Product concept generation and selection using sorting technique and fuzzy c-means algorithm

Product conceptualization is regarded as a key activity in new product development (NPD). In this stage, product concept generation and selection plays a crucial role. This paper presents a product concept generation and selection (PCGS) approach, which was proposed to assist product designers in generating and selecting design alternatives during the product conceptualization stage. In the PCGS, general sorting was adapted for initial requirements acquisition and platform definition; while a fuzzy c-means (FCM) algorithm was integrated with a design alternatives generation strategy for clustering design options and selecting preferred product concepts. The PCGS deliberates and embeds a psychology-originated method, i.e., sorting technique, to widen domain coverage and improve the effectiveness in initial platform formation. Furthermore, it successfully improves the FCM algorithm in such a way that more accurate clustering results can be obtained. A case study on a wood golf club design was used for illustrating the proposed approach. The results were promising and revealed the potential of the PCGS method.     

An ideation method for generating new product ideas using TRIZ,concept mapping,and fuzzy linguistic evaluation techniques

The quality of initial ideas is considered a critical determinant for successful new product development (NPD). This study presents an ideation method for generating new product ideas. The aims of the proposed method are (1) to clarify and identify potential problems involved in the knowledge domain of the product design through the Su-field enhanced concept mapping diagram; (2) to abstract inventive problems and generate novel product ideas by means of the theory of inventive problem solving (TRIZ) methodology; and, (3) to develop an effective decision aiding method for evaluating alternative ideas and determining promising product ideas using fuzzy linguistic evaluation techniques. The applicability of the ideation method is demonstrated through a case study of an air purifier design. The theoretical and practical implications of the ideation method are also discussed.     

创意FCM算法

针对现有模糊聚类方法仅仅是对已有数据点的聚类的不足,提出了在已有数据集的基础上找到新的一类集群的聚类方法 CFCM。该算法在FCM算法的基础上,通过引入观测点P作为聚类的先验知识,来大致确定未知集群的聚类中心,定义了权重系数λ来限定观测点对新的一类聚类中心形成的影响程度。人造数据集和UCI真实数据集的实验结果表明,该算法不仅对已知数据点有较好的聚类效果,并且可以在观测点P的作用下在特定区域创造出新的一类无已知数据点的集群中心点的大致位置,因而在实际中有潜在应用价值。     

Development of a framework for customer co-creation in NPD through multi-issue negotiation with issue trade-offs

In complex product design environments, new product development (NPD) becomes all about trade-offs and therefore trade-off management gets an important responsibility for designers. Correspondingly, in these environments, customer co-creation in NPD requires multi-issue negotiation with issue trade-offs. However, there is no study researching customer co-creation in NPD through multi-issue negotiation with issue trade-offs according to our best knowledge. This study presents a framework for customer co-creation in NPD through a multi-issue negotiation mechanism, namely; Modified Even-Swaps, to fill this gap. This mechanism uses a modified version of Even-Swaps method, that finds differences among alternatives and utilizes the differences for assessing the value of multi-issue offers, and that includes a fuzzy-inference-system for bargaining on several issues simultaneously. In the proposed framework, customers are represented by “lead-user”. Thus, negotiation is performed between lead-user and designer. In order to show how the framework works, an illustrative example is also presented.     

A QFD-enabled product conceptualisation approach via design knowledge hierarchy and RCE neural network

In this paper, an approach that attempts to improve conventional quality function deployment (QFD) technique in terms of effective design knowledge handling in product concept development is proposed and described. For this purpose, a QFD-enabled product conceptualisation system was established. It consists of three cohesively interacting modules, namely, design knowledge elicitation module using laddering technique, design knowledge representation module using design knowledge hierarchy (DKH), and design knowledge organisation module using restricted Coulomb energy (RCE) neural network. A case study on wood golf club design was used to illustrate the performance of the proposed approach. From the case study, the prototype QFD-enabled product conceptualisation system has demonstrated its effectiveness in design knowledge acquisition, representation and organisation at an early stage of NPD. The details of the validation are discussed.     

网络环境下新产品开发知识团队研究综述*

在综述国内外学者有关新产品开发知识团队研究成果的基础上,试图梳理出现阶段该领域的研究热点与难点问题,为后续研究奠定一定的理论基础。分别从团队的定义和类型,团队学习与团队管理,新产品开发知识团队的概念、类型、运作与管理等方面对已有的研究文献进行了系统的综述,在此基础上提出了已有研究的局限性及对未来研究的展望。     

网络环境下新产品开发知识团队研究综述*

在综述国内外学者有关新产品开发知识团队研究成果的基础上,试图梳理出现阶段该领域的研究热点与难点问题,为后续研究奠定一定的理论基础。分别从团队的定义和类型,团队学习与团队管理,新产品开发知识团队的概念、类型、运作与管理等方面对已有的研究文献进行了系统的综述,在此基础上提出了已有研究的局限性及对未来研究的展望。     

Reusability and multi-product development policies: a comparison of approaches in the automotive, motorcycle and earthmoving machinery industries

In many industries, the compelling pressure on the replacement of existing products and the expansion of the breadth of product lines, are forcing firms to undertake a growing number of new product development (NPD) projects. The effectiveness of those efforts depends on how well the firm can exploit synergy in innovation. This entails to managing the sharing and transfer of knowledge to projects over time to maximise reusability of technological solutions. The paper investigates how firms have reshaped their NPD process to deal with the challenge of reusability and knowledge transfer in three related industries. Starting from a resource-based view of the innovation process it compares the multi-product development project practices diffused in these industries and identifies the factors which affect the choice of a given approach to reusability and knowledge transfer.     

PSO based approach for scheduling NPD projects including overlapping process

The efficient scheduling of the new product development (NPD) projects is important to reduce the required development time, and to offer the new product faster. Activity overlapping is commonly regarded as the most promising strategy to reduce product development times. However, overlapping must be well-planned by weighting the gain from the activity overlapping against the additional time for rework. The objective of this research was to develop a resource constrained scheduling methodology for NPD projects considering overlapping of activity couples. A particle swarm optimization based approach is used to schedule NPD projects that include overlapping process. The proposed PSO method is developed into a user friendly system so that the practitioners can utilize it. A real-life example of a product development project taken from the literature is used to show the efficiency of the software.     

Artificial intelligence and expert systems applications in new product development—a survey

The authors review and categorize the research in applications of artificial intelligence (AI) and expert systems (ES) in new product development (NPD) activities. A brief overview of NPD process and AI is presented. This is followed by a literature survey in regard to AI and ES applications in NPD, which revealed twenty four articles (twenty two applications) in the 1990–1997 period. The applications are categorized into five areas: expert decision support systems for NPD project evaluation, knowledge-based systems (KBS) for product and process design, KBS for QFD, AI support for conceptual design and AI support for group decision making in concurrent engineering. Brief review of each application is provided. The articles are also grouped by NPD stages and seven NPD core elements (competencies and abilities). Further research areas are pointed out.     

Counterbalancing Exploitative Knowledge Search during Environmental Dynamism: Reinforcing New Ideas for Existing Products

Established firms face the challenge of counterbalancing their predominant focus on exploitation with exploration. This paper explores how these firms can reinforce new exploratory ideas for existing products, especially during periods of environmental dynamism. The study is based on an action research study at a new product development (NPD) department at an international manufacturing firm operating in a cyclical market. The results show that increased environmental dynamism opens new opportunities for counterbalancing exploitative approaches by building exploratory skills. The action contributed specifically to breaking with old traditions in the NPD organization, and resulted in actionable knowledge in terms of an ideation approach. However, the study also shows that fast industry cycles that do not match the remote returns of exploratory knowledge searches diminish the possibility to sustain exploratory knowledge searches in organizations. The paper identifies important problems related to the long‐time horizon of exploration and the cyclical nature of industries.     

Innovation Culture,Collaboration with External Partners and NPD Performance

Researchers and managers have found that the use of external knowledge in the process of new product development (NPD) helps to sustain a firm's competitiveness by strengthening its innovative performance. However, little is known about why some firms use external knowledge sources for NPD in an extensive manner while others hardly ever use them. In addition, there is disagreement about which external partners significantly contribute to the innovative performance of a firm as valuable knowledge sources. Based on the resource‐based view (RBV) of the firm and Kitchell's innovation adoption model, this paper expects a firm's innovation culture to have a significant impact on its openness to external knowledge – measured in terms of its collaborative behaviour with five different external partners – and for that behaviour to influence the firm's NPD performance. A sample of 254 technology‐based firms across several industries is used to empirically test the research model with covariance‐based structural equation modeling (SEM). The findings deepen our understanding of the discrepancies between successful pioneering firms active in technology and knowledge sourcing and others being less successful.     

Fuzzy analytical hierarchy process and multi-segment goal programming applied to new product segmented under price strategy

New product development (NPD) is becoming an important competitive advantage in the marketing strategies of current businesses. Developing a new product will incur fixed and variable costs, which then determine the product prices. Although this is a fundamental issue of marketing theory and practice, only a few papers on marketing models deal with price levels. The objective of this paper is proposing a model based on fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and multi-segment goal programming (MSGP) to help decision makers to select the best pricing strategy for NPD. A case study of NPD under market selection strategy in multiple segment pricing levels for a Taiwan-based Watch Company is presented to illustrate the proposed methodology. The proposed method will guide the product development team to select the best market strategy by taking into account the price level and product/market segmentation.     

基于物场分析法的创新模型

产品创新设计平台以旋转动力学理论为指导，集成了创造性联想算法、创造算法、评价算法以及相关的知识库，以支持产品的创新设计。基于物场分析法的创新模型是平台中的重要创造组件，它根据物场分析方法解决技术矛盾的典型模式和标准解法，进而应用人工智能和旋转动力学等理论与技术消除产品中存在的技术矛盾，从而实现产品创新。     

The Learning Organization as Facilitator of Complex NPD Projects

With rapid technological and market changes, new product development (NPD) complexity is a significant issue that organizations continually face in their development projects. The inability to recognize and/or manage complexity can cause the best‐intentioned projects to fail. By creating a learning organization attuned to complexity and its management, however, companies are more likely to have the knowledge and skills essential to respond competently to the complexity frequently encountered in NPD projects. In this paper, we first define complexity in NPD and then examine organizational learning as it can assist in dealing with development complexity. Next, we report findings from an exploratory research study on organizational learning and its relationship to product development complexity. The study is based on 32 field interviews with NPD participants regarding their learning experiences in dealing with complexity; the transfer of project learning to other projects; and the factors that minimize/block the transfer of learning among projects. Based on our research, we advance several suggestions for implementing a learning organization designed specifically to capitalize on the experiences of development firms' efforts in dealing with complexity and its consequences.     

Market segmentation and ideal point identification for new product design using fuzzy data compression and fuzzy clustering methods

In product design, various methodologies have been proposed for market segmentation, which group consumers with similar customer requirements into clusters. Central points on market segments are always used as ideal points of customer requirements for product design, which reflects particular competitive strategies to effectively reach all consumers’ interests. However, existing methodologies ignore the fuzziness on consumers’ customer requirements. In this paper, a new methodology is proposed to perform market segmentation based on consumers’ customer requirements, which exist fuzziness. The methodology is an integration of a fuzzy compression technique for multi-dimension reduction and a fuzzy clustering technique. It first compresses the fuzzy data regarding customer requirements from high dimensions into two dimensions. After the fuzzy data is clustered into marketing segments, the centre points of market segments are used as ideal points for new product development. The effectiveness of the proposed methodology in market segmentation and identification of the ideal points for new product design is demonstrated using a case study of new digital camera design.     

Teaching New Product Development Using the ‘CityCar’ Simulation

Innovation management is an important subject which needs to be taught effectively in business schools and on engineering degrees. One of the key topics – new product development (NPD) – is complex and is challenging to teach. Management simulations are thought to provide a good mechanism for teaching intricate and practical topics and so an NPD simulation was developed – the CityCar. This paper describes empirical research on how students' perceptions of NPD change as they complete the CityCar exercise. Overall, the research shows that simulations have significant potential in teaching NPD. The changes in students' perceptions provide evidence that the CityCar exercise achieves its intended learning outcomes in demonstrating the importance of technical and commercial knowledge and the need for a disciplined management process in NPD.     

基于综合推理的构图知识生成模型

讨论了一种集成图案拓扑结构和元素表达内容的构图设计知识的表达模型,研究并提出一种应用综合推理的思想来生成新的构图设计知识的推理模型。这种方法可以直接从原有构图设计知识的形象信息出发,根据一定的初始要求,迅速综合生成新的构图设计知识,大大提高了知识的生成速度,使得智能图案设计系统具有更高的智能性与创新能力。     

Evaluating new product development performance by fuzzy linguistic computing

New product development (NPD) is indeed the cornerstone for companies to maintain and enhance the competitive edge. However, developing new products is a complex and risky decision-making process. It involves a search of the environment for opportunities, the generation of project options, and the evaluation by different experts of multiple attributes, both qualitative and quantitative. To perceive and to measure effectively the capability of NPD are real challenging tasks for business managers. This paper presents a 2-tuple fuzzy linguistic computing approach to deal with heterogeneous information and information loss problems during the processes of subjective evaluation integration. The proposed method which is based on the group decision-making scenario to assist business managers to measure the performance of NPD manipulates the heterogeneous integration processes and avoids the information loss effectively. Finally, its feasibility is demonstrated by the result of NPD performance evaluation for a high-technology company in Taiwan.