New product development (NPD) practitioners and engineering project managers are challenged to design and develop products and services that deliver the highest levels of customer satisfaction. While it is not always easy to do, we know that involving customers during design and development stages is critical to the commercial success of a new product or service. We must consider how a potential consumer will interact with a product over its life cycle in order to gain consistent market share.
Rapid prototyping is one method frequently used in NPD and design thinking (DT) to evaluate a potential new product or service. A prototype is defined as a representation of the product, but it is not in its final form. Materials used in the prototype sample might be different than those used in the final product, for example. Normally prototypes are built in a lab rather than assembled on a manufacturing line. A prototype is not expected to have the same longevity as the final product and so the method of construction is often simplified or incomplete in some way.
Rapid prototyping is a methodology in which the product is tested quickly – in a matter of hours or days rather than weeks or months. The fundamental concept is to test as many ideas as possible in as short of a time period as feasible. Thus, rapid prototyping is utilized to screen ideas and to filter product concepts so that the final design most closely reflects customer expectations.
Tools in Rapid Prototyping
Two tools that are commonly used in rapid prototyping are concurrent engineering and design of experiments. Both tools involve cross-functional teams and encourage product, project, and engineering managers to consider design variables in addition to technical specifications.
Concurrent engineering (CE) is a tool that focuses on the cross-functional team as well as the long-term nature of product development. For example, in a traditional waterfall project management process, a system or product is planned, designed, and tested prior to any production runs. Concurrent engineering brings the production and operations boundaries and constraints to the forefront so that planning, and testing, and testing activities consider simultaneous production limitations. The end result is a better product design that can be quickly scaled in the manufacturing facility. Moreover, the multi-disciplinary approach of concurrent engineering draws the team members together with stronger relationships leading to more effective and efficient work practices.
The second rapid prototyping tools is design of experiments (DoE). In a traditional R&D study, we will vary one element at a time and evaluate the impact that a change causes. Usually there are several input variables in a product design and each of these has several different levels which may need to be tested. Design of experiments is a statistical technique which allows for simultaneous testing of multiple variables at several levels. Thus, design and development cycles are shortened as the most important components are determined with a few tests rather than many one-variable experiments over a longer time period. Customers can interact with a few prototypes developed from the key variable list based on the results from design of experiments testing.
What to Test?
Rapid prototyping must test both the function and form of the product. Both elements are crucially important to
whether a customer will engage with the product or service in a buying decision. The function of a product determines what it can – and cannot – do. Functions are often clearly specified technical requirements and can be easily measured.
The form of a product, on the other hand, requires continuous testing with potential customers over the product development life cycle. Consumers and end-users often have changing tastes and preferences based upon trends, fashions, and new technologies. Consider, for example, the form of an automobile. In the 1950s and 1960s, cars were designed with excessively large “fins” and utilized a lot of chrome. By the 1980s, cars often had a boxy, minimalist style reflecting fashion preferences and economic conditions. Today’s SUVs include interior design elements more than exterior components, such as hands-free interaction with technology (GPS, Pandora, and phone calls). Consumers today value technology interaction at a higher level than the appearance of the automobile.
Using Rapid Prototyping
Companies can benefit from using rapid prototyping in their design and development of new products and services. By testing and evaluating a lot of different combinations early in the NPD life cycle, customer needs and wants are better defined. With a closer relationship to customers and a better understanding of their expectations, ideas are quickly transformed into working models and commercial products. Rapid prototyping saves a firm money by quickly screening out poor concepts and by accelerating time-to-market.
If you’d like to learn more about rapid prototyping, please join us for an NPDP Workshop. Feel free to contact me at info@simple-pdh.com or 281-280-8717. At Simple-PDH.com where we want to help you gain and maintain your professional certifications. You can study, learn, and earn – it’s simple!
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