From Klondike to Homing

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From Klondike to Homing

• The Product Development Process

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Project Management Process
Project Planning
Project Preparation
Project Execution
Project Adaptation
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Generic Product Design Process
Think
Research
Good
Not good

• What do you think about the above process?

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Winning Strategies in Klondike Game

• Genuine random digging to overcome rarity problem
• Accurate judgment, shift from wandering to homing
  at the right moment
• Give-up homing if necessary
• Is there a 1X near/far digging contrast in real
  life?

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Two Kinds of Design Exploration

• Klondike search
• Unplanned, somewhat random search for solution,
  one know only what to look for but not where to
  look
• Homing search
• Planned, step-by-step search for solution,
  optimisation

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Design-like Klondike Search Behaviors

• Rarity problem day dreaming, brainstorming,
  visual thinking, free association, TRIZ, etc.
• Isolation problem asking irrelevant questions
• Oasis and plateau problem spending less than
  necessary time on decent investigation
• Oasis and plateau problem dropping the plan at
  hand and jump to something silly

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Design-like Homing Search Behaviors

• Physical qualities Computer simulation and
  virtual prototyping
• Tacit qualities Physical prototyping,
  user-interface prototyping
• Complex interactions Sensitive analysis, FMEA,
  QFD, etc.

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Design Project Execution
Klondike search Homing search
More often at the beginning of the project More often at the end of the project
Framing of problem, idea generation, proposal formation Design development, engineering development, optimisation
Huge impact on overall result Enhance good proposal and salvage mediocre proposal
Rough and dirty modelling Accurate CAD and prototyping
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Discussion

• Do you think product design is a two-step process
  (Klondike and homing), or it has more steps?

Klondike
Research
Homing
Good
Nothing
Not good
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Generic Staged Product Development Process
From Art to Part
Knowledge
Manufacturing
Design Development
Design definition
Market information Customer requests
Physical product
Order information
Business Operations
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Design Development
Planning
Concept Development
System-level Design
Detail Design
Testing Refinement
Production Ramp-up
Historical data
Business strategy
Concept review
System spec review
No. of alternatives
Critical design review
Time
Concept development
System-level design
Production ramp-up
Detail design
pp12, Product Design and Development, K Ulrich S.
Eppinger
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The scatter-gather methodology
Towards the early stage Towards the final stage
Selection process Quick and imprecise Lengthy and accurate
No. of alternatives Many Few
No. of short-listed alternatives One or more One
Scope of alternatives Abstract and holistic Specific and physical
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10 tasks in SD2454

1. Write design brief
2. Identify stakeholders and investigation
3. Initial design ideas and developments
4. Finalize the idea
5. Engineering design
6. Preparation of 3D solid model
7. Preparation of detailed working drawings
8. Design for manufacture and assembly
9. Design for environment
10. Final design

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Which is which?
Initial research
Return brief
Information analysis
Concept generation
Design evaluation development
Final presentation
Design consolidation
Analysis visualisation
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Concept generation
Analysis visualisation
Information analysis
Final presentation
Design consolidation
Design evaluation development
Return brief
Initial research