ME102 INVENTIVE DESIGN Tufts University, Talloires, France Summer 2014 Instructor: Office: Phone: e-mail: Teaching Assistant: Office Hours: Course Description: Thomas P. James, Ph.D, P.E. To be determined To be determined thomas.james@tufts.edu None To be determined Did you ever have an idea for a new product and wish you had the education and experience to take your idea to the next step on the path to commercialization? This course explores what is often called the fuzzy front-end of the inventive design process. In product development, the front-end process occurs prior to engineering of the product. In fact, exploring the size of the potential market and coming up with product concepts to meet customer needs is often done by teams of people from a diversity of backgrounds. This is a course for engineers and for non-engineers to work in teams to invent new consumer products. A key aspect to being successful in product design and development is to understand the local needs and preferences of potential customers. To do this successfully, research be done in the market where you plan to sell the product. This course exploits this concept of customer centered inventive design, by going through an actual product design experience for potential customers in Talloires, France. Then, we will explore the idea of taking the product to greater France and potentially to other countries within the European Union so that we begin to understand system constraints due to culture, lifestyle, economics, etc. In addition to technology issues, we will look at global manufacturing and brand marketing, project financial analysis, government regulation, liability, intellectual property, roll-out strategy and other issues that impact how a product is developed. Textbook: Additional Reading: Meeting Times: Ulrich and Eppinger, Product Design and Development, 5 th Edition See the Course Outline Twice per week for 2.5 hours, and once per week for 1.5 hrs. Grading: Homework (25%) and Quizzes (75%) 15% Team/Class Participation 10% Midterm Exam 20% Team Assignments and Presentations 35% Final Exam 20%
ME102 INVENTIVE DESIGN Course Outline Tufts University, Talloires, France SUMMER 2014 Class Date Day Lecture Assignments Due (See Assignment for More Details) Required Reading for Class Discussion (To be Completed Before Class There May be a Quiz on the Readings) 1 TBD TBD Course Overview, Business Fundamentals Product vs. Service Company, Product Development Challenges, Communication The Importance of Sketching Sketch Project (In Class Assignment) Jar Lid Remover None 2 Business Fundamentals Private vs. Public Companies, Introduce Class Project - Handout, Teamwork and Time Management Discussion, Formation of Teams Individual Paragraphs: What You Hope to Get Out of this Class and What you Plan to do After Graduation Ref. 1: High Odds of Failure, Chap. 1: Introduction, Ref. 9: Building the Emotional Intelligence of Groups, Ref. 24: Group IQ 3 Business Fundamentals Profit and Shareholder Value, Product Development Reasons for Failure, Brainstorm (Innovative Product Features) for Class Project Two Page Sketch: Bagel Machine Summary Page: Team Name, Project Team Leader Identified, Team Member Roles Defined and Weekly Team Meeting Time, Schedule a Team Building Exercise Ref. 1: Reasons for New Product Failure, Ref. 8: Your Most Precious Resource: Time Management 1
4 Preliminary Market Research, Discussion of Assigned Reading None Ref. 8: The Hat of the Student, Ref. 6: Project Management 5 Project Management, Discussion on the Theory of Thin Slicing, First Impressions of Ideas Adaptive Unconscious Team Presentation (15 min.): Team Building Exercise, Class Project I Two Product Ideas Ref. 7: The Statute that Didn t Look Right, Chap. 2: Development Processes Discussion of Assigned Reading, Presentation on Theory of Market Segmentation Paper: One Page Summary of Article - New Criteria for Market Segmentation (Individual Assignment) Ref. 10: New Criteria for Market Segmentation, Ref. 11: How to Segment Industrial Markets 6 Quiz 1 Discussion During Presentations How to Structure a Start-Up Based on Potential Market Size Two Team Presentations: Preliminary Business Study for Research for Business Case Lecture/Discussion during presentations Quick rules of thumb for estimating market size 50 state rule Class Project Market Size (Units and $), Team Paper (3 Pages): Class Project - Summary of Potential Market Opportunity Market research customer feedback 7 Discussion During Presentations What did your adaptive unconscious tell you? What do you think of your product ideas based on initial customer feedback? Two Team Presentations: Results of at least two customer interviews analysis of video Chap. 3: Product Planning, Chap. 4: Identify Customer Needs, Ref. 3: Managing the Design Factory - Get the Product Specification Right 2
8 Lecture/Discussion During Presentations How do we ask about price? Remaining Team Presentations: Results of at least two customer interviews analysis of video Ref. 8: Leadership Pickens Ref. 12: How Competitive Forces Shape Strategy, 9 Discussion of Class Project Brainstorm Ideas for Customer Segmentation i.e. Value? Culture? Age? Choose one product for market research phase Team Presentations of Marketing Prototype/Poster Boards (15 min. each team) Chap. 5: Product Specifications, Ref. 13: Marketing Myopia Product Specifications, How to Conduct Customer Interviews, Can We Trust Customer Surveys? Chap. 6: Concept Generation, Chap. 7: Concept Selection, Ref. 14: The 18 Guiding Principles of a Marketing Company 10 Midterm Exam Discussion of Assigned Reading: Marketing Myopia, 4 P s of Marketing, Mars Rover Conduct focus groups. Team Assignment (2 pages): Product Specification Chap. 8: Concept Testing, Ref. 1: Leveraging Competence is Vital to Success, Ref. 15: New Mars Rover Too Costly, Critics Say 11 Time Value of Money Net Present Value (NPV), Using NPV to Compare Alternative Investments Conduct focus groups. Chap. 15: Product Development Economics Discuss Readings, Review of NPV Homework Assignment Conduct focus groups. NPV Homework. Chap. 9: Product Architecture 3
12 Lecture/discussion during presentations what is the customer telling us? Team Presentations : Results of focus groups. Chap. 10 Industrial Design Ref. 16: Note on Low-Tech Marketing Math 13 Quiz 2 Introduce Class Project II: Technology Push vs. Customer Comparison of New Project Ideas Net Present Value Ref. 18: How Do You Know When the Price is Right?, Ref. 19: Major Sales Who Really Does the Buying? 14 Marketing Math, Discussion on Quiz 2, Pricing Strategy- Discussion of Articles Individual Assignment: Table - Competitive Product Comparison Ref. 20: Pricing and the Psychology of Consumption Presentation and Discussion of Blue Ocean Strategy List Price and Profit Margin, Advertisement with Calculations Ref. 17: Blue Ocean Strategy Chapter 1 15 Quiz 3 Discussion of Class Presentations, Contrast Push Technology with Pull a Need Team Presentation: Top 3 Customer Needs Topic: Organizational structure in any industrial company and how ideas progress to achieve commercial impact Chap. 10: Industrial Design, Ref. 22: Note on Marketing Strategy Chap. 14: Patents and Intellectual Property 16 Discussion of Class Presentations and Preliminary Product Specification Team Presentation: Two Product Concepts for Customer Needs, Class Project II: (1 Page) Preliminary Product Specification Chap. 11: Design for Manufacturing, Ref. 2: Chap. 5 Effective Gates and Gate- Keeping Picking the Winners 17 Discussion of Class Presentations Final Team Presentations: Product Concept Review with Customer Feedback Chap. 12: Prototyping, Ref. 1: Chap. 10 The Final Play - Into the Market 4
18 Discussion of Class Presentations Final Exam Final Team Presentations: Product Concept Review with Customer Feedback Chap. 13: Robust Design, Ref. 2: Chap. 6 Managing Your New Product Portfolio References for Additional Reading Assignments: 1) Cooper, Robert G. Winning at New Products: Accelerating the Process from Idea to Launch. 3 rd Edition. Cambridge: Perseus Publishing, 2001. 2) Cooper, Robert G. Product Leadership: Creating and Launching Superior New Products. Cambridge: Perseus Press. 3) Reinertsen, Donald G. Managing the Design Factory: A Product Developer s Toolkit. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997. 4) Collins, Jim. Good to Great. New York: HarperCollins Publishing, 2001. 5) Kim, W. Chan, Renee Mauborgne. Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant. 6) Chase, Richard B., F. Robert Jacobs and Nicholas J. Aquilano. Operations Management for Competitive Advantage. 10th Edition. New York: McGraw Hill, 2004. 7) Gladwell, Malcolm. Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. New York: Little Brown and Company, 2005. 8) Krass, Peter. The Book of Business Wisdom: Classic Writing by the Legends of Commerce and Industry. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1997. 9) Druskat, Vanessa Urch and Steven B. Wolff. Building the Emotional Intelligence of Groups. Harvard Business Review. March 2001. 80-90. 10) Yankelovich, Daniel. New Criteria for Market Segmentation. Harvard Business Review. March-April 1964. 83-90. 11) Shapiro, Benson P. and Thomas V. Bonoma. How to Segment Industrial Markets. Harvard Business Review. May-June 1984. 156-167. 12) Porter, Michael E. How Competitive Forces Shape Strategy. Harvard Business Review. March-April 1979. 1-10. 13) Levitt, Theodore. Marketing Myopia. Harvard Business Review. July-August 2004. Reprint Best of HBR 1960. 1-13. 14) Keegan, Warren J. and Mark C. Green. Global Marketing. 4 th Edition. Prentice Hall, New Jersey, 2004. 22-28. 15) Achenbach, Joel. New Mars Rover Too Costly, Critics Say. Sunday Boston Globe. February 9, 2009. 16) Dolan, Robert J. Note on Low-Tech Marketing Math. Harvard Business Review. December 17, 1998. 1-9. 17) Kim, W. Chan and Renee Mauborgne. Blue Ocean Strategy How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition 18) Dolan, Robert J. How Do You Know When the Price is Right? Harvard Business Review. September-October 1995. 4-11. 19) Bonoma, Thomas V. Major Sales Who Really Does the Buying? Harvard Business Review. July-August 2006. 1-12. 20) Gourville, John and Dilip Soman. Pricing and the Psychology of Consumption. Harvard Business Review. September 2002. 3-8. 21) Bruns, William. Introduction to Financial Ratios and Financial Statement Analysis. Harvard Business Review. Revision: September 13, 2004. P. 1-15. 22) Dolan, Robert J. Note on Marketing Strategy. Harvard Business Review. Revision: November 1, 2000. P. 1-17. 23) The Z-Score was developed in 1968 by Dr. Edward I. Altman, a financial economist and professor at New York University s Stern School of Business. 24) Johnson, Garolyn Y., Group IQ, Boston Globe, Dec. 19, 2010. 5