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July 30, 2023

Design of Services and Products - Nigel Slack - Chapter Summary

 

 Key questions


❯ How does innovation impact on design? 

❯ Why is good service and product design important? 

❯ What are the stages in service and product design? 

❯ What are the benefits of interactive design?


 Design evaluation and improvement 

The purpose of this stage in the design activity is to take the preliminary design and see if it can be improved before the service or product is tested in the market. There are a number of methods and techniques that are used at this stage to improve various dimensions of performance. Quality function deployment (QFD) improves quality and value engineering (VE) included in  product industrial engineering by Narayana Rao improves value by reducing cost.

Value engineering

The purpose of value engineering is to try to reduce costs, and prevent any unnecessary costs, before producing the service or product. It tries to eliminate any costs that do not contribute to the value and performance of the service or product.  Value-engineering programmes are usually conducted by project teams consisting of designers, purchasing specialists, operations managers and financial analysts. The chosen elements of the package are subject to rigorous scrutiny, by analysing their function and cost, then trying to find any similar components that could do the same job at lower cost. The team may also attempt to reduce the number of components, or use cheaper materials, or simplify processes. It requires innovative and critical thinking to redesign. It  is  carried out using a formal procedure that examines the purpose of the service or product, its basic functions and its secondary functions. 

Taking the example of the remote mouse:

● The purpose of the remote mouse is to communicate with the computer.

● The basic function is to control presentation slide shows.

● The secondary function is to be plug-and-play compatible with any system.

Team members would then propose ways to perform the  functions by alternative designs that cost less.  All ideas would then be checked for feasibility, acceptability, vulnerability and their contribution to the value and purpose of the service or product.



Service Blueprinting - The Process

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