Design for Variety

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Design for Variety

• Patrick Moriearty

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What is Product Variety?
Generation 1
Generation 2
Spatial Variety
Market Segmentation
Generational Variety
Time
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What is Design for Variety?

• A Methodology for developing product platform
  architectures.

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Product Platforms

• A platform is the collection of assets that are
  shared by a set of products. These assets can be
  divided into four categories
• Components
• Processes
• Knowledge
• People and Relationships
• - Ulrich, Karl, (1998) Platform Product
  Development, working paper to appear in Sloan
  Management Review.

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History

• Move in industry towards Mass Customization
• Increasing heterogeneity in a companys targeted
  marketplace
• Wider income distribution within the market
• Slower growth within the market

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History - Examples

• From 1973 to 1989 the number of automobiles in
  U.S. marketplace went from 84 to 142.
• From 1975 to 1990 BMW experienced an explosion of
  product variants. From less than 100 in 1975 to
  over 500 in 1990.
• MacDuffie, J. P., et al. (1993), Product
  Variety and Manufacturing Performance Evidence
  form the International Automotive Assembly Plant
  Study. Management Science 42(3) PG. 350-369.
• Ericsson, A., Erixon, G., (1999), Controlling
  Design Variants Modular Product Platforms, ASME
  Press, NY.

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Product Platforms
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Advantages of Product Platforms

• Reduced design cost.
• No need to reinvent the wheel.
• Reduced manufacturing cost.
• Standardization of components
• Reduction in the number of processes
• Sub-systems with a distinct competitive advantage
  can be leveraged.
• Advertising can take advantage of synergy
  between products.
• Integration Benefits

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Success Story - Lucent

• In 1996, Lucent Technologies redesigned an entire
  family of outdoor electronic cabinets based on
  platforms.
• First cabinet of the family required about the
  same development interval as the pre-platform
  era.
• Second and third cabinets required about 25 of
  that development interval.

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Success Story Cont. - Lucent

• Fourth Cabinet had less than a 10 development
  interval. And required only 16 new parts to be
  designed out of an assembly total of 202 parts.
• When the project was completed.
• All cabinets had far fewer parts.
• Most parts were common.
• Product assembly architecture was identical.
• Kim, B. S., et al., (2000), Platforms, the
  Ultimate DFM for Rapid Product Development A
  Case Study, Recent Advances in DFM, DE-Vol. 109,
  ASME.

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Black Decker

• In the early 1970s product portfolio had grown
  to near unmanageable levels.
• Eighteen power tool groups
• Uncoordinated
• Designs
• Materials
• Technologies
• Example Sixty different motor housings
• Example 104 different armatures

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Black Decker Cont.

• Catalyst for change
• Overseas manufacturing
• Rising cost of labor, materials and services
• Regulators would require higher safety standards
• Double Insulation Requirements
• Required a back-up barrier of insulation around
  the power tools motor to protect from electric
  shock.
• Black Deckers management estimated that
  redesign would take over decade with current
  products.

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Black Decker Cont.

• Double Insulation Program
• Develop a clear, distinctive family look across
  all products.
• Simplify product offerings, replacing customized
  gadgetry with standardized parts, interfaces,
  couplings, and connections.
• Dramatically reduce per unit manufacturing costs
  through automation and the use of new materials.
• Use design to improve power tool performance and
  make it possible to add new features with minimal
  costs.
• Make global products.

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Black Decker Cont.Motor Field Comparison (at
2,400 units per hour)
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Black Decker Cont.

• Seventeen million dollars (1971) and three years
  later.
• Improved cycle time for derivative products.
  Peaking at one per week.
• Decrease in write-offs and machine scraping as
  products reached maturity.
• Estimate labor savings of motor alone were 4.6
  million (1976).
• Black Decker developed a huge advantage of the
  competition.

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Thought Architecture

• Principle 1. Product Family Planning and
  Platforms
• Principle 2. Simultaneous Design for Production
• Principle 3. Global Product Design and Market
  Development
• Principle 4. Discover Latent, Unperceived
  Customer Needs
• Principle 5. Elegance in Design

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Disadvantages of Product Platforms

• Fixed investment of creating a platform.
• Over design of low-end products.
• Faults in a key component will affect a large
  number of products. (All our eggs in one
  basket.)
• Canalization from different segments.
• Business structure may have difficulty coping.

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Distinctiveness Vs. Commonality

• The customer demands distinctiveness between
  products.
• Function
• Appearance
• The manufacturer desires commonality between
  products.
• Design
• Manufacturing

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DFV Method

• Source
• Mark V. Martin
• Design for Variety A Methodology for Developing
  Product Platform Architectures
• Stanford University Dissertation

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DFV Method When?

• When products are too unstable it may be
  difficult to develop a platform.
• Uncertainty in the marketplace.
• Uncertainty in introduction of competitive
  products.
• DFV can will most often be applied to mature,
  stable products.

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At what stage of the design process?

• Three Phase
• Concept selection
• Embodiment design
• Detailed design
• DFV will most often be used during the embodiment
  and detailed phases.

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DVF Method Steps

• Step 1 Generate GVI and CI for the design
• Step 2 Rank Order the GVI
• Step 3 Determine where to focus efforts
• Heuristic 1 Standardizing Components
• Heuristic 2 Modularizing Components
• Step 4 Develop product platform architecture

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Example Petzls Zoom-Zora
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Step 1 Generational Variety Index (GVI)

• The generational Variety Index is an indicator
  of the amount of redesign required for a
  component to meet the future Engineering Metrics.

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QFD
Engineering Metrics
Customer Requirements
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GVI
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Step 1 Coupling Index

• The coupling index indicates the strength of
  coupling between the components in a product.
  The stronger the coupling between components, the
  more likely a change in one will require a change
  in the other.

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Coupling Index

• Designers start by listing the engineering
  specifications between components.

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Coupling Index Cont.
Table of CI rating system

• An arbitrary number scheme is then create.
• This scheme is used to estimate the coupling
  effect each engineering specification will have.

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Coupling Index Cont.
Table of Specification sensitivity

• Coupling Values are then listed in table form.
• For example, component A supplies component B
  with a coupling index rating of 9 thru spec E.

 
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Coupling Index Cont.
Table with coupling indexes add

• Coupling indexes are then found through simple
  addition
• Two indexes are formed
• Coupling index supplying (CI-S)
• Coupling index receiving (CI-R)

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Example engineering specification network
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Example Table of Specification sensitivity
 
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Example Table with coupling indexes add
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Step 2 Order the components based on GVI
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Step 3 Determine where to focus efforts

• We want to focus our attention on components that
  with high GVIs.
• Components with high CI-S should be standardized.
  Or modularized.
• Components with high CI-R cannot be standardized.
• Components with high CI-R should be modularized.

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Step 4 Develop Product Platform Architecture

• Reduce GVI
• Approach 1 Remove EM/Component specifications
• Approach 2 Reduce sensitivity of the components
  to changes in the specifications by reducing
  internal coupling
• Approach 3 Reduce sensitivity of the components
  to changes in the specifications by increasing
  headroom

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Step 4 Develop Product Platform Architecture

• Reduce the Coupling Indices
• Approach 1 Remove EM/Component specifications
• Approach 2 Reduce sensitivity of the components
  to changes in the specifications by reducing
  internal coupling
• Approach 3 Reduce sensitivity of the components
  to changes in the specifications by increasing
  headroom

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Questions?