BOLA : Business Open Learning Archive
Prev

Operations Management and Product Design

The Designer-Maker Interface

The market, through the products and services designed for it, affects operations systems greatly. A poorly designed product fails as market needs and expectations are not met. Yet operations managers may be excluded from the actual design process. Their task may be confined to just "make to specification and to cost". The interface between designers and makers/deliverers is the point at which conflict can occur e.g. the makers dispair at the implementation headaches that a particular design gives them. Design and delivery process are closely linked.

Distinguish between these

There is tension between the creative ideas of product designers (architects, haute couture dress designers, automobile concept designers etc.) and builders. The conflict can occur if designers produce designs which are imposed on the producers i.e. "you must do it this way". Software programmers, theatre stage managers have experience of materials, equipment and people. They know they can do. They comprehend the knotty implementation problems and techniques. They know the limits of their systems and staff. They may however be less inclined to go for new, leading edge methods - preferring tried and tested old ways.

Modern, creative designs - new products - cannot be realised without the problem-solving ability of the implementors.

Nice design but can we build it at this cost?

A beautiful design may need to modified for manufacturability. But designers own their work with a passion which may erupt if someone changes the colour, shape, material, dimensions, taste etc. - because the factory say they cannot make it that way.

Thus we can speak of parallel engineering and manufacturability. THis means designing the product and implementation processes together. Can we make it or must the design change to fit what we can do? In designing a service too we must account for the nature of the customer's participation in the service process. A badly designed service operation e.g. queues, waiting times, inefficient service points - will soon have the customer's complaining.

Design account for the the limitations and constraints of existing equipment, capacity, facilities and expertise. New products may be made alongside old products using existing technology. Product upgrades with new design features will have a knock on effect on the operation that must produce them. As an example the introduction of a new salad line into the menu of a hamburger chain means that cool cabinet equipment may be needed in each outlet - which may not have the floor space.

A design change at the final stage of product implementation is costly. The bulk of production set up costs have been incurred. "Patch and make do" may undermine quality and performance objectives.

Exploit technology! Be a market leader

There is pressure to exploit technology and bring new models quickly to market. Examples are legion of of new food products, cars, computer software and military equipment not meeting or performing to specification or being late and unreliable. Design work extends far beyond the point of agreeing and marketing testing the concept or prototype. We have to know that

Design phases

  1. Basic research and development
  2. Define market needs in various situations

    • is it market demand that is pushing change or is emergent new technology (lower costs, better products) that is pushing change
    • internal development and up-grading

  3. create the "design"
  4. evaluate alternative designs and agree which to prototype
  5. do the prototyping, evaluate (design and process of implementation)
  6. Finalise and hand-over to operations to get on and produce?

What is the scope for involvement of operations managers at each of these stages (concurrent engineering)?

Scaling up

Initial production volumes may small. We acquire experience through "hand-crafting". As sales take off the design and the production methods may need to change.

For small-scale electronic assemblies, standard components on a circuit board may do the job for the prototype but a volume increases these may be integrated into micro-processors reducing the components and increasing reliability at lower (volume) cost. The change may now enable the product to be offered with a smaller power supply unit. The product's casing may be changed and the assembly skills required.

Design for manufacturability and assembly (DFMA)

DFMA focuses on

Reverse Engineering

Reverse engineering involves disassembly and re-appraisal of service and repair costs, methods and times with an eye to improving design and production methods and adding value to the company and customers. Questioning the design e.g. fixings and componet positions can improve assembly processes e.g. use new epoxy glues rather than rivets. We can review energy usage, disposal and re-cycling issues, technical obsolescence and wastage.

Variety vs. standardisation

Fewer components/materials, processes and techniques = more cost effective operations?

Investment in new equipment, process technology, IT systems etc. may further improve efficiency gains (lower unit costs). Stocks may be better controlled with fewer suppliers and deliveries of fewer compoents components.

Where many processes produce many different products we find lower utilisation. Frequent product changes lower productivity. More staff specialisms and higher skills are needed. New process technologies may be less than cost effective in situations of high variety thus manual methods may be retained rather than use expensive machines only occasionally. However even with unique products there are benefits to be gained from the exploitation of IT systems to support planning, design, component control and communications with customers.

Inventory

£4 m. is tied up in stock if £16 m. is spent annually on 9000 components and the average stockholding turns over every 3 months. Warehousing and other stockholding costs will be high. Reducing the items stocked could lower stockholding substantially and hence improve the working capital position and even interest on capital loans..

Variety reduction

There are risks in discontinuing seldom used items or having fewer variants of the same item. An evaluation team of design, engineering, sales, production, quality assurance and purchasing representatives is needed. The nut and bolt case illustrates this.

In engineering, many applications could be satisfied by a few nut and bolt types, but past products (legacies), customer and national preferences, the standards of external institutions and cost factors proliferate types. Non-standardisation abounds. Nuts and bolts may be metric, old versions may be imperial or Whitworth. They may be mild steel/hard steel. They may be self tapping. The metal's performance characteristics of the metal will vary and, of course, sizes cut across variants.

If the customer wants variety - the customer must pay!

Try this on your sales staff! The marketing person will always talk about giving choice to customers!

Variants in product and service components tend - even with courses in universities - to proliferate almost without volition and must be watched. Retailers want to satisfy different niches of customers by offering variety. The public are unwilling to buy paint only in 2 litre tins. But variety costs, financial and interdepartmental, are high.

Standardisation - a strategic programme

The Creative vs. Standardisation Mix

If new designs and product up-grades can use existing components and processes then fine. But creative freedoms of designers are inhibited by such standardisation directives. Sub-optimal designs result. Good designers push forward the boundaries in exploiting new materials and applications. They search constantly for new, innovative components/materials/processes not currently known, used etc. It is their role to be up-to-date on emergent materials and components and methods. This means scanning supplier catalogues.

They also need to know what is known, approved and available within the firm.

The operational temptation is to go for something that is known and available but technological obsolescence is a real problem. If an kitchen fittings manufacturer stuck to a "one size for all" policy of standardisation when customers wanted customised products then the company may be on the slide.

Quality and reliability

Good product design supports manufacturing's ability to produce required quality. With an inadequate design, operations ends up by making "e;silk purse out of a sows ear"e;. Nobody is satisfied - least of all the market.

Adoption of new technologies and raw materials requires rigorous inspection and testing to ensure high-quality, reliable output. Safety critical products - hardware, software and human systems are particularly vulnerable.

Value analysis (VA)

- a cost-reduction technique to cut costs of established products or services without reducing their value. Product design features are evaluated relating to cost and construction. Elements not contributing to function are eliminated.

Value engineering applies VA principles and procedures in design. VA, VE and variety reduction all need a creative, task force whose job it is to target products, services and procedures that offer big potential savings and quality improvements.

VA evaluates a product's:

A reliable second-hand Mini, costing about £2000, has utility value for inner city commuter travel. Yet many people travel to work in cars costing £14,000 or more. The esteem value is thus £12,000.

Esteem issues and functionality should not be overlooked or compromised.

Does VA undermine good design?

If the design was sound at the start VA then is redundant but designs and technology change. Sound, innovative designs age and become uncompetitive - rivals catch up. Car windscreens are today glued into place by robots (adhesive technology).

References

© maintained and developed by C Jarvis for the BOLA Project