Fall 20151 Homework Read Chapter 4, “Identifying Customer Needs” and/or read the lecture 4 notes. Team Email assignment; Develop the “Body of Facts” (all

Fall 2015 1

Homework

• Read Chapter 4, “Identifying Customer Needs” and/or read the lecture 4 notes.

• Team Email assignment;• Develop the “Body of Facts” (all the information

that you currently know about your project).• What are the key assumptions that you are

making at the beginning of the project?

Fall 2015 ECEn 490 Lecture #4 2

Email Team discussion Assignment

• Discuss within your team the following:1. Who is the customer or a potential user?,2. What are the key features that would make your

product successful?3. Describe the competition for your product.4. What are the areas where you can differentiate

your product from the competition.5. How would you set a priority on the needs that

are identified?

• Reading Assignment, Class notes for Lecture 5

ECEn 490 -Fall 2015 Product Specs 3

Lecture 5 Product specifications.


Identifying customer needs. Homework assignment

• What were some of the challenges in coming up with customer/user needs? How did some of you arrive at a definition of your customer?

• Where are you going to differentiate your product?

• How will you use these needs in developing your product?


Phase 1

ConceptDevelopment

Phase 2 Phase 5Phase 4Phase 3

System-LevelDesign

DetailDesign

Testing andRefinement

ProductionRamp-up

Concept Development Phase

MissionStatement

DevelopmentPlan

Concept DevelopmentExhibit 3 Chapter 5 Ulrich & Eppinger

IdentifyCustomer

Needs

EstablishTargetSpecs

GenerateProduct

Concepts

Select aProductConcept

Test ProductConcept

SetFinalSpecs

Plan DownstreamDevelopment

Perform Economic AnalysisBenchmark Competitive Products

Build and Test Models and Prototypes


Specify:

To name or mention exactly and clearly.

How do you make statementsExact and Clear??


Needs and Specifications

Customer Needs describe What the end product or service does for the user. They are expressed in the “language of the customer”. The “product does (something)”

Product Specifications allow quantification of the customer needs. Specifications are expressed in the language of engineering; metrics and values.

The Product Metrics describe the measures used to determine IF the product meets the required needs.

The Value is the actual numeric specification that the designers use to determine when the product meets the customer requirements.

What Metrics/

Values IF

yes

no

SuccessfulProduct


Example: Specialized mountain bike design.

Customer need: The Suspension enables high-speed descents on bumpy roads.

Product Metrics: 1. Attenuation from dropout to handlebar at 10 Hz.2. Maximum value from the Monster (suspension test

by Mountain Bike Magazine.)3. Minimum descent time on test track.

Note: the metric does not yet have an actual value assigned at this point. Why not?

Product Specifications usually require a preliminary product definition.


Importance of Clear Specifications

• Product Specifications are the “blue prints” of a project. They will guide the project throughout the development.

• Developing product specifications is a two step process.

• Step 1 establish target specs to help channel the thinking during the product concept generation process. (Usually requires making assumptions as to what the final product configuration will be.)

• Step 2 is the refinement of the specifications once the team has picked a product concept and is ready to go into system level design. Completed after concept selection.


Process for Establishing Target Specifications

1. Prepare the list of Metrics based on your customer needs or expected outcomes.

2. Establish what “best in class” products would require. Collect competitive benchmarks if available.

3. Decide where your solution will be “best in Class”. How are you going to win?

4. Set the target values for each metric5. Reflect on the results


# Customer Need Statements Interpretation of Needs Imp.

1 Can winRobot can score more goals than opponent

4

2 Can control the ball while movingRobot can maintain possession of the ball while moving 4

3 Want a simple designRobot has simple design so as to facilitate functionality void of problems 4

4 Can block shotsRobot positions itself between its goal and the ball to prevent a goal 4

5 Robot is able to score from anywhere on the field

Robot is able to shoot the ball at different angles so as to score 4

6 Able to determine position of ball and opponent

Robot is able to determine the position of the ball and its opponent 4

The process of developing product specifications begins with your completed matrix of interpreted customer needs. Again note that there are no values.


Product Specs are based on Customer Needs

The Customer expresses the need in terms of What the product must do.

The robot can quickly change alignment without forward motion.

The Product Specification sets metrics and values that allow quantification of the user need.

The Robot can rotate 360 degrees in 2 secs without forward motion .


A Product Spec for each Need

– Prioritize the Needs. It is important to identify the critical factors for success and make sure you have a way of

quantifying these factors.

– Develop a measure and value for each need

– Some needs may have more than one specification.


# Customer Need Statements Interpretation of Needs Imp.

1 Can winRobot can score more goals than opponent

4

2 Can control the ball while movingRobot can maintain possession of the ball while moving 4

3 Want a simple designRobot has simple design so as to facilitate functionality void of problems 4

4 Can block shotsRobot positions itself between its goal and the ball to prevent a goal 4

5 Robot is able to score from anywhere on the field

Robot is able to shoot the ball at different angles so as to score 4

6 Able to determine position of ball and opponent

Robot is able to determine the position of the ball and its opponent 4

Example of a customer needs table


Metric #

Need #

Metric Units MarginalValue

IdealValue

1 1 Goals scored minus conceded goals Goals > 0 > 2

2 2 Distance from ball to robot cm <10 <2

3 2 Time from possession of ball s >10 >=30

4 2Radius of circle made while in possession of ball at top speed cm >=50 >=10

5 3

Number of motors, circuits, batteries, moving parts parts <=12 <=6

6 3 Number of lines of code lines 3000 1500

7 4

Percentage of blocked shots given random speed and location of ball and robot

% >=50 >=90

8 5

Percentage of goals given random location of shot and opponent

% >=70 >=95

9 6

Maximum difference between calculated ball position and actual ball position

cm <=5 <1

10 6Maximum difference between calculated opponent position and actual opponent position

cm <=5 <1

Example of a Product Specification table


Types of Metrics– Some metrics are dependent, some are

independent variables• Independent metrics can be set by the

designer, “number of motors”, “amount of battery time required”

• Dependent metrics are the result of other design decisions, “mass of robot”, “size of the battery”

- It is important to identify the dependent variables to insure the other design choices don’t compromise the customer needs.

Examples for your project?


Values of Metrics

1. At least X-- set a minimum amount,

2. At most X -- set a maximum,

3. Between X and Y -- set a range,

4. Exactly X -- set a fixed value,

5. Discrete values – parts are only available in discrete increments,

Are all needs quantifiable?


What department in most companies is most concerned with Product Specifications?The QA department.• What does QA stand for?

• Quality Assurance

• What does a QA department do?• Works with design engineers to develop

comprehensive specifications for all critical customer requirements.

• Develops test procedures to allow designers to test their designs against the specifications.

• Test products and processes to ensure the end product complies with those design specifications.


Tools for transforming Needs into Specifications

– Needs-Metrics Tables– Quality Function Deployment- QFD– Competitive Benchmarking

Analyze Data

vs. Requirements

Correlate Requirements

with Measures

measure

req

uir

emen

ts


Needs-Metrics Tables

Metric # Need # Metric Units

1 1 Goals scored minus conceded goals Goals

2 2 Distance from ball to robot cm

3 2 Time from possession of ball s

4 2 Radius of circle made while in possession of ball at top speed cm

5 3 Number of motors, circuits, batteries, moving parts parts

6 3 Number of lines of code lines

7 4 Percentage of blocked shots given random speed and location of ball and robot %

8 5 Percentage of goals given random location of shot and opponent %

9 6 Maximum difference between calculated ball position and actual ball position cm

10 6 Maximum difference between calculated opponent position and actual opponent position cm

11 7 Maximum percentage error between calculated ball position and actual ball position per second %/s

12 7Average percentage error between calculated opponent position and actual opponent position per second

%/s

13 8, 18 Acceleration m/s^2

14 9, 18 Mx speed m/s

15 10,25,27 Time elapsed from a change in the environment to a change in the robot's action s

16 11 Whether or not a victory dance is implemented at the right time (ie after robot scores) N/A


Quality Function Deployment- QFD,

or a Needs-Metrics Matrix M

etrics

Goals scored minus conceded goals

Distance from ball to robot

Time from possession of ball

Radius of circle while in possession of ball

Number of motors, batteries, moving parts

Number of lines of code

Percentage of blocked shots given random speed

Percentage of goals w/random location of shots

1 Robot can score more goals than opponent

2 Maintain possession of the ball while moving

3 simple design with functionality w/o problems

4 positions itself between its goal and the ball

5 able to score from anywhere on the field

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Needs


Competitive Benchmarking

Metric#

Need#

Metric Units MarginalValue

IdealValue

1 1

Goals scored minus conceded goals Goals > 0 > 2

2 2Distance from ball to robot cm <10 <2

3 2Time from possession of ball s >10 >=30

4 2

Radius of circle made while in possession of ball at top speed

cm >=50 >=10

5 3

Number of motors, circuits, batteries, moving parts parts <=12 <=6

6 3Number of lines of code lines

3000 1500

7 4

Percentage of blocked shots given random speed and location of ball and robot

% >=50 >=90

8 5

Percentage of goals given random location of shot and opponent

% >=70 >=95

9 6

Maximum difference between calculated ball position and actual ball position

cm <=5 <1

10 6

Maximum difference between calculated opponent position and actual opponent position

cm <=5 <1

Comp1

Comp2

Comp3

Comp4

3 1 -2 3

4 1 2.3 3

8 15 13 9

35 5 15 27

35 8 12 24

3000 2450 4000 1400

35 60 50 65

70 55 80 70

2 4 1 1.5

3 4 2 2

Evaluate the competition


Homework assignmentComplete the Preliminary Functional Specifications

Document (PFSD) for your senior project. You can use the template illustrated in Example FSD on the website, or a similar format to capture the relationship between your customer needs and the product specs you will need meet in your design.

Have the document available on your management site and emailed to Prof. Clifford by next Tuesday, Sept 22nd.

Read Chapter 6 Concept Generation or the class notes on the website.


1. Project Description and background: What is the project, and what is expected to be accomplished.

2. Project Requirements: Who is the customer, and what are the interpreted needs and requirements including their relative importance. (customer needs table)

3. Product Specifications: The measurable engineering characteristics (metrics) and target values for the product.

4. Linking of the Project Requirements and Product Specifications: The analysis of the specifications to insure that critical program and customer requirements are being met. (table showing needs, specs, and values)

The Four sections of the FSD


Suggested team exercise– Meet as a team– take the critical Customer Needs from your

homework assignment– develop 3-5 target product specifications

for the product (both the metric and value)– Remember, you haven’t picked a final

product concept yet– try keep the specifications in terms of “what” not “how”

– be prepared to present your ideas to the class.

Documents

Fall 20151 Homework Read Chapter 4, “Identifying Customer Needs” and/or read the lecture 4 notes. Team Email assignment; Develop the “Body of Facts” (all