oftheobjectivestageinproductdesign.docVIP

STUDY ON INNOVATION AND MANAGEMENT OF THE OBJECTIVE STAGE IN PRODUCT DESIGN Yin-ChengLong*, Zhu Lin**, Kong-FanRang*** Received: 7. 11. 2004. Professional paper Accepted: 9. 11. 2005. UDC: 001.895 658.624 In this paper, innovation and management during the objective stage of the product design process are studied. The idea of innovation for the whole product concept at the objective design stage was put forward in view of the overall development trends and mode of product design. The strategies of product innovation as well as its related process are also discussed. Finally, some recommendations regarding diminishing uncertainty in this stage of product design process are being made. 1. INTRODUCTION With the further development of science and technology, it became an accepted idea that innovation should be included into the entire process of product-design and that it should play an important role, if an enterprise is to succeed and exist in a competitive market. From the viewpoint of design-methodology, the process of product design should be divided into the following phases (Kong-FanRang, Li-ChuanQi, Zhen-QinHe, 1993): objective design, conceptual design, parameter design and optimum design. The above phases can not be separate one from the other. Furthermore, screening and evaluation, as well as strategy design, should be thought about during the whole design process, as shown in Fig.1. In theory, innovation coming from any stage of the design process could make the product innovative. However, the most vital element of the whole product design stage is objective design, which has not been completely clarified, because it determines whether or not a design succeeds. There is another noteworthy problem: if there is little information available and the degree of ?fuzziness? is large at the beginning of the design process - a designer could be restrained, which is inappropriate for supporting innovation. At the same