Better Decisions. Better Products. Better results.

Product Design Decision

What happens when one design choice affects every product variant?
Decisions about architecture, configuration and change shape not only how a product works, but how easily it can be built, serviced and improved.

How should we design, configure and change the product?

  • Prepare

    • Understand customer and product requirements

    • Evaluate concepts and design alternatives

    • Assess architecture, cost, quality and risk

    • Define platforms, modules and configuration rules

    • Assess change impact across the product lifecycle

  • Make

    • Which product concept and architecture should we select

    • Which requirements and features should we prioritize?

    • What should be common, modular or configurable?

    • Is the design ready to be approved and released?

    • Should the proposed engineering change be approved?

  • Execute

    • Translate decisions into controlled product definitions

    • Develop and verify the selected solution

    • Release product structures and configurations

    • Implement engineering changes across affected functions

    • Confirm that changes have been implemented as approved

  • Measure

    • Did the decision deliver the expected product cost or margin improvement?

    • Was product and configuration complexity reduced as intended

    • Did the engineering change achieve its approved financial benefit?

    • Have quality, warranty or nonconformance costs improved?

    • Did increased reuse reduce engineering effort and development cost?

  • Related standard and lifecycle processes

    • ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288: Stakeholder Needs and Requirements Definition; System Requirements Definition; Architecture Definition; Design Definition; Decision Management; Configuration Management; Verification; Validation

    • ISO 9001: Design and Development

    • ISO 10007: Configuration Management Planning; Configuration Identification; Change Control; Configuration Status Accounting; Configuration Audit

Example

Engineering Change Management

Prepare: What products, configurations, parts, suppliers, plants, inventory and installed products are affected?

Make: Should the change be approved, and when should it take effect?

Execute: Release and implement the change across engineering, sourcing, manufacturing and service.

Measure: Did the change deliver the expected cost, quality, compliance or performance improvement?

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