This document summarizes the key stages in the product and service design process. It discusses that design involves concept generation, concept screening to evaluate ideas, preliminary design to reduce options, evaluation and improvement of preliminary designs through techniques like prototyping, and finalizing the design. The stages can be arranged sequentially or simultaneously, with communication between stages, to design products and services while considering factors like quality, speed, cost and flexibility.

1. Slack, Chambers and Johnston, Operations Management, 6th Edition,
© Nigel Slack, Stuart Chambers, and Robert Johnston 20105.1
5.1
Chapter 5
The design of products
and services
Pearson Education Ltd. MindStudio

2. Slack, Chambers and Johnston, Operations Management, 6th Edition,
© Nigel Slack, Stuart Chambers, and Robert Johnston 20105.2
5.2
Products, services and the processes which produce
them all have to be designed.
Decisions taken during the design of a product or
service will have an impact on the decisions taken
during the design of the process which produces those
products or services and vice versa.
Nature and purpose of the design activity

3. Slack, Chambers and Johnston, Operations Management, 6th Edition,
© Nigel Slack, Stuart Chambers, and Robert Johnston 20105.3
5.3
What is designed in a product or service?
A concept the understanding of the nature, use and
value of the service or product;
A package
the group of ‘component’ products and
services that provide those benefits defined
in the concept;
A process
the way in which the component products
and services will be created and delivered.

4. Slack, Chambers and Johnston, Operations Management, 6th Edition,
© Nigel Slack, Stuart Chambers, and Robert Johnston 20105.4
5.4
The product/service design
process whose performance
is measured by its
• Quality
• Speed
• Dependability
• Flexibility and
• Cost
Outputs
Fully
specified
products
and
services
Inputs
The product and service design activity is a process
in itself
Transformed resources,
e.g.
• Technical information
• Market information
• Time information
Transforming resources,
e.g.
• Test and design
equipment
• Design and technical
staff

5. Slack, Chambers and Johnston, Operations Management, 6th Edition,
© Nigel Slack, Stuart Chambers, and Robert Johnston 20105.5
5.5
The stages of product / service design
Concept
generation
Concept
screening
Preliminary
design
Evaluation
and
improvement
Prototyping
and final
design

6. Slack, Chambers and Johnston, Operations Management, 6th Edition,
© Nigel Slack, Stuart Chambers, and Robert Johnston 20105.6
5.6
Concept generation
Ideas from customers formally through Marketing
activities
Listening to customers – on a day-to-day basis
Ideas from competitor activity – For example, reverse
engineering
Ideas from staff – Especially those who meet
customers every day
Ideas from research and development.

7. Slack, Chambers and Johnston, Operations Management, 6th Edition,
© Nigel Slack, Stuart Chambers, and Robert Johnston 20105.7
5.7
Broad categories of evaluation criteria for assessing concepts
Feasibility –
How difficult is
it?
The
criteria for
screening
concepts
What investment
both managerial and
financial, will be
needed?
What return
in terms of benefits
to the operation will
it give?
What risks
do we run if things
go wrong?
Acceptability –
How worthwhile is
it?
Vulnerability –
What could go
wrong?
Overall
evaluation
of the
concept
Concept screening

8. Slack, Chambers and Johnston, Operations Management, 6th Edition,
© Nigel Slack, Stuart Chambers, and Robert Johnston 20105.8
5.8
Uncertainty
regarding the
final design
Certainty
regarding the
final design
TIME
Design involves progressively reducing the number of
possibilities until the final design is reached
CONCEPT
FINAL DESIGN
SPECIFICATON
Choice and
evaluation
‘Screens’
Large number of
design options
One design

9. Slack, Chambers and Johnston, Operations Management, 6th Edition,
© Nigel Slack, Stuart Chambers, and Robert Johnston 20105.9
5.9
The component structure for remote mouse
LEVEL 0 Remote mouse
LEVEL 1
LEVEL 2
LEVEL 3 Lead Plug CoverSpeaker
LeafletOuterLogoMoulding Battery
housing
Mould-
ing
Spring
base
Button
Preliminary design
Upper
casing
Control
unit
Lower
casing
Packing

10. Slack, Chambers and Johnston, Operations Management, 6th Edition,
© Nigel Slack, Stuart Chambers, and Robert Johnston 20105.10
5.10
– quality function deployment;
– value engineering;
– Taguchi methods.
Design evaluation and improvement
There are various ways of evaluating preliminary
designs.
These include:

11. Slack, Chambers and Johnston, Operations Management, 6th Edition,
© Nigel Slack, Stuart Chambers, and Robert Johnston 20105.11
5.11
Prototyping and final design
– card models;
– clay models;
– computer simulations.
Prototypes come in various forms:
CAD has considerably simplified the production of
prototypes.
Prototypes are needed, so products and services can be
tested.

12. Slack, Chambers and Johnston, Operations Management, 6th Edition,
© Nigel Slack, Stuart Chambers, and Robert Johnston 20105.12
5.12 Sequential and simultaneous arrangement of the stages in the
design activity
Third stage in the
design activity
Second stage in the
design activity
First stage in the
design activity
etc.
First stage in the
design activity
Second stage in the
design activity
Third stage in the
design activity
etc.
Communication between
stages
Sequential arrangement
of stages
Simultaneous arrangement
of stages