Design Specifications in Product Development

After participating in this course, you will be able to:

• Recognize the importance of design specifications in the product development process.
• Understand the principles and master the standard practices used to document customer requirements and translate them into technical and design specifications.
• Apply these principles and practices to both standard and custom product development design.
• Identify key stakeholder inputs necessary for developing comprehensive design specifications.
• Manage revisions, uncertainties, and risks through effective use of design specifications.

Description
The Design Specifications are the basis of the customer-supplier agreement, and they define the mandate of the design team. As a result of the necessary input from the various stakeholders, they precisely specify the customer's requirements or the market's expectations. When clear and complete, it helps avoid interpretation and subjectivity in the project review and approval process.

They provide a framework that structures and guides the design and development of the product. Revisions or changes to the requirements, the uncertainties they entail and the risks that these uncertainties cause are all managed in the Design Specifications.

A common thread running through the entire product development process is the design specifications, which enable the different stakeholders to track the status of a project and ensure design compliance. The product design can then remain focused on customer and market needs.

Who Should Attend

• Directors & managers in engineering, R&D or innovation
• Engineers & technical staff working in design, R&D or innovation

Customer Needs and Design Specifications

• Relevance and role in product definition
• The role of the Design Specifications in product conformity and design traceability throughout the product life cycle
• Stakeholders in the preparation of the Design Specifications
• The three (3) levels in establishing requirements or Design Specifications

1st level of the Specifications: Customer Requirements

• Needs identification: formulation, categorization and prioritization

2nd level of the Specifications: Technical Specifications

• Definition and link with customer requirements

3rd level of the Specifications: Design Specifications

• Definition and link with technical specifications and customer requirements

Scope, Elements and Attributes of a Specification

• From the product cradle to the product grave
• Statement and categorization of functions and constraints
• Prioritization, metric, target value and flexibility
• Risks associated with a given specification
• Best practices and pitfalls to avoid when writing Design Specifications

Methods and Tools for Preparing the Design Specifications

• Functional analysis - internal and external: a method and a format for presenting specifications
• Functional analysis - original format and format adapted to the particularities of the product to be developed
• Prioritization Matrix
• Quality Function Deployment (QFD): a tool to propagate prioritization of customer needs to specifications and product design & manufacturing
• How to gradually implement a standard Design Specifications model into a company's projects

Design Specifications throughout the Product Development Process (PDP)

• Design Specifications and project definition
• Design Specifications and product configuration
• Design Specifications and design reviews
• Design Specifications and product documentation
• Design Specifications and product cost control
• Design Specifications and change management
• Design Specifications and prototype validation
• Design Specifications and manufacturing processes
• Design Specifications and product data sheet
• Revisions to the Design Specifications