UNIT – I

INTRODUCTION TO PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

Product development versus design, product development process, and product cost analysis,
cost models, reverse engineering and redesign product development process, new product
development, tear down method.

INTRODUCTION TO PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT AND DESIGN

The economic success of most firms depends on their ability to identify the needs of
customers and to quickly create products that meet these needs and can be produced at low
cost. Achieving these goals is not solely a marketing problem, nor is it solely a design problem
or a manufacturing problem; it is a product development problem involving all of these
functions.

A product is something sold by an enterprise to its customers. Product development is

the set of activities beginning with the perception of a market opportunity and ending in the
production, sale, and delivery of a product. Although much of the material in this book is
useful in the development of any product, we explicitly focus on products that are engineered,
discrete, and physical.

The goal of this book is to present in a clear and detailed way a set of product
development methods aimed at bringing together the marketing, design, and manufacturing
functions of the enterprise.

Meaning:
❖ A product is something sold by an enterprise to its customers.
❖ Product development is the set of activities beginning with the perception of a market
opportunity and ending in the production, sale, and delivery of a product.

CHARACTERISTICS OF SUCCESSFUL PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

From the perspective of the investors in a for-profit enterprise, successful product
development results in products that can be produced and sold profitably, yet profitability is
often difficult to assess quickly and directly. Five more specific dimensions, all of which
ultimately relate to profit, are commonly used to assess the performance of a product
development effort:

• Product quality: How good is the product resulting from the development effort? Does
it satisfy customer needs? Is it robust and reliable? Product quality is ultimately
reflected in market share and the price that customers are willing to pay.
 OPEN ELECTIVE: PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT AND DESIGN

• Product cost: What is the manufacturing cost of the product? This cost includes
spending on capital equipment and tooling as well as the incremental cost of producing
each unit of the product. Product cost determines how much profit accrues to the firm
for a particular sales volume and a particular sales price.
• Development time: How quickly did the team complete the product development
effort? Development time determines how responsive the firm can be to competitive
forces and to technological developments, as well as how quickly the firm receives the
economic returns from the team’s efforts.
• Development cost: How much did the firm have to spend to develop the product?
Development cost is usually a significant fraction of the investment required to achieve
the profits.
• Development capability: Are the team and the firm better able to develop future
products as a result of their experience with a product development project?
Development capability is an asset the firm can use to develop products more
effectively and economically in the future.

WHO DESIGNS AND DEVELOPS PRODUCTS?

Product development is an interdisciplinary activity requiring contributions from
nearly all the functions of a firm; however, three functions are almost always central to a
product development project:

→ Marketing: The marketing function mediates the interactions between the firm and its
customers. Marketing often facilitates the identification of product opportunities, the
definition of market segments, and the identification of customer needs. Marketing
also typically arranges for communication between the firm and its customers, sets tar-
get prices, and oversees the launch and promotion of the product.
→ Design: The design function plays the lead role in defining the physical form of the
product to best meet customer needs. In this context, the design function includes
engineering design (mechanical, electrical, software, etc.) and industrial design
(aesthetics, ergonomics, user interfaces).
→ Manufacturing: The manufacturing function is primarily responsible for designing,
operating, and/or coordinating the production system in order to produce the product.
Broadly defined, the manufacturing function also often includes purchasing,
distribution, and installation. This collection of activities is sometimes called the supply
chain.
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THE CHALLENGES OF PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

(i) Trade-offs: An airplane can be made lighter, but this action will probably increase
manufacturing cost. One of the most difficult aspects of product development is
recognizing, understanding, and managing such trade-offs in a way that maximizes the
success of the product. ∙
(ii) Dynamics: Technologies improve, customer preferences evolve, competitors introduce
new products, and the macroeconomic environment shifts. Decision making in an
environment of constant change is a formidable task.
(iii) Details: The choice between using screws or snap-fits on the enclosure of a computer
can have economic implications of millions of dollars. Developing a product of even
modest complexity may require thousands of such decisions.
(iv) Time pressure: Any one of these difficulties would be easily manageable by itself
given plenty of time, but product development decisions must usually be made quickly
and without complete information.
(v) Economics: Developing, producing, and marketing a new product requires a large
investment. To earn a reasonable return on this investment, the resulting product must
be both appealing to customers and relatively inexpensive to produce
(vi) Creation: The product development process begins with an idea and ends with the
production of a physical artifact. When viewed both in its entirety and at the level of
individual activities, the product development process is intensely creative.
(vii) Satisfaction of societal and individual needs: All products are aimed at satisfying
needs of some kind. Individuals interested in developing new products can almost
always find institutional settings in which they can develop products satisfying what
they consider to be important needs
(viii) Team diversity: Successful development requires many different skills and talents. As
a result, development teams involve people with a wide range of different training,
experience, perspectives, and personalities.
(ix) Team spirit: Product development teams are often highly motivated, cooperative
groups.

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PRODUCT DESIGN VS PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

Product development versus design
Researching product design vs. development can help you understand the differences
between these career options. Both involve helping companies conceptualise, create or enhance
products. Their primary difference is that design might only involve the creation and testing of
prototypes, while development covers an entire production process, from conceptualisation to
actualisation.
What is Product Development?
Product Development is the creation of new products from scratch. It involves a
complete product development cycle from idea generation to the end of the product life-cycle.
In other words, a product remains in the development cycle during its lifetime.
Stages of Product Development
The different stages of product development are:
• Idea Generation & Screening
• Concept development
• Business analysis
• Product development
• Test marketing
• Commercialization

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❖ Idea Generation & Screening: This stage involves the search for new ideas about
a new product. In most organizations, there is an ideation team that develops the ideas.
The employees may choose only a handful of ideas.
❖ Concept development: After selection of an idea, the company has to transform it into
a concept. The marketer then creates alternative product concepts from the new
concern.
❖ Business analysis : Here the officials analyse the sales, profit and costs associated with
the product.
❖ Product development: If the product idea passes through all the previous stages, it
is converted into a. tangible product. This helps to check how well it might work in
the market.
❖ Test marketing: For obtaining customer feedback, the company launches a
prototype. These include marketing, positioning, advertising, targeting, packaging, and
financing.
❖ Commercialization: After test marketing, the company officials get a basic
understanding of how the product might work in real life.

Activities During Product Development

▪ Product Development involves the following activities but is not limited to this only.
▪ Idea generation
▪ Market analysis: Future scope, competition, consumer base, etc.
▪ Product specifications and target price finalization
▪ Marketing

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▪ Concept industrial design

▪ Detailed Design: Costing, product testing, and value engineering
▪ Manufacturing or production
▪ Logistics
▪ Sales
▪ Customer feedback and Product Improvements.
▪ Aftermarket services
Role of a product developer
• They analyze sales data, customer feedback, and product reviews. They also assess their
competitors products
• Consulting the manufacturing, design, finance and engineering team to develop product
specifications
• Supervising the final design and evaluating the prototype
• The developer submits proposals to the project head for reviewing. This enhances the
development process
• The product developer prepares the final cost estimates for the product
Responsibilities of a Product Developer
A product developer typically has more responsibilities than a product designer. However,
the primary 5 responsibilities of a product designer include the following:
1. Research and Development
Product developers must conduct extensive research to uncover client wants,
market trends, and possible areas for innovation. They use this knowledge to create new
items or enhance their current ones.
2. Design and Prototyping
Designers and developers collaborate closely to generate prototypes and
develop new concepts. To ensure the final product satisfies the requirements,
developers supervise the production of 3D models, sketches, and other design
components.
3. Production and Quality Control
Product designers monitor the manufacturing process to ensure the product is
produced according to design requirements and adheres to quality standards. They must
collaborate closely with manufacturing teams to guarantee that production timelines are
met and that any quality issues are immediately resolved.

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4. Project Management
Product developers are responsible for overseeing projects from beginning to
end. This includes setting up schedules, spending limits, resource planning, and
directing cross-functional teams to ensure that projects are finished on time and within
the allotted spending limits.
5. Sales and Marketing
Product developers must collaborate closely with sales and marketing teams to
create product positioning, pricing strategies, and marketing campaigns. To spot
opportunities for improvement and make the required changes to the product, they must
also keep an eye on sales data and consumer feedback.
After test marketing, the company officials get a basic understanding of how the product
might work in real life. So, before the commercialization of the product, all the major
decisions are taken. This will include the identification of the target markets.

What is Product Design?

Product Design Process involves creating new products as per customer need. A
product can be a software, solution, service, or physical product such as a smartphone. Product
design is a part of the product development cycle. Technical people and area experts are
involved in product design activities.

Stages of Product Design:

The various stages of product design are:
1. Ideation:
• In this process, designers generate ideas for the design. This can originate from internal
and external sources. Internal sources include employees, market analysis,
research and development and reverse engineering. In reverse engineering, the
competitors products are examined. This helps in generating new ideas.
• External sources include feedback from customers, the current market
trends, and benchmarking. Benchmarking helps in analysing an organisations
product. A comparison with the best product in the current market helps in this process.
2. Feasibility study:
Here, the officials will carry out the following feasibility studies:
- Market
- Eco nom i c

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- Technical
- Strategic
- Risk analysis of the product
The performance specifications are then determined for the particular product concept. If
they pass the feasibility study, they might get approved for development.
3. Preliminary design:
Preliminary design is the stage in which general project location and design
concepts are determined. It includes all that is necessary to conduct a NEPA alternatives
analysis and review process properly, but good preliminary design goes beyond that.

The product design process involves the following activities:

- Concept design
- User experience design
- Architecture design
- Detailed product design: mechanical, electrical, electronic or software design.
- Design calculations: simulation studies
- Product integration
- Prototyping and testing
- Product verification and validation
Roles of a product designer
• Making product sketches by hand or by using software
• Meeting clients and other employees to discuss the design
• To work with product developers, engineers, and marketing staff
• A designer also has to work with the finance team
• Modifying the design based on the feedback received during the development stages

• They also analyse designs of other companies and help in generating new ideas.
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Responsibilities of a Product Designer

Product designers perform many duties to provide detailed and meaningful designs. But it
can vary from industry to industry. Some typical responsibilities of a product designer are:
1. Bringing New Ideas into Concepts
It is a designer’s responsibility to understand their client’s requirements and idea and
then visualize it through the product. They must understand industry standards and customer
behaviour to incorporate ideas into products.
2. Improving Prototypes
Designers are a part of evaluating and testing new product prototypes. This role also
involves market research and competitor analysis to judge the performance and impact of
their design on a product’s success.
3. User Testing
A target audience sample and comments on new designs may also be included in the
design process. Designers typically do user testing to ensure their prototypes meet consumer
expectations.
4. Product Design Feasibility Study
As a designer, you should also consider the product design feasibility. Using a
feasibility study, designers may forecast the likelihood of successful design. You can use it to
predict a product’s usefulness, popularity, and financial success.
5. Modelling Ideas
Prototypes are evaluated and approved by product designers. This may include
determining if a design complies with the industry’s quality, viability, and safety criteria.
Designers then transform ideas into workable designs and models using computer-aided
design and engineering software.
Product development VS Product design

Features Product development Product design

Product development refers to the Product design is only a part of
complete life cycle. This starts from the cycle where the design of
Definition
market analysis to goes up to the the product is created.
final product launch.
Involves activities from market Involves detail product design,
Scope research to the end of the product verification, and validation
lifecycle. activities.

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The product designer has to

report to the developer for
The product developer supervises approval. But he cannot
Supervision
each stage of development. supervise anything beyond his
design aspects.

The design decisions are taken

All the decisions of marketing,
during product design after
Decision making finance, sales and logistics are taken
consultation with other
in the development stages.
officials.
In the development phase, it is
The prototype is designed in
Prototype evaluated by the developer, that
the product design phase.
forms the basis of the product.
• Market analysis
• Product specifications and target
• Concept design
price finalization
• UX design
• Marketing and sales
• Product Architecture design
Activities • Product design
• Detailed product design
• Manufacturing or production
• Prototype and testing
• Logistics
• Verification and Validation
• Customer feedback and aftermarket
services
• Sales and Marketing
• Design team
• Design
Team involved • Simulation team
• Manufacturing
• Verification and Validation
• Logistics

PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE

The term product life cycle refers to the length of time from when a product is
introduced to consumers into the market until it's removed from the shelves. This concept is
used by management and by marketing professionals as a factor in deciding when it is
appropriate to increase advertising, reduce prices, expand to new markets, or redesign

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packaging. The process of strategizing ways to continuously support and maintain a product
is called product life cycle management.

• Introduction Stage
The introduction phase is the first-time customers are introduced to the new
product. A company must generally include a substantial investment in advertising and
a marketing campaign focused on making consumers aware of the product and its
benefits, especially if it is broadly unknown what the item will do.

During the introduction stage, there is often little-to-no competition for a

product, as competitors may just be getting a first look at the new offering. However,
companies still often experience negative financial results at this stage as sales tend to
be lower, promotional pricing may be low to drive customer engagement, and the sales
strategy is still being evaluated.

• Growth Stage
If the product is successful, it then moves to the growth stage. This is
characterized by growing demand, an increase in production, and expansion in its
availability. The amount of time spent in the introduction phase before a company's
product experiences strong growth will vary from between industries and products.

During the growth phase, the product becomes more popular and recognizable.
A company may still choose to invest heavily in advertising if the product faces heavy
competition. However, marketing campaigns will likely be geared towards
differentiating its product from others as opposed to introducing the goods to the
market. A company may also refine its product by improving functionality based on
customer feedback.

Financially, the growth period of the product life cycle results in increased sales
and higher revenue. As competition begins to offer rival products, competition
increases, potentially forcing the company to decrease prices and experience lower
margins.

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• Maturity Stage
The maturity stage of the product life cycle is the most profitable stage, the
time when the costs of producing and marketing decline. With the market saturated
with the product, competition now higher than at other stages, and profit
margins starting to shrink, some analysts refer to the maturity stage as when sales
volume is "maxed out".

Depending on the good, a company may begin deciding how to innovate its
product or introduce new ways to capture a larger market presence. This includes
getting more feedback from customers, and researching their demographics and their
needs.

During the maturity stage, competition is at the highest level. Rival companies
have had enough time to introduce competing and improved products, and competition
for customers is usually highest. Sales levels stabilize, and a company strives to have
its product exist in this maturity stage for as long as possible.

• Decline Stage
As the product takes on increased competition as other companies emulate its
success, the product may lose market share and begin its decline. Product sales begin
to drop due to market saturation and alternative products, and the company may choose
to not pursue additional marketing efforts as customers may already have determined
whether they are loyal to the company's products or not.

Should a product be entirely retired, the company will stop generating support
for it and will entirely phase out marketing endeavors. Alternatively, the company may
decide to revamp the product or introduce a next-generation, completely overhauled
model. If the upgrade is substantial enough, the company may choose to re-enter the
product life cycle by introducing the new version to the market.

The stage of a product's life cycle impacts the way in which it is marketed to
consumers. A new product needs to be explained, while a mature product needs to be
differentiated from its competitors.

THE PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

A process is a sequence of steps that transforms a set of inputs into a set of outputs.
Most people are familiar with the idea of physical processes, such as those used to bake a cake
or to assemble an automobile.

A product development process is the sequence of steps or activities that an enterprise

employs to conceive, design, and commercialize a product. Many of these steps and activities
are intellectual and organizational rather than physical.

Some organizations define and follow a precise and detailed development process, while
others may not even be able to describe their process. Furthermore, every organization
employs a process at least slightly different from that of every other organization. In fact, the

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same enterprise may follow different processes for each of several different types of
development projects.
A well-defined development process is useful for the following reasons:
• Quality assurance: A development process specifies the phases a development project will
pass through and the checkpoints along the way. When these phases and check-points are
chosen wisely, following the development process is one way of assuring the quality of the
resulting product.

• Coordination: A clearly articulated development process acts as a master plan that

defines the roles of each of the players on the development team. This plan informs the
members of the team when their contributions will be needed and with whom they will need to
exchange information and materials.
• Planning: A development process includes milestones corresponding to the completion
of each phase. The timing of these milestones anchors the schedule of the overall development
project.
• Management: A development process is a benchmark for assessing the performance of
an ongoing development effort. By comparing the actual events to the established process, a
manager can identify possible problem areas.

• Improvement: The careful documentation and ongoing review of an organization’s

development process and its results may help to identify opportunities for improvement.

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The generic product development process consists of six phases

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1. Concept development:
• In the concept development phase, the needs of the target market are
identified, alternative product concepts are generated and evaluated, and one or
more concepts are selected for further development and testing.
• A concept is a description of the form, function, and features of a product and
is usually accompanied by a set of specifications, an analysis of competitive
products, and an economic justification of the project.

2. System-level design:
• The system-level design phase includes the definition of the product
architecture, decomposition of the product into subsystems and components,
preliminary design of key components, and allocation of detail design
responsibility to both internal and external resources.
• Initial plans for the production system and final assembly are usually defined
during this phase as well.
• The output of this phase usually includes a geometric layout of the product, a
functional specification of each of the product’s subsystems, and a preliminary
process flow diagram for the final assembly process.

3. Detail design:
• The detail design phase includes the complete specification of the geometry,
materials, and tolerances of all of the unique parts in the product and the
identification of all of the standard parts to be purchased from suppliers.
• A process plan is established and tooling is designed for each part to be
fabricated within the production system.
• The output of this phase is the control documentation for the product—the
drawings or computer files describing the geometry of each part and its
production tooling, the specifications of the purchased parts, and the process
plans for the fabrication and assembly of the product.
• Three critical issues that are best considered throughout the product
development process, but are finalized in the detail design phase, are materials
selection, production cost, and robust performance.

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4. Testing and refinement:

• The testing and refinement phase involves the construction and evaluation of
multiple preproduction versions of the product.
• Early (alpha) prototypes are usually built with production-intent parts—parts
with the same geometry and material properties as intended for the production
version of the product but not necessarily fabricated with the actual processes
to be used in production.
• Alpha prototypes are tested to determine whether the product will work as
designed and whether the product satisfies the key customer needs.
• Later (beta) prototypes are usually built with parts supplied by the intended
production processes but may not be assembled using the intended final
assembly process.
• Beta prototypes are extensively evaluated internally and are also typically tested
by customers in their own use environment.
• The goal for the beta prototypes is usually to answer questions about
performance and reliability to identify necessary engineering changes for the
final product.
5. Production ramp-up:
• In the production ramp-up phase, the product is made using the intended production
system.
• The purpose of the ramp-up is to train the workforce and to work out any remaining
problems in the production processes.
• Products produced during production ramp-up are sometimes supplied to preferred
customers and are carefully evaluated to identify any remaining flaws.
• The transition from production ramp-up to ongoing production is usually gradual.
• At some point in this transition, the product is launched and becomes available for
widespread distribution.
• A postlaunch project review may occur shortly after the launch.
• This review includes an assessment of the project from both commercial and technical
perspectives and is intended to identify ways to improve the development process for
future projects.

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Product Development Organizations

In addition to crafting an effective development process, successful firms must
organize their product development staff to implement the process in an effective manner. In
this section, we describe several types of organizations used for product development and
offer guidelines for choosing among these options.
Organizations Are Formed by Establishing Links among Individuals
A product development organization is the scheme by which individual designers and
developers are linked together into groups. The links among individuals may be formal or
informal and include, among others, these types:
• Reporting relationships: Reporting relationships give rise to the classic notion of
supervisor and subordinate. These are the formal links most frequently shown on an
organization chart.
• Financial arrangements: Individuals are linked by being part of the same financial
entity, such as a business unit or department within a firm.
• Physical layout: Links are created between individuals when they share the same
office, floor, building, or site. These links are often informal, arising from spontaneous
encounters while at work.
Any particular individual may be linked in several different ways to other individuals.
For example, an engineer may be linked by a reporting relationship to another engineer in a
different building, while being linked by physical layout to a marketing person sitting in the
next office. The strongest organizational links are typically those involving performance
evaluation, budgets, and other resource allocations.

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How to select an Organizational Structure

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to choosing an Organizational structure for an
Organization. Every organization is different and there are numerous factors in play, and each
factor may carry a different level of importance in the process of choosing an organizational
structure.
Important factors to consider while selecting an organizational structure are below

❖ Alignment with Organizational Objectives

❖ Special Capabilities
❖ Clear authority structure
❖ Clear path for escalation of decisions
❖ Delegation capabilities
❖ Accountability and responsibility assignment
❖ Adaptability of design
❖ simplicity of design
❖ Cost considerations
❖ Physical location
❖ Clear communication
The most appropriate choice of organizational structure depends on which organizational
performance factors are most critical to success. Functional organizations tend to breed
specialization and deep expertise in the functional areas. Project organizations tend to enable
rapid and effective coordination among diverse functions.
PRODUCT COST ANALYSIS

Product cost analysis defines the processes and tools used by cost engineers to assess
the cost of new product designs. The cost analysis process considers all the costs associated
with manufacturing a product from infancy to launch.

Costs provide a basic criterion for controlling the design; they need to be monitored
throughout development to ensure they are within the target range. At the beginning of the
design, the company's cost structure and the target range of costs for the new product need to
be agreed by all involved. The basic costs for producing and distributing the product can be
subdivided into manufacturing costs, distribution and marketing costs and general company
costs.

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Understanding the Costs in Product Costs

Product Cost = Direct Materials + Direct Labor + Manufacturing overhead

Product costs are the costs directly incurred from the manufacturing process. The three
basic categories of product costs are detailed below:
1. Direct material
Direct material costs are the costs of raw materials or parts that go directly into
producing products. For example, if Company A is a toy manufacturer, an example of a direct
material cost would be the plastic used to make the toys.
2. Direct labor
Direct labor costs are the wages, benefits, and insurance that are paid to employees who
are directly involved in manufacturing and producing the goods – for example, workers on the
assembly line or those who use the machinery to make the products.
3. Manufacturing overhead
Manufacturing overhead costs include direct factory-related costs that are incurred
when producing a product, such as the cost of machinery and the cost to operate the machinery.
Manufacturing overhead costs also include some indirect costs, such as the following:
• Indirect materials: Indirect materials are materials that are used in the production
process but that are not directly traceable to the product. For example, glue, oil, tape,
cleaning supplies, etc. are classified as indirect materials.
• Indirect labor: Indirect labor is the labor of those who are not directly involved in the
production of the products. An example would be security guards, supervisors,
and quality assurance workers in the factory. Their wages and benefits would be
classified as indirect labor costs.

Example of Product Costs

Company A is a manufacturer of the Chair. Its product costs may include:
1. Direct material cost:
Steel frame: ₹ 500
Foam padding and upholstery: ₹300
Wheels and casters: ₹100
Screws and fasteners: ₹50
Total Direct Material Cost: ₹950

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2. Direct labor cost:

Assembly workers wages: ₹150
Time taken to assemble one Chair: 1 hour
Direct Labor cost per Chair: ₹150
3. Manufacturing overhead cost:
Factory rent and utilities: ₹30,000 per month
Total Chairs Produced in a Month: 300 chairs
Overhead Cost per Chair: ₹100
Total product costs:
Product Cost per Chair = ₹950 + ₹150 + ₹100 = ₹ 1,200.
COST MODEL
A Cost Model is refers to a structured framework used to estimate and analyse the
various costs associated with creating and bringing a new product to market. It involves
assessing both direct and indirect costs incurred throughout the entire product lifecycle, from
initial concept and design to manufacturing, distribution, and beyond. Cost models play a
crucial role in helping organizations make informed decisions about resource allocation,
pricing, and profitability.

Components of a Cost Model:

• Direct Cost: These are costs that can be directly attributed to the production of a
specific product, such as raw materials, labor, and components.

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• Indirect Costs (Overhead): These are costs that are not directly tied to a single product
but contribute to the overall manufacturing process. Examples include facility rent,
utilities, administrative salaries, and quality control.
• Variable Costs: Costs that change in relation to the quantity of products produced,
such as direct materials and labor costs.
• Fixed Costs: Costs that remain constant regardless of the quantity produced, including
expenses like rent, equipment depreciation, and administrative salaries.
• Cost drivers: Factors that influence the level of costs incurred, such as design complexity,
production volume, material selection, and manufacturing methods.
• Lifecycle Costs: Costs that extend beyond the initial manufacturing stage and include expenses
related to maintenance, support, and end-of-life disposal.
• Design for Manufacturing (DFM) and Design for Cost (DFC): Strategies where product
designers aim to create products that are optimized for efficient and cost-effective
manufacturing processes.
• Price Estimation: Cost models help inform pricing strategies by providing insights into the
cost structure of the product.
• Scenario Analysis: Cost models enable organizations to evaluate different scenarios and trade-
offs, such as the impact of changing materials, production methods, or production volumes on
the overall cost.

3 BENEFITS OF COST MODELS

The benefits of cost modeling are linked to how they inform your business practices,
particularly in the area of pricing and streamlining. Knowledge is power, and anyone who is
seriously interested in business management should seek it at every opportunity.
1. Set profitable prices
Perhaps the most obvious benefit of cost modeling is ensuring profitability for each product or
service your company offers. Tracking total costs can be a tricky proposition, particularly for
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providers of complex and multifaceted services. A careful assessment of all costs throughout
the process allows you to see what kind of return you can expect on the investment.
2. Limit risks of innovation
Cost modeling isn’t just about evaluating existing processes, it’s also a great tool for
projections. Businesses can use cost models to estimate the profitability of certain products
based on educated guesswork and current market price points. While this method isn’t perfect,
it can let you know if an idea has potential or if it’s not worth the time before you start investing
in it.
3. Save on supplies
Since cost modeling is all about identifying and quantifying expenses at every stage of the
production process, it can also help you target opportunities for saving. Finding “weak links”
in the chain, whether it’s the productivity of a particular department or costs for certain
materials, can help you slim down your operations to improve value.
An industry example of a cost model
Consider a website design company that provides various services to clients, including
website development, ongoing maintenance, creative design and marketing. Clients typically
purchase services as part of a package and these packages are tailored to specific needs, which
means there is no standard cost or difficulty per project. To know their real costs, this company
needs to know each team member’s total time contribution as well as the group’s material
expenses and overhead costs.
This analysis should ultimately include everything from the utility and property costs
for the company’s building to purchase of creative rights, cost of domain names and segmented
investment in digital outreach. An effective model should show the total cost for each part of
the service package, from launching the site to maintaining it each month and conducting
marketing efforts.
REVERSE ENGINEERING
Reverse engineering is deconstructing or dismantling a product to learn how it works
and understand more about its design. This can include software, a mechanical part, a piece of
technology or architecture. Companies can also use reverse engineering to learn to reproduce
or improve the item. This means that engineers try to recreate or mimic a product without the
original blueprints, which is why they have to disassemble the finished item. While there are
many ways to reverse engineer a product, a popular method is to take apart a smaller part of a
product for examination, such as the pistons from a car engine.

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3 Basic steps of Reverse Engineering

The reverse-engineering process is specific to the object on which its being performed.
However, no matter the context, there are three general steps common to all reverse-
engineering efforts. They include:
• Information extraction: The object being reverse-engineered is studied,
information about its design is extracted and that information is examined to
determine how the pieces fit together. In software reverse-engineering, this might
require gathering source code and related design documents for study. It may also
involve the use of tools, such as a disassembler to break apart the program into its
constituent parts.
• Modeling: The collected information is abstracted into a conceptual model, with
each piece of the model explaining its function in the overall structure. The purpose
of this step is to take information specific to the original and abstract it into a general
model that can be used to guide the design of new objects or systems. In software
reverse-engineering this might take the form of a data flow diagram or a structure
chart.
• Review: This involves reviewing the model and testing it in various scenarios to
ensure it is a realistic abstraction of the original object or system. In software
engineering this might take the form of software testing. Once it is tested, the model
can be implemented to reengineer the original object

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Importance of Reverse Engineering

Reverse engineering has many uses and benefits, including:
1. Exploring Existing Designs and Maneuvers
It is easy for us to look at something and think that we know it all, how it works and
what it does, but reverse engineering gives us whole new insights. The experts at reverse-
engineering explain that by looking at detailed parts, structures, or processes in a new way, we
gain a new perspective on how the product works and whether there is anything that we can
learn from it or that we can improve upon. A good understanding of how to utilize the current
product is important, but a discovery of where it can be improved can lead to many advantages.
2. Reconstructing a Product that is Outdated
Upgrading from an existing product requires proper understanding of the original version,
and it does not matter how great the product you are using is, the room for improvement and
growth is always there. Components giving out due to wear and tear, equipment not working
as it should after being used for a while, and dated technology that is not up to scratch with
modern requirements; all of these things are areas which may need improving.
With reverse engineering, you have the ability to streamline a product’s design into a more
contemporary configuration for newer performance standards. Stripping down a product will
provide you with the information to work out outdated kinks in an older system to make it more
efficient and last longer.
3. Discovering any Product Vulnerabilities
The use of reverse engineering is also ideal for finding defects in products and
extending the product’s functional life cycle period, this is all in favor of the safety and well-
being of the product’s consumers. Faults and errors can be detrimental once arising in the
distributing phase, so it is always better if they are quickly detected during the researching
phase.
From finding out the issues that your products have, to pulling back the curtain using reverse
engineering to take a closer look at where the vulnerabilities are, they are all parts of a logical
process that result in much-needed and critical improvements, in the pursuit of perfection.
4. Bringing Cheaper and More Efficient Products to Market
Reverse engineering can be implemented as a development strategy for manufacturers
who study the products manufactured by their competitors, and by speeding up the time it takes
to launch the products to the market, organizations can preserve money and resources to put
into use in the future. Analysis of what a product consists of will also be the grounds to recreate

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that item at a lower cost, offer alternatives that can minimize assembly or substitute a part that
will pay dividends in the long run-in terms of time or shipping.
5. Creating a Reliable CAD Model for Future Reference
It is essential to have accurate design data to ensure production efficiency in computer
aided manufacturing and for future reference, especially in the case of legacy projects, where
older technologies might become outdated very quickly and need to be updated regularly. In
these situations, imagine how difficult it would be to work on updating the technology without
the documented design data.
Most reverse engineering procedures include creating a CAD file that can be examined digitally
if future issues arise, making it easy for updating legacy products with new components, power
sources, and other technologies, and in this way, it has massively enhanced engineering
productivity and product expression.
6. Inspiring Creative Minds with Old Ideas
One of the most important influences of reverse engineering in product development is
that it provides the opportunity for innovative design, in which engineers do not have to start
from scratch, but instead can improve and innovate an existing design or draw on previous
knowledge. As a result, creating new products with better functions and better performance has
never been easier. This approach has been proven to be incredibly useful in implementing new
ideas and promoting innovation in big organizations.
Steps of Reverse Engineering
Here are five steps to reverse engineer a product:
1. Collect information
The first step in reverse engineering is to collect information about the product. This
could mean identifying source designs, product measurements or original coding of the device.
Collecting information is essential for reverse engineering because the engineers need to know
as much as possible about the product before deconstructing it. The product's measurement is
helpful for creating the model.
2. Create a model or sketch
After collecting information about the product, the team can now create a model or
sketch of the product or part they are reverse engineering. This is usually a three-dimensional
model so that the engineers can analyze all parts of the product by viewing an accurate
representation of it. Engineers can create their model using computer-aided design (CAD).
These sketches help engineers understand the purpose of the product's design.

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3. Begin disassembly
Once the engineers have made and evaluated the design, they can disassemble the
product layer by layer. The engineers usually organize the parts in the order that they took them
off for easier reassembly. As the team removes each part, they may analyze, measure or scan
the product to understand the function of the item.
4. Evaluate the product
After the engineers have taken apart as much or as little of the product that they need,
they can evaluate the removed parts or any parts that they left. They may take notes on how
they can improve the product or any errors they found. They could even scan the tracing of the
product to help them rebuild it. The team could also document any important findings from
their reverse engineering.
5. Reassemble
If the purpose of the reverse engineering is to recreate the item, the engineers may also
reassemble the product. Rebuilding tests the engineers' knowledge of the product and allows
them to make potential changes as they rebuild it. This could help them create a new, updated
or original version of the item they dismantled. One purpose of reverse engineering is to learn
about the product, and reassembling the item helps the team understand building or recreating
it.

Examples of reverse engineering

Some examples of reverse engineering may include:
Mechanical project
A mechanic could reverse engineer most products depending on their field, such as a
vehicle, washing machine or air conditioning unit. Without having to create a model, a
mechanic could disassemble a malfunctioning item to diagnose the problem. After diagnosing
or even fixing the issue, the mechanic would rebuild the item for their customer.
Software
One common example of reverse engineering in software is to adopt a program’s
machine code that is sent to a logic processor. Then, program language statements turn the
codes into the original source code. Other examples are fixing bugs, correcting errors when
you don’t have the source code, reconstructing the lost code, etc.

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REDESIGN PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

Product Redesign refers to recreating your website or application or digital product’s
overall look by making significant changes to the product’s design that improves the user
experience. It aims at adding more value to the UX. Here, you have all sorts of data at hand
like users, businesses, and competition.
The efforts that go behind the product redesign are often neglected but the designers
know the real struggle that goes behind a successful product redesign. Most importantly, the
changes don’t need to be grand. Minor changes in style or color can go a long way in improving
your product’s look and experience.
WHEN YOU SHOULD CONSIDER PRODUCT REDESIGN?
Well, knowing what it redesigning and why you need it is not quite enough. You gotta
know when is the right time for you to consider product redesign.
1. User Feedback
There’s no better feedback than real-time user feedback. The users know the product
very well and they are the ones for whom you’ll be solving the issue so their feedback can
help you realize the need for a product redesign. When you notice a lot of negative feedback
coming your way, that’s your cue.
2. Poor product designs
Your idea and features may be right for your users but the poor product design is a big
user disappointment. No additional features or offers will help you to onboard or retain users
if your design is a hindrance in delivering the primary functionality. These are the products
that need to be redesigned.
3. Dated Design
Remember you are not changing the whole outlook of your design. The redesign
should be recognizably the same. The most loved features should be exactly where they
expect them to be and function the same they expect.
4. Brand Updates
Whenever you update any element of your brand, you must compulsorily consider
going for a product redesign. And redesign a product considering the brand updates comes
off as the easiest of all. You never realize it but many apps and brands like Gmail or
Instagram wouldn’t have been as successful as they are today if they wouldn’t choose product
redesign.

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5. Bad Metrics – Signal for redesigning

How many times you’ve been dissatisfied with the current metrics of your product?
And also tired of trying all the alternatives? Now, this is crucial when you need to consider a
product redesign. It can attract the users’ attention with a change, and solving their problems
will influence them to use and come back to your product.
BENEFITS OF PRODUCT REDESIGN
1. Influenced Buying behavior
• Design is impactful and we all know it. A minor change in the design and visual
appearance of an application or a website can completely change users’ perceptions.
• Especially when your existing design is turning out to be fruitful in terms of metrics.
• Even though the UX structure is good but the visual appeal is not helping, a product
redesign can be helpful to turn the tables around.
2. Technological updates
• With new technological changes and updates that your product is adapting, you need
to make sure that the product’s design isn’t left behind.
• If the design is not incorporating the latest technology then it won’t be appealing to
the users.
• And they will shift towards better designs even though your website or application or
digital product has a better user experience but an outdated UI can turn harmful to
your business.
3. A new look, new experience
• Something new always catches our undivided attention. And it goes the same for your
digital product. When you opt for a product redesign it ought to attract a lot of new
users.
• Also, this will enhance the brand’s visibility with existing users.
• The new and updated design will be well received rather than an outdated design.
• As a result, you gain more user engagement and expand your user base while the
users are satisfied with your digital products.

PRODUCT REDESIGN PROCESS

The first thing you need to decide is whether you’ll be redesigning your product’s
design from scratch or it will be an iterative product redesign. When you are opting to redesign

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your product from scratch it will be requiring a tad bit of research and a systematic framework.
Here’s how you can perform a successful product redesign from scratch
1. Goal-defining & brainstorming
It starts with a UX audit to identify the problematic areas in your product and see
where the change is needed. And you can see how the app, website, or digital product is
performing in terms of usability and UX. This can help in defining your goals and objectives
for the product redesign. With vital insights into your goals, you can brainstorm solutions
according to the user’s needs and serves your business problems.
2. Research & Data
The best part of product redesigning is you don’t have to go searching for data and
metrics. The existing products’ metrics are all you need to make a successful product
redesign. You already know your users and their behavioral patterns. And rather than making
simply informed guesses, you will be having solid and reliable data. With insightful data, you
can very easily target your research and utilize your resources well. You are at a privilege
here!
3. Validating ideas
The objectives are quite clear now and you have brought the solutions to the table.
But the design solutions need to be validated with usability testing. It can turn out to be
efficient for your product redesign process when building from scratch. It is crucial to ensure
the solutions you’ve concluded are efficient for the users and the business.
4. Action Time
Let’s get the drums rolling and start the design part of the process. Develop a
systematic design system first and then go through it with the developer’s team to ensure the
design’s feasibility. Hence, ensuring that the outcome doesn’t come as rather surprising.

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A DOUBLE-DIAMOND REDESIGN PROCESS MODEL WOULD BE A GREAT FIT

The scheme above consists of four phases that lead from the problem to the solution:
• Discovery: revealing and understanding the initial problem to be solved
• Definition: identifying the key challenges and pain points and defining the jobs-to-be-
done
• Exploration: finding opportunities for improvement and ideating a suitable solution
• Execution: iterative solution design, validation, and implementation.

Step 1. Build a shared understanding

Stakeholders and existing and potential users have their own goals, problems, and vision
regarding the product. Your role is to build a shared understanding of the goals and scope of
the redesign. To outline the reasons for the product redesign from all points of view, we
recommend:
• Interviewing stakeholders: Ask what they are interested in achieving and their
expected timeframe for those changes. Also, discuss stakeholders' expectations for the
product's look and feel, features, and target audience.
• Interviewing customers: Specifically ask why they chose your product over
alternatives and what they love and hate most about it (features, flow, etc.).
• Researching target customers: If the stakeholders aim to conquer new markets or
extend the customer base with new user categories, make sure to investigate and pay
attention to their expectations, pains, and needs.
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Step 2. Review analytics

Learn from your product's analytics to evaluate the current design performance and detect
issues without subjective judgments. You can track the actual design performance in a few
ways:
• Traffic and pageviews analysis
• User behaviour tracking
• Performance and conversion analysis
Step 3. Define jobs to be done
If you have enough time and resources, you can conduct numerous activities to better
understand your users' needs. Empathy mapping, customer personas, and user journeys are all
useful in this aspect. However, implementing all of these activities may be too resource-
consuming.
Based on user and stakeholder interviews and analytics results, you can list users' key jobs to
be done.

Through this process, you will understand what motivates customers to use your product and
what their expectations are for the user experience.
Step 4. Define problem areas and opportunities for improvement
Jobs to be done, analytics, and user interviews help you reveal the problem areas of
your existing design and understand what needs to be improved. For example, you can inspect
your product screens or pages and identify elements that confuse users, work improperly, look
outdated, or are not engaging enough. These are all problem areas that can be fixed in your
product redesign.
Discuss with your team what improvements you can make to fix the identified
problems. You can generate numerous ideas during brainstorming sessions and then select the
most appropriate ones.

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Step 5. Define value vs. effort

After you've identified all issues and generated suggestions for improvements, you need
to define the scope for the product redesign. One of the most effective ways to do that is by
evaluating the customer value gained from the potential improvement versus the feasibility of
that improvement.

Step 6. Sketch the redesign concept

Low-fidelity sketches are great to roughly visualize ideas. There is no need to create
detailed sketches at this time. Most likely, you'll need to rework your ideas anyways after
validating them with stakeholders and users.

NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

New Product Development refers to the complete process of bringing a new product
to market. This can apply to developing an entirely new product, improving an existing one to
keep it attractive and competitive, or introducing an old product to a new market.
The emergence of new product development can be attributed to the needs of companies
to maintain a competitive advantage in the market by introducing new products or innovating
existing ones. While regular product development refers to building a product that already has
a proof of concept, new product development focuses on developing an entirely new idea—
from idea generation to development to launch.

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STAGES IN NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT:

1. IDEA GENERATION
The process of developing a new product begins with the generation of ideas. It is one
of the most crucial phases of product development and entails brainstorming an idea (or ideas)
that would help you overcome an existing customer problem in a novel and creative way. It’s
critical to have a thorough understanding of the target audience and their pain points, which
you should tackle while brainstorming ideas to help you meet customer needs.
There are two potential sources of fresh ideas:
• Internal source: The company generates new ideas internally. It includes both R&D
and staff contributions. Employees are frequently the biggest source of fresh ideas, as
they are constantly exposed to the product as well as consumer feedback. Organizations
like Toyota have created incentive programs to encourage their employees to come up
with viable ideas in this regard.
• External sources: The company seeks out new ideas from outside sources. It
includes external sources such as distributors and suppliers, as well as competitors.
Customers are the most significant external source since the new product development
process stages must be centered on delivering value to customers.

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2. IDEA SCREENING
The new product development process’s second step builds on the first. You’ve
amassed as many ideas as possible and made a list of them. It’s now time to cross off any ideas
that aren’t good enough from your list.
However, there are more things to consider while screening a product idea than whether
it is “strong” or “weak.” Ideas must also be compatible with a company’s broader business plan
and direction.
The usability of these product concepts should be determined by three primary factors:
return on investment, affordability, and market potential. Other considerations include the
product’s capacity to be successfully marketed, its link to competing products, distribution,
product pricing, and production time.
A SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis might prove to
be useful when shortlisting new product development concepts.

3. CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT & TESTING

Rather than testing the product itself, you would test the concept of your product at this
stage. A product concept is a more thorough version of the idea expressed in consumer-friendly
terms.
The essential steps involved in concept creation are as follows:
• Measuring the gain/pain ratio
• Performing a competitor analysis
• Identifying the core product features

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• Creating a value proposition chart

The test is the next logical step once you’ve developed a well-designed concept. Consumers
should be able to comprehend the concept and see if it has been effectively created. Your next
step should be to demonstrate your idea to a limited group of potential customers and evaluate
it.

4. BUSINESS AND MARKETING STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT

Setting profit expectations is the purpose of this step in the new product development
process. Business analysis and marketing strategy are intertwined with developing a strategy
for reaching out to and connecting with a specific demographic and must be regarded as a
critical phase in the new product development process’s seven stages.
This stage, also known as marketing strategy development, involves a few key elements in the
construction of a good marketing mix. The following are some of these aspects:
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• Definition of the target market, as well as the value proposition offered from the
customer’s point of view
• Profit targets over time, particularly during the first year
• Pricing, distribution, and overall budget
• Sales forecasts for the long run
5. PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
Your product is fit to become a prototype or the first edition of a product at this point
in the new product development process. This way, you’ll have a physical representation of
your concept that you can test in real life rather than just on paper. This prototype, also known
as a minimal viable product (MVP), is a simple version of your product that will help you gain
a sense of how it works and point out areas that have to be improved.
For iterative and incremental development, a minimum viable product (MVP) could be
introduced and deployed in the market with minimal features. Naturally, modifications are
based on the fundamental response from customers, which is obtained through effective
communication and collaboration.
R&D and operational expenses create a significant increase in spending at this stage.
One or more physical copies of the product concept will be developed and tested by the R&D
department.
6. TEST MARKETING
You’re doing market testing when you release prototypes to the target demographics
and ask for their feedback on how well the product works. It involves inquiring about what
your target audience enjoys about your proposed product and what they want to see fixed or
incorporated into it.
Running a test of your product early on can ensure its success before investing too much
time and money. A positive response indicates that there is sufficient demand for the product,
which leads to the start of the manufacturing process.
There are two types of market testing methodologies:
• Alpha testing involves test engineers analyzing a product’s performance. They keep
track of the marketing mix’s effects on the final product. If there are any issues, changes
are planned and implemented before the final thumbs up.
• Beta testing involves customers using the product and giving input to the company. It
has to do with paying close attention to the customer’s voice. If there are any problems,
they are returned to the project team for correction.

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7. COMMERCIALIZATION
Commercialization is the ultimate stage of the new product development process, where
you put your products on the market. The business will need to establish or rent a production
facility in this phase, which will incur the biggest expenditures. In the first year, a significant
amount of money might be spent on advertising, product promotion, and other marketing
operations.
Here are a few of the most important considerations:
• Calculate the global market for your product and introduce an appropriate quantity
based on that estimate
• Make the relevant advertisements and stick to a marketing strategy that works
• Ensure your marketing strategy includes digital channels
• Prepare your consumers for a new product launch
• Choose a launch date and location for your product
• Keep a tight eye on your product and pay attention to its performance
Benefits of the New Product Development Process
Here are some of the benefits of sticking to the New Product Development process:
• Helps check the technical feasibility of the idea
• Ensures faster time to market
• Effectively addresses the customer needs
• Multiplies the chances of success
• Reduces technical debt
• Better management of the feature creep
• Negates the opportunity cost
TEAR DOWN METHOD
A product teardown process is an orderly way to know about a particular product and
identify its parts and system functionality to recognize modeling improvement and cost
reduction opportunities. Unlike the traditional costing method, teardown analysis collects
information to determine product quality and price desired by the consumers. Companies can
understand their competitor’s product, on what ground it differs from their own, and the
manufacturing cost associated.

Product teardown pertains to competitive benchmarking. The design team must

compare the performance with the competitive product.

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The three primary reasons for a product teardown analysis are:

• Breakdown and Analysis: It involves understanding the current technology,
functionalities, and components of a product, identifying its strengths and weaknesses,
and establishing areas for improvement.
• Benchmarking: Benchmarking establishes a baseline in terms of understanding and
representation of the product. It provides a comparison of new conceptual designs.
• Knowledge and product improvement: It involves gaining engineering knowledge to
enact new room for concept development.

The main purpose of the product tear down the process is

• Dissection and analysis during reverse engineering
• Experience and knowledge for an individual’s personal database
• Competitive benchmarking

This product teardown process is performed to analyse how the Product Functions are
achieved in that product, and how the Components are assembled, how the Corporate and
manufacturing strategies working.

Steps of Teardown Method

As we have already mentioned the teardown process tightly integrated with the idea of
benchmarking, comparing one’s product with the competitive product in the marketplace or
Comparing performance with the previous version of their own product. Following are the
formal steps in the Product teardown process.
1. List Design Issues
2. Prepare for Product Teardowns
3. Examine the Distribution and Installation
4. Disassemble, Measure and Analyze Data by Assemblies
5. Form a Bill of Materials
1. List the design issues
• In the case of a new product, Problems and opportunities regarding customer market,
competitors, and the features of competitors products should be worth investigating.
• In the case of a redesign, an investigation can ask of the previous design team
• What was difficult for them?
• What design problem did they solve that they are proud of?
• What related technologies were they interested in?
• To help design issues, a companion study of customer needs and predicted product
functionality can be executed.

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• Predicted functionality of a product helps to focus on the “what” before the “how” and
thus can help in forming issues to measure the teardown.
• What predicted functions do they need to achieve the primary goal or overall function?
• The last set of design issues that needs recording is basic information on the
components in assemblies
• Factors to be known are

o Quantity of parts per product unit

o Dimensional measurements
o Maximum, minimum and average material thickness
o Weight
o Material
o Colour/finish
o Manufacturing process, including sufficient information for a design for
manufacturing analysis
o Geometric, spatial and parameter tolerances
o Primary functions
o Cost per part or sub-assembly
o Other notes

2. Prepare for Product Teardowns

After identifying the design issues, one should identify all tools that will be required to
complete the teardown process.
Sensors, Flowmeter, Test equipment, Optical sensor, Camera, Dynamometer, Videotape,
Calipers, Multimeter, strobe and Hardness tester.

3. Examine the Distribution and Installation

Examine the decision-making process such as means to acquire parts, contain them,
ship, distribute and market the product. Customer installation instructions and procedures
should be examined for costs, effectiveness and liability.
4. Disassemble, Measure and Analyze Data by Assemblies
• Disassembly is the obvious step commonly pictured when thinking of reverse
engineering.
• This step has to be coordinated with measurements and experimentation
o Take apart the assembly

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o Take pictures in the exploded view

o Take measurements of the parts

• Avoid destructive testing during the first iteration

• Parts with permanent joints should be carefully disassembled so that the product could
still function
• Parts that are manufactured with insert moulds, rivets, welds, plastic sonic welds,
solder, integral components (windings on motor, coil springs in mechanical clocks)
should be carefully disassembled

5. Form a Bill of Materials

The complete data collected (pictures and dimensions of parts) should be compiled in
a good format for further analyses, including cost and performance. Fill a written form that
details the product. The sequence of assembly photos and exploded view CAD drawing.
Teardown methods
We have 3 methods of teardown process as we mentioned below.

1. Subtract and Operate Procedure

Often, a product is over-designed. An over-designed product is one that uses multiple
solutions to solve subfunctions which could more efficiently be solved using fewer or a single
solution. If this situation occurs, there is an opportunity for elimination of components
producing the redundancy. Identifying any redundant components can be a difficult
undertaking. The Subtract and Operate Procedure (SOP) is a five step procedure aimed at
exposing redundant components in an assembly through the identification of the true
functionality of each component:
Step 1: Disassemble (subtract) one component of the assembly.
Step 2: Operate the system through its full range.
Step 3: Analyze the effect.
Step 4: Deduce the subfunction(s) of the missing component.
Step 5: Replace the component and repeat the procedure n times, where n is the number of
pieces in the assembly.

2. Force Flow (Energy Flow Field) Diagrams

Force Flow Diagrams are diagrams which represent the transfer of force through a
product's components. The components are symbolized using circles (or squares), and the
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forces are drawn as arrows connecting the components in which the force transfer takes place,
while maintaining the general topological arrangement of the components.
3. Measurement and Experimentation
Measurement implies comparison of physical quantity with a standard unit with the
given standard is contained in the physical quantity.

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