Reference no: EM132315719

Textbook - Product Design and Development, Fifth Edition, Author - Karl T. Ulrich by Steven D. Eppinger. ISBN 978-0-07-340477-6.

Chapter 14 - Prototyping

Exercises -

1. A furniture manufacturer is considering a line of seating products to be fabricated by cutting and bending a recycled plastic material available in large sheets. Create a prototype of at least one possible chair design by cutting and bending a sheet of paper or cardboard. (You may wish to design the chair with a sketch first, or just start working with the sheet directly.) What can you learn about the chair design from your prototype? What can't you learn about the chair design from such a prototype?

2. Position the chair prototype described in Exercise 1 on the plot in Exhibit 14-5. For which of the four major purposes would a product development team use such a prototype?

3. Devise a prototyping plan (similar to that in Exhibit 14-14) for investigating the comfort of different types of handles for kitchen knives.

4. Position the prototypes shown in Exhibits 14-3, 14-4, 14-6, 14-7, and 14-13 on the plot in Exhibit 14-5. Briefly explain your reasoning for each placement.

Thought Questions -

1. Many product development teams separate the "looks-like" prototype from the "works-like" prototype. They do this because integrating both function and form is difficult in the early phases of development. What are the strengths and weaknesses of this approach? For what types of products might this approach be dangerous?

2. Today there are several technologies able to create physical parts directly from 3D CAD files (e.g., stereolithography and selective laser sintering). How might a team use such rapid prototyping technologies during the concept development phase of the product development process? Might these technologies facilitate identifying customer needs, establishing specifications, generating product concepts, selecting product concepts, and/or testing product concepts?

3. Some companies have reportedly abandoned the practice of doing a customer test with the early prototypes of their products, preferring instead to go directly and quickly to market in order to observe the actual customer response. For what types of products and markets might this practice make sense?

4. Is a drawing a physical or an analytical prototype?

5. Microsoft uses frequent comprehensive prototypes in its development of software. In fact, in some projects there is a "daily build," in which a new version of the product is integrated and compiled every day. Is this approach only viable for software products, or could it be used for physical products as well? What might be the costs and benefits of such an approach for physical products?