The Role of Conceptualization and Design in Product Realization

Author(s):  
Mohamed E. M. El-Sayed

The term Product realization is usually used to describe the physical realization of a product in the product development cycle. Therefore, the term may or may not include conceptualization and design phases. Considering that product realization means bringing a product to reality, it is important to study the concept of reality to understand the role of conceptualization, design, and manufacturing in product realization. In this paper, the concept of reality is expanded to include the perceptual and virtual realities as integral parts of the product realization process. This paper discusses the three phases of realization and their interactions. It also addresses the key roles of conceptualization, design and manufacturability in the realization process. To illustrate the concepts, presented in the paper, some examples are included.

Author(s):  
Siva Chaitanya Chaduvula ◽  
Adam Dachowicz ◽  
Mikhail J. Atallah ◽  
Jitesh H. Panchal

Developments in digital technology and manufacturing processes have expanded the horizon of designer innovation in creating products. In addition to this, real-time collaborative platforms help designers shorten the product development cycle by enabling collaborations with domain experts from concept generation to product realization and after-market. These collaborations are extending beyond enterprise and national boundaries, contributing to a growing concern among designers regarding the security of their sensitive information such as intellectual property (IP) and trade secrets. The source of such sensitive information leaks could be external (e.g., hacker) or internal (e.g., disgruntled employee) to the collaboration. From a designer's perspective, this fear can inhibit participation in a collaboration even though it might result in better products or services. In this paper, we aim to contextualize this evolving security space by discussing various security practices in digital domains, such as encryption and secret sharing, as well as manufacturing domains, such as physically unclonable function (PUF) and physical part watermarking for anticounterfeiting and tamper evidence purposes. Further, we classify these practices with respect to their performance against different adversarial models for different stages in product development. Such a classification can help designers to make informed decisions regarding security practices during the product realization process.


2015 ◽  
Vol 137 (11) ◽  
pp. 38-43
Author(s):  
Douglas L. Van Bossuyt

This article examines different approaches that could be applied / used by engineers for lean design. Lean design can let companies make a profit while satisfying customers in the developing world. In developing markets, difficulty in gathering the necessary data can lead to lengthy delays or broad assumptions in the product development cycle. The iterative approach of lean design stresses leveraging sales data, customer feedback, and distributor feedback to evaluate and refine the important metrics of value, growth, and impact of a particular product that could drive the design process and optimize the product. The experts also say that when designing products for the developing world, making money is not the only value proposition. Engineers must keep ethics in mind. Engineers must also understand the social and health consequences of introducing products into the marketplace and ensure that any product does not adversely impact the customer or community. Products must be designed that have broad enough appeal to drive a sustainable market for the company.


2002 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 794-797 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Wilson ◽  
S. Howell

The diagnostics industry is constantly under pressure to bring innovation quicker to market and so the impetus to speed up product-development cycle times becomes greater. There are a number of steps in the product-development cycle where the application of high-throughput screening can help. In the case of lateral-flow immunodiagnostics the selection of antibody reagents is paramount. In particular, rapid identification of antibody pairs that are able to ‘sandwich’ around the target antigen is required. One screen that has been applied successfully is the use of surface plasmon resonance biosensors like Biacore®. Using such a system one can evaluate over 400 antibody pairings in under 5 days. Conventional approaches to screen this number of antibody pairs would take many months. Other automated screening systems like DELFIA® can be used in processing the vast amount of tests required for clinical trials. In addition, the use of robotics to automate routine product testing can be used to shorten the product-development cycle.


2018 ◽  
Vol 140 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlye A. Lauff ◽  
Daria Kotys-Schwartz ◽  
Mark E. Rentschler

Prototyping is an essential part of product development in companies, and yet it is one of the least explored areas of design practice. There are limited ethnographic studies conducted within companies, specifically around the topic of prototyping. This is an empirical and industrial-based study using inductive ethnographic observations to further our understanding of the various roles prototypes play in organizations. This research observed the entire product development cycle within three companies in the fields of consumer electronics (CE), footwear (FW), and medical devices (MD). Our guiding research questions are: What is a prototype? What are the roles of prototypes across these three companies? Through our analysis, we uncovered that prototypes are tools for enhanced communication, increased learning, and informed decision-making. Specifically, we further refine these categories to display the types of communication, learning, and decision-making that occur. These insights are significant because they validate many prior prototyping theories and claims, while also adding new perspectives through further exploiting each role. Finally, we provide newly modified definitions of a prototype and prototyping based on this empirical work, which we hope expands designers' mental models for the terms.


Author(s):  
Vance D. Browne

Abstract The process by which new products are brought to market — the product realization process, or PRP — can be introduced in engineering design education. In industry, the PRP has been evolving to concurrent engineering and product teams. The PRP includes components such as concept generation, analysis, manufacturing process development and customer interaction. Also, it involves the sequencing of the components and their connections which includes teamwork, project planning, meetings, reports and presentations. A capstone senior engineering project, along with classroom lectures and presentations can be structured to provide knowledge and experience to the students in many of the PRP components and the connections. This paper will give an overview of the PRP and a project/lecture structure at the author’s university. The instructor recently joined the academic ranks after years in industry with responsibility for directing product development and R&D and for leading product development teams.


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