PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT CYCLE

We are using various products in our day to day life. But do we know how they are developed and manufactured? obviously we don’t know. This blog explains about the detailed development of a product. Various Stages involved in a Products Development are

Customers Requirement or Demand

Conceptual Design

CAD Modelling

CAE (Analysis)/Testing

Drafting and Detailing

Manufacturing

Customers Requirement/Demand:

This is the first stage of Developing a New Product. The company will do a Market Research to find out whether there is actual demand for a particular product that is going to be developed. Market Research is done through Online Surveys ,Customers Feedback, Competitors products, existing models etc. All the Data is gathered and manipulated into a Project Report and send to the Cross Functional team Consisting of Marketing, Operations (Design ,Quality and Manufacturing) and Financial heads of the company.

Conceptual Design:

Conceptual Design is the Second Stage of Product Development. In this Stage a Cross Functional Team will be formed from all the departments of the company. They will Brainstorm with each other at various Levels and generate a concept. The verticals being discussed in this stage are Technical(Design and Manufacturing),Financial and Marketing feasibility in executing this project .Once the concept is approved by the top level management Hand sketching and prototype of the model is made and tested.

Computer Aided Design:

CAD Modelling is the third stage . If the prototype is successful then the detailed design of each and every component associated with the working model is designed using a CAD software. The CAD model will be designed in such away to satisfy the Product cost,Quality,Manufacturing,Assembly, Environment and Service Requirement of the product. Material Selection plays a vital role in Product Development. The material should satisfy the Engineering and Customers requirement.

Computer Aided Engineering:

At this stage all the CAD models are tested for Structural ,Thermal, vibration and Fluid flow analysis of each and every component and Assembly. In this stage material properties such as Strength, Formability, Stiffness, Toughness and Durability is tested. The behaviour of components subjected to hot and cold conditions , vibrations occurring in dynamic conditions are tested. Apart from that in some cases behaviour of the fluids over the product in motion is also tested. Fluid flow associated with in the systems inside the product is also analysed. After CAE Experimental(lab) testing is also done and certified for the product.

Detailing and Drafting:

Now the product is tested for all the engineering requirements and validated successfully. Now it has to be manufactured. In this Phase all the 3D CAD models are converted to 2D drawings with Specifications and Standards required for manufacturing each and every components. In the Drawing sheet manufacturing requirements such as Dimensions material types and grades ,assembly features,bill of materials , machining details , coating details tolerances , welding specifications are mentioned and sent to production.

Manufacturing:

In this phase production planning required for production is done. the plan constitutes Raw materials, Manpower,Methodology ,Tools,Machinery and Equipment's for testing quality . Detailed Scheduling and Sequence of operations is done and production is executed. the components produced are checked for Quality Assurance and then shipped to Stock . The product is sold at retail outlets /showrooms where the customer receives the product.

This is the Overall process of Developing a Product.