DESIGN METHODS AND FACTORS INFLUENCING THEIR UPTAKE IN PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT COMPANIES: A REVIEW

DESIGN METHODS AND FACTORS INFLUENCING THEIR UPTAKE IN PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT COMPANIES: A REVIEW

ABSTRACT

Product development companies are under pressure to produce high quality products that satisfy requirements from different stakeholders including end-users. This requires them to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their product development processes. Design methods are necessary to support these companies to improve their product development processes, and thereby in producing high quality products [Blessing and Chakrabarti 2009]. Many modern design projects are complex, and the old conventional ways of working may not be suitable in such projects as these ways can be ineffective and inefficient [Cross 2000]. Studies reported in e.g. Booker [2012] on a sample of design methods in product development show that these methods enhance the performance of companies in terms of cost reduction, better product quality and faster lead times. With due considerations to nunanced views on the effectiveness of design methods and process models (e.g. [Bender 2004]), the dominating view in academia is that design methods are instrumental in the success of product development companies in a highly competitive global economy. Design methods enhance decision quality, supports team-working, offer design performance metrics, improve communication, and in general help to increase the success rate of new products [Herrmann et al. 2004], [Yeh et al. 2010]. While there are several advantages of using design methods in the product development process, their uptake in companies is limited and lower than one might expect [Birkhofer et al. 2001], [López-Mesa and Bylund 2011], [Booker 2012]. There is a wide variety of literature related to factors that influence the uptake of design methods in companies.

KEYWORDS

design methods, product design, product development

CITATION

Jagtap, S., A. Warell, V. Hiort, D. Motte, A. Larsson. (2014) DESIGN METHODS AND FACTORS INFLUENCING THEIR UPTAKE IN PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT COMPANIES: A REVIEW. Proceedings of the DESIGN 2014 13th International Design Conference / [ed] Marjanovic Dorian, Storga Mario, Pavkovic Neven, Bojcetic Nenad, The Design Society, 2014, p. 231-240

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DIVA: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:bth-15158

Categories: Publications, Research