Deep Learning for Design in Concept Clustering

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chengwei Zhang ◽  
Youngwook Paul Kwon ◽  
Julia Kramer ◽  
Euiyoung Kim ◽  
Alice M. Agogino
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Product Development ◽  
New Product Development ◽  
Learning Algorithm ◽  
Product Development Process ◽  
Concept Generation ◽  
Support Design ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Concept Clustering ◽  
Student Teams

Concept clustering is an important element of the product development process. The process of reviewing multiple concepts provides a means of communicating concepts developed by individual team members and by the team as a whole. Clustering, however, can also require arduous iterations and the resulting clusters may not always be useful to the team. In this paper, we present a machine learning approach on natural language descriptions of concepts that enables an automatic means of clustering. Using data from over 1,000 concepts generated by student teams in a graduate new product development class, we provide a comparison between the concept clustering performed manually by the student teams and the work automated by a machine learning algorithm. The goal of our machine learning tool is to support design teams in identifying possible areas of “over-clustering” and/or “under-clustering” in order to enhance divergent concept generation processes.

scholarly journals Concept Clustering in Design Teams: A Comparison of Human and Machine Clustering

2017 ◽  
Vol 139 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chengwei Zhang ◽  
Youngwook Paul Kwon ◽  
Julia Kramer ◽  
Euiyoung Kim ◽  
Alice M. Agogino
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Product Development ◽  
New Product Development ◽  
Learning Algorithm ◽  
Product Development Process ◽  
Design Teams ◽  
Concept Generation ◽  
Support Design ◽  
Concept Clustering ◽  
Student Teams

Concept clustering is an important element of the product development process. The process of reviewing multiple concepts provides a means of communicating concepts developed by individual team members and by the team as a whole. Clustering, however, can also require arduous iterations and the resulting clusters may not always be useful to the team. In this paper, we present a machine learning approach on natural language descriptions of concepts that enables an automatic means of clustering. Using data from over 1000 concepts generated by student teams in a graduate new product development class, we provide a comparison between the concept clustering performed manually by the student teams and the work automated by a machine learning algorithm. The goal of our machine learning tool is to support design teams in identifying possible areas of “over-clustering” and/or “under-clustering” in order to enhance divergent concept generation processes.

Evaluating the Discriminatory Value and Reliability of Ideation Metrics for Their Application to Concept Development and Prototyping

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Menold ◽  
Kathryn Jablokow ◽  
Timothy Simpson ◽  
Rafael Seuro
Keyword(s):  
Product Development ◽  
New Product Development ◽  
New Product ◽  
Concept Development ◽  
Product Development Process ◽  
Concept Generation ◽  
Market Place ◽  
Design Changes ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Original Concept

Approximately half of new product development projects fail in the market place. Within the product development process, prototyping represents the largest sunk cost; it also remains the least researched and understood. While researchers have recently started to evaluate the impact of formalized prototyping methods and frameworks on end designs, these studies have typically evaluated the success or failure of these methods using binary metrics, and they often evaluate only the design’s technical feasibility. Intuitively, we know that a product’s success or failure in the marketplace is determined by far more than just the product’s technical quality; and yet, we have no clear way of evaluating the design changes and pivots that occur during concept development and prototyping activities, as an explicit set of rigorous and informative metrics to evaluate ideas after concept selection does not exist. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the discriminatory value and reliability of ideation metrics originally developed for concept generation as metrics to evaluate functional prototypes and related concepts developed throughout prototyping activities. Our investigation revealed that new metrics are needed in order to understand the translation of product characteristics, such as originality, novelty, and quality, from original concept through concept development and prototyping to finalized product.

Toward the development of new product ideas: asymmetric effects of team cohesion on new product ideation

2015 ◽  
Vol 30 (7) ◽  
pp. 855-866 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tanawat Hirunyawipada ◽  
Audhesh K. Paswan ◽  
Charles Blankson
Keyword(s):  
Product Development ◽  
New Product Development ◽  
Development Process ◽  
New Product ◽  
Product Development Process ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Development Teams ◽  
Task Cohesion ◽  
Relational Aspect

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate asymmetric effects of team cohesion and team members’ relational qualification on the creativity of new product ideas. Design/methodology/approach – Structural equation modeling was conducted on survey data collected from 195 new product development practitioners in various US high-technology industries. Findings – The study suggests that creative and potentially successful product ideas include three dimensions – usefulness for customers, and novelty for customers and usefulness for the firms (i.e. enhancement efficiency and effectiveness of companies’ new product development process). By focusing on a relational aspect of new product development teams, the study shows that team task cohesion mediates the relationship between the antecedents (team members’ organizational commitment and social competency) and the three outcome dimensions of a successful product idea (novelty, usefulness to customers and usefulness to the firm). The team members’ interpersonal relationship has no positive association with task cohesion and the desirable qualifications of product ideas. Research limitations/implications – An ideation team’s socially competent members who identify with their organization are likely to be attracted to a given task. This task cohesion, in turn, enhances the creativeness of the development of product ideas. Practical implications – To generate fruitful product ideas using a team approach, companies should make sure that their new product ideation teams achieve a sense of mutual commitment to the given ideation tasks, develop a feeling of belongingness and ownership toward the firms and include members who have good social and interpersonal skills. However, the possession of strong social cohesion is not essential for the teams. Originality/value – This study provides novel insights concerning the relational aspect of product development teams assigned to the initiation phase (front end) of a new product development process.

New methodology for product development process using structured tools

2020 ◽  
pp. 095440542097122
Author(s):  
Carlos Relvas ◽  
António Ramos
Keyword(s):  
Product Development ◽  
New Product Development ◽  
Development Process ◽  
New Product ◽  
Development Cooperation ◽  
Product Development Process ◽  
Concept Generation ◽  
Systematic Method ◽  
Development Team ◽  
Future Developments

The product development is a multidisciplinary process but also involves different areas of knowledge ranging from creativity in concept generation to refinement of design and finally the validation of the product. There are different approaches that attempt to define the best product development process, and thereby establishes a reliable method for efficiently transforming ideas into products. The use of a method that systematically establishes a work process seems to be highly advantageous, not only because it defines a critical and guiding path of work, organizing the tasks and their results, but also facilitates the communication of the development team. The methodology can provide records and other graphic documents that allow the development team to access these for future developments. The work presented here is the development of a systematic method supported by the use of structured tools to support the decisions, data processing and transposition of the same to the project in the approach to the new Product Development process. This research methodology was introduced and already implemented in projects at Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Aveiro. The work developed on it, both at the level of the students’ project and in the work of Development cooperation with companies presented good results. This method result in a structured way to transforming ideas into products.

Advantages of Time-Based New Product Development in a Fast-Cycle Industry

1997 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Srikant Datar ◽  
C. Clark Jordan ◽  
Sunder Kekre ◽  
Surendra Rajiv ◽  
Kannan Srinivasan
Keyword(s):  
Product Development ◽  
New Product Development ◽  
Market Share ◽  
Lead Time ◽  
Development Process ◽  
New Product ◽  
Product Development Process ◽  
Concept Generation ◽  
Volume Production ◽  
The Impact

The authors study the impact of time-based product development on sustainable market share gains in a high-technology computer component industry. Three dominant firms, with international new product development and manufacturing facilities, have introduced more than 200 new products into this fast-cycle market in a five-year period. The authors systematically examine the leads and lags at critical stages of the product development process: concept generation, prototype completion, and volume production. Their main finding is that lead-time advantage affects market share positively, albeit differentially, at each stage. The benefit of lead-time gain is greatest at the volume production stage, followed by the concept generation stage. The authors also develop a new notion of lead-time threshold—a time period in which if a competitor catches up, no market share gain is achieved by the firm that introduces the product first. They endogenously estimate the magnitude of the threshold for each stage of the product development process, observing that a significant threshold is present at both the concept generation and volume production stages. Finally, the structure of the development process, which differs across the firms in the market, affords significant differential ability to catch up with competitors.

A CLIMATE OF PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY ENHANCES THE SUCCESS OF FRONT END TEAMS

2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (02) ◽  
pp. 1550027 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANN-MARIE I. NIENABER ◽  
VERENA HOLTORF ◽  
JENS LEKER ◽  
GERHARD SCHEWE
Keyword(s):  
Product Development ◽  
New Product Development ◽  
Development Process ◽  
Innovation Process ◽  
Psychological Safety ◽  
New Product ◽  
Product Development Process ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Front End ◽  
New Product Development Process

This paper contributes to the discussion about initiative in teams at the front end of new product development processes (innovative teams). In contrast to the general opinion presented in the literature, this study points out that unstructured innovative teams are as much initiative in developing new ideas or in finding quick solutions when compared to structured innovative teams. Therefore we analyse the relationship between teamwork quality and team initiative in structured and unstructured teams at the front end of a new product development process and, in particular, we focus on a climate of psychological safety. To examine this relationship, data were collected by surveying 100 team members from different departments in a multinational company. It has been pointed out in the literature previously that where a team leader provides little structure at the micro level for team members there is a negative effect on the displays of initiative in the very early stages of the innovation process. However we can demonstrate that this effect can be reduced by a climate of psychological safety. Thus, it can be stated that unstructured teamwork combined with a climate of psychological safety is the way for teams at the front end of a new product development process to be successful.

Organizing for Effective New Product Development: The Moderating Role of Product Innovativeness

1995 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric M. Olson ◽  
Orville C. Walker ◽  
Robert W. Ruekert
Keyword(s):  
Product Development ◽  
New Product Development ◽  
Development Process ◽  
Empirical Test ◽  
New Product ◽  
Coordination Mechanism ◽  
Product Development Process ◽  
Success Rates ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Product Concept

Marketing and sales personnel are frequently called on to work with—and sometimes to lead—specialists from other functional areas in the development of new products and services. Such cross-functional interactions can be structured and coordinated in a variety of ways, from bureaucratic approaches to more decentralized participatory mechanisms. Recently, cross-functional team structures have received a great deal of positive press. However, this paper questions whether teams are a universal panacea for shortening development times and improving success rates across all types of projects. It presents a contingency model based on resource dependency theory, which suggests that more participative structures are likely to improve the effectiveness and timeliness of the development process when the product being developed is truly new and innovative. However, the model also predicts that more bureaucratic structures may produce better outcomes on less innovative projects, such as those involving line extensions or product improvements. An empirical test involving 45 projects from 12 firms in widely varying industries substantially supports the model's predictions. The findings indicate that the better the fit between the newness of the product concept and the participativeness of the coordination mechanism used the better the outcomes of the development process in terms of (1) objective measures of product and team performance, (2) the attitudes of team members toward the process, and (3) the efficiency and timeliness of the new product development process.

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