 Prototype seems to be one of the most misused words in manufacturing. An early working example of a concept is often referred to as a prototype; however, a prototype is actually the final design on which the manufacturing is patterned, the last design before you start to manufacture in volume. From Webster’s dictionary “a first full-scale and usually functional form of a new type or design of a construction”.
This early conceptual design is a proof of concept and is a totally necessary step to show that an idea is valid, determine if there is sales interest, and to test engineering ideas. Too often though, we see companies come up with a conceptual design, build a proof of concept and believe that the design is done and that they are ready to take the idea to production. Conceptual design is very much a creative activity and creativity cannot always be rushed. However, if the requirements of the product are well understood, knowing who the stakeholders are and what constraints must be met, conceptual design can avoid many issues. Creativity, however, does not negate good planning. Lean principles can still be used to plan and efficiently execute conceptual design. A good proof of concept needs to test if the potential product merits development. It will likely help determine how the final product will look, what features are required, and how they all fit together. It’s a learning step to help specify the product. There could many iterations, and it will focus on defining and confirming the requirements, but not on how it will be built. The final proof of concept should define the product requirements. The next step is to understand how to turn it into a product, something that can be built in volume repeatedly. Prototype design will take that conceptual design and figure out: how best to fabricate custom parts; what purchased components are suitable, available and at what cost; and how to assemble, package, ship and service the product. The necessities of cost and schedule will often dictate how much of the proof of concept design has to be modified. The final product will likely be a set of compromises from what was envisioned to what is practical. Both steps are essential. Both steps require different skill sets and input from different stakeholders. They both take time to do properly. So, it’s natural to want to skip some or all of the process, especially in a young company where budgets are tight. Every idea needs to be fully defined and vetted to ensure it meets the business needs. It’s the prototype that defines the final configuration and how that idea can be built and sold - and how profitable it will be.  Harald Siefken Electrical Design Specialist There are many things a hardware design engineer needs to consider when embarking on a new project. When I started out back in the mid 90’s as an applications engineer, I did not have much design experience and I was lucky to be able to learn the ropes without the pressure of having to deliver a product at the end. I was designing hardware interface adapters and software applications to talk to cameras as well as FPGA code for CCD sensor timing to support customers. I have noticed that many of us today are spread so thin that there is little time for mentoring and supporting the more junior staff. Often, we leave the inexperienced on their own, letting them learn on the job. My hope is that this series of articles will give you a jump on your learning curve. Please note that I write this from the view of a hardware designer, though many of the points I will make are applicable to other specialties within Engineering. Requirements You may be reluctant reading this. There is a good chance you consider the topic of requirements boring, as most design Engineers I know want to dive into their design work right away. For many of us that is why we became Engineers in the first place. After you have read this article, I hope you may reconsider and value the importance of your product requirements and use them as an inspiration to create great products. Spending time upfront has the potential to save you a lot of time and money in the months ahead. When complete, the requirements should provide you with all the information you need to know about what it is you are being asked to develop. The how will be explored afterwards. Your Company Whether you are employed or you created a start-up, have you ever asked yourself why your company is doing what it is doing? What does your company believe in? Or is everyone only there to make money? Understanding and communicating the “why” will inspire your employees, your colleagues, your customers, and most importantly YOU. People will follow you and purchase your products because they are aligned with your beliefs. I always drew a lot of motivation and excitement from understanding why I was designing a particular product, how it was going to be used in the field, and how it would benefit customers and consumers. I found this especially important on days when things did not go so smoothly. Tip: Check out this TED talk. I found it to be very insightful and in fact inspiring. It points out that to think about what, how, and why in that order does not inspire and lacks connection (my words). Instead the reverse order of why, how, and what is what gets people excited. Simon Sinek gives several examples, Apple being an obvious one. Ethics Make sure you can and are standing behind the product you are about to start designing. I can only hope your company allows its employees to not participate in a product development, when it goes against some of your personal values and your beliefs. I had the situation once where I was asked to participate in a military smart gun development. I have never been comfortable around guns. Even as a young man living in Germany, I chose an alternate civil service when the time came for me to do my military service, which was compulsory at the time. So, I simply said thanks, but no thanks. Luckily my manager responded kindly and was totally understanding. A bit more food for thought I have been reading these articles written by my colleague, Les Hirst, and I thought I would mention them here. They may evoke a different side of product development, more in the direction of sustainability, longevity, and beauty. If you like to think outside the box, have a look at them.
A Side Note You may wonder what these last paragraphs have to do with requirements and I would agree that in the traditional sense of that topic, maybe only a little. But the more I think about it, the more I believe that asking myself some difficult questions early on is essential for my ability to stand behind the product I am investing much time, sweat, and tears into. Back to the topic at hand… The image depicts the different points discussed below and how all of them influence the requirements. Each point is driven by stakeholders that determine and define your requirements.  Stakeholders
The first thing I find useful is to understand who my stakeholders are. A stakeholder is anyone that influences your requirements and with it the product you are about to design. The list can become quite long and it can be helpful to divide your list of stakeholders into primary and secondary to better understand their influence. Here some examples of stakeholders:
Product Use Understand how your product will be used – intended and unintended. You may be designing your product for a specific use, which is (are) your intended use scenario(s). It is a good idea to review this and investigate whether there are potential unintended uses. By doing this you may choose to expand your list of intended uses or you may need to discourage users from using your product in an unintended way. We all use cell phones – the intended use was surely to get us more connected, to simplify life. One of the unintended consequences is how much time it consumes every day and how habitual its use becomes to us. Another beep, another light goes off and I am picking up that phone. How many times do I see a couple at a restaurant both staring at their phones? They are not talking and I jokingly wonder if they are texting each other… (I know it is a sad joke). Knowing the unintended consequences can be important to understand the impact a product may have on its customers. The Market What market is your product designed for? Is it a mining, medical, military, aerospace, or may be a consumer product? Depending on the market you may have additional requirements for design and manufacturing. You may also require ISO certified facilities. The market often dictates what the customer is paying for the product. This has a direct impact on your Bill of Materials and the Cost of Goods Sold, which includes any costs to produce the product (excluding indirect costs). Manufacturing and indirect costs such as distribution and shipping may also influence where you are planning to manufacture the product and at what volumes. Where in the world is your product being sold? Different parts of the world have different requirements for imports and thus influence product testing as well as environmental and safety certifications. This will have an impact on your ability to sell and ship to these countries. For the purpose of shipping, your design may also be influenced by requirements such as weight, shape, and size of the product and its packaging. In order to manage these aspects, the product may require partial assembly by the customer. Environmental and Safety Think early on about how safe your product is for users and the previously discussed intended and unintended use cases.
Mechanical and Industrial Your product likely requires some sort of housing. No matter how simple or complex this housing is, all functional inputs and outputs (such as buttons, switches, displays, LEDs…) need to be specified to ensure your design can support it. If possible, understand what type of industrial design the marketing and product management folks are thinking about. You will also want to understand how humans or machines interact with your functional inputs and outputs. Tip: In many cases the shape of your PCB and the location of components is driven by the mechanical and industrial design aspects of the product, not where it is necessarily convenient for your circuits. Mechanical designers have their own set of requirements, often related to the materials they need to use, tolerancing the design for (mass) production, and so on. Your PCBA in essence becomes a mechanical component in your product once assembled. Tip: Today’s tools are great in creating visual 3D models of the PCBA and letting the mechanical designers import them into their work. This minimizes risks for interference and assembly. Functional/Performance As a design engineer you are likely familiar with gathering and/or receiving any functional and performance requirements for the product you are to design. Make sure you understand how the product is supposed to function and as mentioned above how others interface to or with it. Also have a good understanding on how the product is required to perform and why. I suggest you take time and study these requirements. Clarify any questions you may have and ensure that nothing is left up to chance. The better your requirements, the easier it becomes to design the product. If at any time in the design phase questions arise, ensure to get clear answers from your stakeholders and don’t forget to amend the requirements. Tip: Spend time on checking and rechecking the requirements to see if anything was missed. Failure Mode Effect Analysis (FMEA) Make a decision early on whether you want apply an FMEA to your product design. It provides the opportunity to mitigate design risks early on, and lowers overall costs of development and production. Design FMEA (DFMEA) explores the possibility of product malfunctions, reduced product life, safety, and regulatory concerns. If you choose not to do a DFMEA, consider identifying these types of risks in your product design informally and find ways to mitigate them early on. Think about and investigate what might go wrong. If, for instance, a customer can apply the wrong product input voltage and has the potential of creating a fire hazard, you may need to include in your requirements ways preventing that. Note: Writing this I remember the 2016 Samsung Galaxy Note 7 cell phone recall, because the batteries could generate excessive heat causing fires and explosions. Not good… Manufacturing and Supply Chain Management Check with manufacturing, purchasing, suppliers, component engineering, … if they have any specific requirements for your design. Chances are they may want to provide you with information on what components or suppliers to avoid or where you might encounter prior known risks. Tip: Many Contract Manufacturers (CMs) have readily available documentation outlining many of their design requirements. Summary Many design aspects require considerations that are best studied and discussed early on in product development, thus can and should be included in the product requirements. Leaving these discussions and the collection of information to a later date will have an impact on your architecture and your design as well as your ability to deliver product to market on time. This article was originally published on HaraldSiefkan.com and has been reposted here with permission. 
 As applied to organizational improvement, system thinking is grounded in the following fundamental principles:
System thinking takes a birds-eye view of how the firm is employing the resources it has invested in in delivering value to its customers. System thinking posits that a firm’s resources do not operate independently, but work together in an interconnected and interdependent fashion, not unlike the musicians in a world class symphony. System thinking focuses on aligning and synchronizing the flow of activities among and between each resource as they collaboratively work together to create and deliver ever-increasing customer value. When should we use a system thinking approach? Any organization interested in improving its operational and financial performance should employ system thinking. System thinking is a different way of viewing and thinking about how your organization creates value for the customers that buy your products and/or services. In a business environment, system thinking focuses on delighting the customer by significantly improving flow in the value creation stream in your firm. The focus on customer value creation distinguishes system thinking from conventional cost-driven management approach. Simply stated, cost-driven management breaks down the organization into its individual resources, products and services, then focuses on driving down or optimizing the cost of each resource in isolation. Unfortunately, this approach not only results in sub-optimal system performance but also ignores the only part of the system which generates cash inflows and future growth, the customer. System thinking as a best practice focuses on aligning and synchronizing the activities of all resources in a system. In the process, waste is eliminated, lead times are shortened, labour is freed up, capacity is released, costs are reduced, operational and financial performance is improved, and the firm becomes increasingly competitive. This approach will also effectively reduce a firm’s carbon footprint by reducing the production of greenhouse gases through the elimination of wasteful non-value adding practices. Organizations are constantly facing new challenges, and the future is unknowable. The current pandemic adds additional layers of complexity and volatility into an already challenging hypercompetitive marketplace. As a manager or business owner it can be overwhelmingly difficult to determine what the next step should be for your business in this increasingly complex environment. System thinking helps clarify and simplify the way forward. If your organization is struggling with any of the following issues, system thinking can help.
BKW’s Business Alignment Program BKW can help you resolve the challenges you are facing, and help you insulate your firm from the myriad of complex challenges you are faced with every day. Our Business Alignment Program based in system thinking is a proven approach. It will help you to identify hidden opportunities, release untapped capacity, and improve your business’ resiliency. If you are a small to medium sized manufacturing firm and anything you’ve read above resonates with you, we can help and would like to hear from you. Please click the link below to provide us with some preliminary information and BKW team member will contact you to discuss how we can help. Click here to contact the BKW team. |
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