interior design is illustrated for the validation of the integrated design process.FindingsThe integrated design process determines a point of compromise between the optimums of conjoint analysis and Taguchi method. Sequential application of two methods ensures full utilization of both methods and no loss of information.Research limitations/implicationsMore illustrations on NPD are needed to verify the proposed process.Practical implicationsThe design process suggested in this study can be used for process innovation in six sigma approach and be integrated with value chain intelligently. This study proposes the strategic guideline of the integrated design process for enterprises.Originality/valueThe integrated design process suggests the solution for the trade‐offs between marketing domain that pursues the utility of product and R&D domain that emphasizes robustness of product quality. This integrated design process will give enterprises competitive advantages in NPD.

Characterizing the Role of Design in New Product Development: An Empirically Derived Taxonomy*

This article empirically explores the nature of the role of design in the new product development process. The investigation adopts a multiple case study methodology. Data were collected through a six‐month interview program carried out with mid‐size to large U.K. manufacturing companies. The researchers articulate the scope and detailed nature of actions undertaken by design across all phases of the new product development process. Design functional, integration, and leadership actions are unraveled from the data. A taxonomy characterizing three roles for design in new product development is developed and explained. In the first role, design is explored as a functional specialism.The second categorization develops the role of design as part of a multifunctional team. The third role depicts the designer as process leader. Detailed actions and skills associated with each role are discussed and illustrated. Contextual factors explaining and influencing each design role are unraveled. These are articulated as speed of development process, innovativeness of the product development effort, and use of external design agencies. The implications of these findings for the development of design skills and capabilities are discussed in terms of recruitment, training, and educational policies.

How integrating industrial design in the product development process impacts on company performance

There is a growing belief that investing in industrial design is beneficial to company performance. This article sheds more light on how and when integrating industrial design in the product development process can enhance a company’s competitive position. The basic premise is that the impact of industrial design on company performance is not unconditional, but dependent on industry evolution and design strategy. We opted to define industrial design in a general way, namely as the activity that transforms a set of product requirements into a configuration of materials, elements and components. This activity can have an impact on a product’s appearance, user friendliness, ease of manufacture, efficient use of materials, functional performance, and so on. The empirical data incorporated in this study stems from two Dutch manufacturing industries, namely home furniture and precision instruments. Home furniture and precision instruments were selected because the strategy of integrating industrial design in the product development process is rather mature in the first-named industry and emerging in the second. We collected data from firms investing considerably in industrial design ( n = 23) and firms investing little to nothing in industrial design ( n = 24), using a semistructured questionnaire that was administrated during face-to-face sessions with senior managers. Two out of the three research hypotheses were supported. It was found that the extent to which firms integrate industrial design in new product development projects has a significant and positive influence on company performance (H1a), in particular when the strategy of investing in industrial design is relatively new for the industry involved (H1b). There was no systematic pattern indicating that design innovation is more important in industries where the use of design is mature than in industries where the use of design is emerging (H2). Instead, we found that design innovation has significant positive performance effects in both types of industries. One important managerial inference from our study is that new product development managers should consider the changing nature of competition during industry evolution while developing strategies that encompass the use of industrial design in new product development. Another important managerial inference is that, besides being innovative in the field of products, being innovative with respect to design and design strategy can help to enhance competitiveness regardless of industry evolution.

An empirical study on the drivers of management control systems' design in new product development

New product development has changed significantly over the last decade and management control systems have played an important role in this transformation. This study draws on Galbraith's concept of uncertainty and investigates the relationship between project uncertainty, product strategy and management control systems. It also explores whether these systems help or, as argued in the innovation literature, hinder product development performance. Results support the relevance of the project uncertainty and product strategy to explain the design of management control systems. They also show that better cost and design information has a positive association with performance, but that time information has a negative effect.

Application of experimental design in new product development

This article presents how to use the technique of experimental design in developing a new product ‐ an extrusion press. Using experimental design has significantly reduced the time needed to develop the extrusion press and improved the quality of the new product. This clearly demonstrates that experimental design is an efficient technique for new product development. To ensure success when undertaking experimental design in new product development, there are some prerequisites which have to be taken into account. These include, for example, the need for a better understanding of customer requirements and expectations, a carefully planned design, and sound knowledge in the subject‐matter. It may be suggested that an experimental design similar to the one presented in this article can also be used for developing other new products.