In psychological terms, designing can be defined as a creative process of an activity in the context of various fields such as mathematics, physics, mechanics, thermodynamics, production engineering, electrical engineering, material technology and design theory. Some of the basic qualities required for the designer are economic insight, tenacity, optimism, sociability, initiative, resolution and ability to work in a team.
In systematic terms, designing can be defined as a process where the given objectives are developed within in limitations inconsistently. Sometimes, the requirements may change over the time so that the solution can be developed with in the specific conditions.
In organizational terms, designing plays a major role in manufacturing process of raw material and product. The designers and workers join and work together in various domains. In order to maintain the necessary information that is required for workers, the design should be frequently communicate with salesman, estimators, planners , buyers, cost accountants, production engineering, material specialists, test engineers, research workers and standard engineers. A good information flow and experience sharing are the most important things in developing a product.
Types of design
Table of Contents
There are three types of design which do not have any fixed boundaries are as follow,
- Original design
- Adaptive design
- variant design
1. Original design
The original design is used to explain an original solution principle of a system by using the similar or a new task.
2. Adaptive design
The adaptive is used to adapt a familiar system to a modified task. Sometimes, original designs of a system are also considered in adaptive design. In this design, the solution principle won’t be changed.
3. Variant design
The variant design modifies or varies the size and shape of specific aspects of a known system without modifying is function and solution principle. The variation in constraints or technological factors, material does not lead to any problems or issues.
Some of the author defined ‘fixed principle design’ as a design in which the function and solution principle of the system remains same but dimensions of some aspects are modified.
According to a research made by the VDMA members (German Association of mechanical Engineering companies) in 1973, mechanical engineering industry contain 55% of its products are of adaptive design type, 25% of products are of original design type and 20% of products are of variant design type. As the design boundaries are not fixed precisely the classification is very difficult. But the percentages of original design are adaptive design proves that a good designer need to be creative and flexible.
Nature And The Need of a Systematic Design
Nature of a systematic design
The designer must be capable of involving in various tasks of a design. Even though. he/she applies his/her ideas, specialized knowledge or experience in producing a wide range of products, they may not have a definite model because of following reasons,
- Design may effect technical and economic factors of the product.
- the production methods need to be developed within the specific framework
- A specific dependable approach need to be followed
So, the designers need to learn or to be taught the special skills which are required for systematic procedure. The nature of systematic design should be in the following ways,
- It should support problem directed approach in such a way that it must be applicable to every design type irrespective of specialist field.
- It should provide support for innovation understanding that helps to find ideal solution for a problem.
- it should be compatible with the methods, concepts and findings of other areas.
- It should not depend on a chance
- It should be simple and easy to learn or understand type
- It required to be compatible with electronic data processing
- It should provide help for the applicant in providing solutions for similar tasks
- It should follow the modern management science thinking which helps to reduce workload, saves time and avoids human errors.
This nature of design helps the designer to find the possible solutions quickly. The designing need to be more logical, sequential, transparent and open to be rectified. Because the other fields are scientific in nature and uses computers for logical data preparation. When the methods and work of designer matches with the current developments of scientific and industrial practice then only the efforts of designer will be recognized. The usage of systematic procedure will increase the innovativeness of designers and the output be accurate.
Need of systematic Design
Systematic design builds a rational-based approach that provides valid solutions which can be used repeatedly. It also helps to create a work schedule based on rational project planning that is critical path analysis. Thus it helps designer to,
- Determine the time required for feasibility study
- Determine the time required to find the optimal solution
- Determine the time required to evaluate the result.
As the design depends more on similarity laws, it is useful in model testing. Also by using standard specifications, size and modular methods, it helps in further rationalization in the complete process of production. Systematic design provides help to rational deployment of a computer and data system.
In rational approach, the primary calculation like cost of a designer and also the accuracy and speed of results with the help of data must be done. In the early stage of design process it is important to design methods which helps in estimating the final cost.
product Development process
Product Development
The process of developing a product by the company is known as product development. It involves creation of a new ideas. During this process, sales potential, profitability, production facilities, resources availability, designing production and marketing of a new product idea are wvaluatef. The main task here is to identify customer market demand. Im each stage the decisions are taken whether to proceed to next stage, abondon the product or seek additional information
Product Development Process
Development of a new product involves the following stages/steps,
- Ideate
- Researching
- Planning
- Prototyping
- Sourcing
- Costing
Ideate:
The development of product start with the generation of new ideas. New product ideas may be generated from both internal and external sources. Internal sources are the sources which are inside the company. External sources ate the outside sources. Thus, the new product ideas may come from customers, dealers competitors or from R&D department. Techniques such as brain storming can be used for product idea generation. Idea generation is a continuous systematic search for new product opportunities.
Researching:
This stage involves a through research of new ideas from the point of view of consumer. In this stage, various ideas are validated by the evaluation committees. It emphasizes on the question like, Is the new product needed or not? Whether it is an improvement over the existing product? And what ares must be considered for improvement inorder to handle the product in a better way
planning:
This stage is very important in the product development. This stage considers all the important decisions related to the product from various perspectives such as investment analysis, demand analysis,cost analysis and profitability analysis.
Prototyping:
In this stage, the product idea is tranformed to prototype in order to share a sample with the key stake holders. The transformation involves outlining the physical characteristics of the product, design, brand names etc.
Sourcing:
In this stage, all the necessary materials and resources are provided for the vendors to develop the prototype into product in mass production.
Costing:
This is the last stage in the product development process. It involves the various cost that are required to release the product into the market. The various cost include manufacturing costs, material costs, setup costs, storags and shipping cost etc.