Question

Design a complete product development through process steps & phases and life cycle for your mechanical /electronic or services product.

Answer 1

Product development Process for a mechanical product

the steps involved are as follows

1. ideation

2. research phase

3. Data Collection

4. Design using CAD

5. Analysis Using CAE

6. Prototype using CAM

7. Testing Phase

8. Commercialization Phase

9. Launch

Flow Chart of new product development

Start Ideation | Research Data Collection 几 Design Analysis prototype Testing Commercialize Launch Feedback End

Ideation Phase - This phase is the first phase of this process. Any consumer product is a result of ideation phase where imagination comes to play with the daily chores.In this phase Product designers have a problem statement and a imaginary solution to that problem. Solving every problem is not the job but to build a consumer friendly product is the job. hence this phase majorly revolves around a table filled with such problems and solutions.

Research Phase- the Second phase in the product development each of the problem statement and solutions are analyzed with various point of view like usability, economies, market research to funnel out the important one or to restart with ideation phase again.

Data collection- This phase is under-estimated in most cases this involves an extensive data collection of consumer needs and feed back. online surveys, public reviews etc are collected for the design phase.

Design phase- after all the needs and feed back from the customer working on the product becomes more clear compared to jumping from ideation to development. various tools are used to design a virtual product using Autocad, Proe, Solidedge etc this virtual product gives a feel of how the product will look like also helps to understand the nuances of manufacturing methology that can be utilized for mass production.

Analysis Phase- For mechanical product this phase is important if it involves human safety Products are analyzed virtually using CAE tools to determine stress acting, material that should be used, and various other data this also help to rescale the design with reference to the results in analysis phase.

Prototype Phase - After satisfactory design and analysis next is the prototype phase where the product comes to life. tools like 3D printers are used for rapid prototyping, this phase helps to determine the look and feel of the product.

Testing- Normally in big corporations Prototypes are Distributed to its employees for testing and feedback is collected to improve the product

commercialize- Finally when we have a winning product we have to think of scaling, production, marketing, adverts, offers, when and where stuff with our product

Launch- Finally launching the product in mass markets and constantly improve.

Product life Cycle

This Concept is accepted world wide and is actually a indicator of market saturation, consumer dislikes, market segmentation, competition, Product improvement for any product in its segment.

It Consist of 4 Major steps,

1. introduction

2. Growth

3. maturity

4. Decline

this cycle can be understood by a simple graph

Product Life Cycle Stages Introduction Growth Maturity Decline Time

Suppose we introduced a new type of pen in the market.

Introduction Phase- we started marketing the product pumped in money to let people know of the product. initial phases the sales volume will be low as the market awareness is less about the product.

Growth Phase- In this phase we see the result of the marketing we did for introduction phase. the company now has sales enough to bear the cost of research and development and production costs. product is doing well consumers are liking the product Feedback and reviews are positive further increasing sales volume.

Maturity phase- its been quite a while since the product was launched still product is doing well with final attempts to increase sales a second round marketing is done, by lowering prices, giving offers with respect to the product sales volumes are at peak.

Decline phase- Now the marketing tactics are not effective market is having new and better products at lower price ranges sales volumes are dipping, profitability is decreasing, manufacturing costs are increasing , company has to decide to do more research in the product to keep it going or come up with newer type pens to stay in competition .

This was an example with respect a pen but it is applicable to any mass market product .