Product and

Service Design
Continuation...
Environmental factors: Sustainability

▫ Product and service design is a focal point in the quest for

sustainability.
Key Factors
▫ 1.Cradle –to-grave assessment, also known as life cycle analysis, is the
assessment of the environmental impact of a product or service throughout its
useful life, focusing on such factors as global warming, smog formation, oxygen
depletion, and solid waste generation. For products, cradle-to-grave analysis
starts from raw material extraction, use or consumption of the product, and final
disposal at the end of a product’s useful life. Although services generally involve
less use of materials, cradle-to-grave assessment of services is nonetheless
important, because services consume energy and involve many of the same or
similar processes that products involve. The goal of cradle-to-grave assessment
is to choose products and services that have the least environmental impact while
still taking into account economic considerations.
▫ 2.End-of-life programs deal with products that have
reached the end of their useful lives. The products include
both consumer products and business equipment. The
purpose of these programs is to reduce the dumping of
products, particularly electronic equipment.
▫ 3.Reduce; Value Analysis refers to an examination of the
function of parts and materials in an effort to reduce the
cost and/or improve the performance of a product. Typical
questions that would be asked as part of the analysis
include:
▫ a.Could a cheaper part or material be used?
▫ b.Can a part be simplified?
▫ c.Could standard parts be substituted for nonstandard
parts?
▫ 4.Reuse: Remanufacturing refers to refurbishing used
products by replacing worn-out or defective components,
and reselling the products. Among the products that have
remanufactured components are automobiles, printers,
copiers, cameras, computers, and telephones.
▫ 5.Recycle is sometimes an important considerations for
designers. Recycling means recovering materials for future
use. This applies not only to manufactured parts but also to
materials used during production. Companies recycle for a
variety of reasons:
▫ 1. Cost savings
▫ 2. Environment concerns
▫ 3. Environmental regulations
▫ An interesting note: companies that want to do business in
the European Union must show that a specified proportion
of their products are recyclable. The pressure to recycle
has given rise to the term “design for recycling “ ( DFR )
referring to product design that takes into account the
ability to disassemble a used product to recover the
recyclable parts.
Product Life Cycle Management (PLM)
▫ Product Life Cycle Management (PLM) is a systematic
approach to managing the series of changes a product goes
through, from its conception, design, and development, through
production and any redesign, to its end of life. PLM
incorporates everything related to a particular product, that
includes data pertaining to production processes, business
processes, people, and anything else related to the products.
▫ A goal of Product Life Cycle Management is to eliminate
waste and improve efficiency.
Three Phases of Product Life Cycle Management Application

▫ 1.Beginning of life, which involves design and

development;
▫ 2.Middle of life, which involves working with suppliers,
managing product information product information and
warranties; and
▫ 3.End of life, which involves strategies for product
discontinuance, disposal, or recycling.
Degree of Standardization
▫ Degree of Standardization refers to the extent to which there is absence
of variety in a product, service, or process. Standardized products are
made in large quantities of identical items, for example, computers,
calculators, etc., while standardized service implies that every customer
or item processed receives essentially the same service, for example, a
car wash, regardless of how clean or dirty it is, receives the same
service. Standardized processes deliver standardized service or
produced standardized goods.
Major Advantages of Standardization
▫ 1.Fewer parts to deal with in inventory and in
manufacturing.
▫ 2.Reduced training costs and time
▫ 3.More routine purchasing
▫ 4.Opportunities for long production runs and automation.
▫ 5.Order fillable inventory
Disadvantages of Standardization
▫ 1.Design may be frozen
▫ 2.High costs of design increases resistance to
improvements.
▫ 3.Decreased variety results in less consumer appeal
▫ Companies like standardization because it enables them to produce
high volumes of relatively low-cost products, with little variety,
Customers, on the other hand, typically prefer more variety, although
they like low cost. The question for producers is how to resolve these
issues without losing the benefits of standardization, and problems that
are linked to variety, The answer, at least for some companies is mass
customization, a strategy of producing a standardize goods or services,
but incorporating some degree of customization in the final product or
services.
Phases in Product Design and Development
▫ 1.Feasibility analysis entails market analysis (demand),
economic analysis (development cost and production
cost), and technical analysis (capacity requirements and
availability, and the skills needed). It requires
collaboration among marketing, finance, accounting,
engineering, and operations.
▫ 2.Product specification involves detailed descriptions of
what is needed to meet customer wants, and requires
collaboration between legal, marketing, and operations.
▫ 3.Process specifications entails specification for the
process that will be needed to produce the product. Cost,
availability of resources, profit potential, and quality must
be weighed. This involves collaboration between
accounting and operations.
▫ 4.Prototype development involves making one or few
units to see if there are any problems with the product or
process specifications.
▫ 5.Design review, at this stage, any necessary changes are
made of the project is abandoned. Marketing, finance,
engineering, design, and operations collaborate to
determine whether to proceed or abandon.
▫ 6.Market test is used to determine the extent of consumer
acceptance. If unsuccessful. The product returns to the
design review phases. This phase is handled by marketing.
▫ 7.Product introduction involves promoting the product.
This phase is handled by marketing.
▫ 8.Follow-up evaluation may be made based on user
feedback. This phase id handled by marketing.
Service Blueprinting
▫ It is a useful tool for conceptualizing a service delivery
system, which is a method for describing and analyzing a
service process. It shows the basic customer and service
actions involved in service operation.
Characteristics of Well-Designed Services Systems

▫ 1.Being consistent with the organization’s mission

▫ 2.Being user-friendly
▫ 3.Being easy to sustain
▫ 4.Being cost-effective
▫ 5.Having value that is obvious to customers
▫ 6.Having a unifying theme, such as convenience or speed
Guidelines for Successful Service Design
▫ 1.Define the service package in detail
▫ 2.Focus on operation from the customer’s perspective
▫ 3.Consider the image that the service package will present
both to customers and prospective customers.
▫ 4.Recognize the designer’s familiarity with the system
▫ 5.Make sure that managers are involved and will support
the design once it is implemented.
▫ 6.Define quality for both tangibles and intangibles.