DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS

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CONCEPT GENERATION SELECTION
DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS
REDGEMAN_at_UIDAHO.EDU
OFFICE 1-208-885-4410
DR. RICK EDGEMAN, PROFESSOR CHAIR SIX SIGMA
BLACK BELT
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• PRODUCT CONCEPTS
• A product concept is an approximate description
  of the technology, working principles, and form
  of the product. It is a concise description of
  how the product will satisfy customer needs.
• A concept is usually expressed as a sketch or as
  a rough three-dimensional model and is often
  accompanied by a brief written description.
• The degree to which a product satisfies customers
  and can be successfully commercialized depends to
  a large degree on the quality of the underlying
  concept. A good concept is sometimes poorly
  implemented in subsequent development phases, but
  a poor concept can rarely be manipulated to
  achieve commercial success.
• Concept generation is relatively inexpensive and
  can be done quickly in comparison to the
  development process so that there is little
  excuse for lack of diligence and care in
  executing a sound concept generation methodology.

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The Concept Generation process begins with a set
of customer needs and target specifications and
results in a set of product concepts from which
the team will make a final specification.
Concept Development
Mission Statement
Identify Customer Needs
Establish Target Specification
Generate Product Concepts
Select a Product Concept
Refine Specifications
Plan Remaining Development Project
Analyze Competitive Products
Perform Economic Analysis
Development Plan
Concept Development
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Important Ideas
What existing solutions concepts, if any, could
be successfully adapted for this application?
() What new concepts might satisfy the
established needs and specifications? () What
methods can be used to facilitate the concept
generation process? () Consideration of only
one or two alternatives, often proposed by the
most assertive members of the team (-) Failure
to consider carefully the usefulness of concepts
employed by other firms in related and unrelated
products (-) Involvement of only one or two
people in the process, resulting in lack of
confidence and commitment by the rest of the
team (-) Ineffective integration of promising
partial solutions (-) Failure to consider entire
categories of solutions (-)
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Five-Step Concept Generation Process

• 1. Clarify the Problem
• Understanding
• Problem Decomposition
• Focus on Critical Solutions

Sub-Problems

• 2. Search Externally
• Lead Users
• Experts
• Patents
• Literature
• Benchmarking

• 3. Search Internally
• Individual
• Group

• 4. Explore Systematically
• Classification Tree
• Combination Table

Existing Concepts
New Concepts
Integrated Solutions

• 5. Reflect on the Solutions and the Process
• Constructive Feedback

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Concept GenerationStep 1 Clarify the Problem

• This consists of developing a general
  understanding and then breaking the problem down
  into sub-problems if necessary.
• The mission statement for the product, customer
  needs list, and preliminary product specification
  are important inputs to the process.
• Most design challenges are too complex to solve
  as a single problem and can be usefully divided
  into subproblems. This is called problem
  decomposition. One means of accomplishing this
  is functional decomposition.

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Step 1 Clarify the Problem (Continued)

• BLACK BOX APPROACH Begin with a Black Box
  representing the product with inputs of (e.g.)
  energy, material(s) and signals and similar
  outputs fundamentally this is the IPO of
  SIPOC.
• While this is a common approach, in keeping with
  the COPIS approach of Six Sigma, it is perhaps
  possible to approach this backwards needed
  outputs ? Black Box (Processes) ? inputs, that
  is, ... OPI
• The next step is to divide the single Black Box
  into subfunctions to create a more specific
  description of what the elements of the product
  do in order to implement the overall function of
  the product. This division process is repeated
  until the team members agree that each
  subfunction is simple enough to work with. An
  often used rule of thumb is to create between 3
  and 10 subfuntions in the diagram.
• AT THIS STAGE The goal is to describe the
  functional elements of the product without
  implying a specific technological working
  principle for the product concept.

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Step 1 Clarify the Problem (Continued)

• There is no single correct way of creating a
  function diagram and no single correct functional
  description of a product. A helpful way to create
  the diagram is to quickly create several drafts
  and then work to refine them into a single
  diagram the team is comfortable with. Useful
  techniques for getting started are
• 1. create a function diagram of an existing
  product.
• 2. create a function diagram based on an
  arbitrary product concept already generated by
  the team or based on a known subfunction
  technology. Be sure to generalize the diagram to
  the appropriate level of abstraction.
• 3. Follow one of the flows (e.g. material) and
  determine what operations are required. The
  details of the other flows can be derived by
  thinking about their connections to the initial
  flow.

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Step 1 Clarify the Problem (Continued)

• Functional Decomposition is only one of several
  possible ways to divide a problem into simpler
  subproblems. Two additional approaches of note
  are
• Decomposition by sequences of user actions, and
• Decomposition by key customer needs.

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Five-Step Concept Generation Process

• 1. Clarify the Problem
• Understanding
• Problem Decomposition
• Focus on Critical Solutions

Sub-Problems

• 2. Search Externally
• Lead Users
• Experts
• Patents
• Literature
• Benchmarking

• 3. Search Internally
• Individual
• Group

• 4. Explore Systematically
• Classification Tree
• Combination Table

Existing Concepts
New Concepts
Integrated Solutions

• 5. Reflect on the Solutions and the Process
• Constructive Feedback

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CONCEPT GENERATIONStep 2 Search Externally

• External search is aimed at finding existing
  solutions to both the overall problem and to the
  subproblems identified during the problem
  clarification step. This search is ongoing
  throughout the development process. Implementing
  an existing solution is usually less expensive
  and quicker than developing a new solution.
  Liberal use of existing solutions allows the
  design team to focus its creative energy on the
  critical subproblems for which there are no
  existing solutions.
• Further, a conventional solution to one
  subproblem can often be combined with a novel
  solution to another subproblem to yield a
  superior overall design.

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Step 2 Search Externally (Continued)

• For such reasons external search includes
  detailed evaluation not only of directly
  competitive products, but also of technologies
  used in products with related subfunctions.
• This is essentially an information-gathering
  process. Available time resources can be
  optimized by using an expand-and-focus strategy
• First expand the scope of the search by
  broadly gathering information that might be
  related to the problem and then
• Focus the scope of the search by exploring the
  promising directions in more detail. Too much of
  either makes the external search inefficient.
• Five good ways (A) Interview Lead Users
  (B) Consult Experts (C) Patent Searches
  (D) Literature Searches, and (E) Competitive
  Benchmarking.

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Five-Step Concept Generation Process

• 1. Clarify the Problem
• Understanding
• Problem Decomposition
• Focus on Critical Solutions

Sub-Problems

• 2. Search Externally
• Lead Users
• Experts
• Patents
• Literature
• Benchmarking

• 3. Search Internally
• Individual
• Group

• 4. Explore Systematically
• Classification Tree
• Combination Table

Existing Concepts
New Concepts
Integrated Solutions

• 5. Reflect on the Solutions and the Process
• Constructive Feedback

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CONCEPT GENERATIONStep 3 Search Internally

• This is the use of personal and team knowledge
  and creativity to generate solution concepts. The
  search is internal in that all of the ideas to
  emerge from this step are created from knowledge
  already in the possession of the team. This
  activity may be the most open-ended and creative
  of any in new product development.
• GUIDELINES Similar to Brainstorming Guidelines.
• 1. Suspend judgment
• 2. Generate a lot of ideas
• 3. Welcome ideas that may seem infeasible.
• 4. Use graphical and physical media. (sketch
  pads, clay, foam, etc.)

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Step 3 Search Internally (Continued)

• HINTS FOR GENERATING SOLUTION CONCEPTS
• Make Analogies
• Wish Wonder I wish that and I wonder
  what would happen if
• Use Related Stimuli e.g. customer needs
  statements, photos of the use environment of the
  product, or exchange of lists of ideas.
• Set Quantitative Goals e.g. generate 10 to 20
  concepts.
• Use the Gallery Method. Sketches are taped or
  pinned to the walls of the meeting room. Team
  members circulate and look at each concept and
  its creator may offer explanation with subsequent
  suggestions for improvement from the team.

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Five-Step Concept Generation Process

• 1. Clarify the Problem
• Understanding
• Problem Decomposition
• Focus on Critical Solutions

Sub-Problems

• 2. Search Externally
• Lead Users
• Experts
• Patents
• Literature
• Benchmarking

• 3. Search Internally
• Individual
• Group

• 4. Explore Systematically
• Classification Tree
• Combination Table

Existing Concepts
New Concepts
Integrated Solutions

• 5. Reflect on the Solutions and the Process
• Constructive Feedback

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CONCEPT GENERATIONStep 4 Explore Systematically

• As a result of the external and internal search
  activities, the team will have collected tens or
  hundreds of concept fragments solutions to the
  subproblems.
• Systematic exploration is aimed at navigating the
  space of possibilities by organizing and
  synthesizing these solution fragments.
• Suppose that the function diagram had just three
  subfunctions with 6, 9, and 8 (sub) concepts each
  then there would be 6x9x8 432 possible
  product concepts.
• In order to manage and organize this complexity
  two tools may be used the
• concept combination table and the
• concept classification tree.

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Step 4 Explore Systematically (Continued)The
Concept Classification Tree

• This is used to divide the space of possible
  solutions into several distinct classes that will
  facilitate comparison and pruning. The
  classification tree provides at least four key
  benefits
• Pruning of less promising concept branches when
  a branch is developing that does not appear to
  have much merit it can be pruned.
• Identification of independent approaches to the
  problem each branch of the tree can be
  considered a different approach to solving the
  overall problem. Some may be almost completely
  independent of each other.
• Exposure of inappropriate emphasis on certain
  branches.
• Refinement of the problem decomposition for a
  particular branch.

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Step 4 Explore Systematically (Continued)The
Concept Combination Tree

• This considers combinations of solution fragments
  systematically.
• The columns of the table correspond to the
  sub-problems previously identified and the
  entries in each column correspond to the solution
  fragments for each of these sub-problems derived
  from external and internal search.
• Potential solutions to the overall problem are
  formed by combining one fragment from each
  column.
• The various combinations must usually be
  developed and refined before an integrated
  solution emerges.
• This may not even be possible or may lead to
  multiple solutions but at minimum involves
  additional creative thought.

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Step 4 Explore Systematically (Continued)The
Concept Combination Tree

• Two guidelines make the concept combination
  process easier
• If a fragment can be eliminated as being
  infeasible before combining it with other
  fragments, then the number of combinations the
  team needs to consider may be dramatically
  reduced.
• The concept combination table should be
  concentrated on the subproblems that are coupled.
  Coupled subproblems are those whose solutions can
  only really be evaluated in combination with the
  solutions to other subproblems.
• Pragmatically speaking, the use of concept
  combination tables is limited when the number of
  columns exceeds about four.

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Step 4 Explore Systematically (Continued)Managin
g the Exploration Process

• Classification trees and concept combination
  tables are simple tools that a team can use
  flexibly to organize thinking and guide its
  creative energies.
• Rarely do teams generate only one classification
  tree and one concept combination table. Typically
  the team will create several alternative
  classification trees and several concept
  combination tables.
• Interspersed with this exploratory activity may
  be a refining of the original problem
  decomposition or the pursuit of additional
  internal or external search.
• The exploration step of concept generation
  usually acts more as a guide for further creative
  thinking than as the final step in the process.

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Five-Step Concept Generation Process

• 1. Clarify the Problem
• Understanding
• Problem Decomposition
• Focus on Critical Solutions

Sub-Problems

• 2. Search Externally
• Lead Users
• Experts
• Patents
• Literature
• Benchmarking

• 3. Search Internally
• Individual
• Group

• 4. Explore Systematically
• Classification Tree
• Combination Table

Existing Concepts
New Concepts
Integrated Solutions

• 5. Reflect on the Solutions and the Process
• Constructive Feedback

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CONCEPT GENERATIONStep 5 Reflect on the
Solutions the Process

• In fact this should be applied throughout the
  concept generation process. Questions to ask
  include
• Is the team developing confidence that the
  solution space has been fully explored?
• Have ideas from everyone been accepted and
  integrated in the process?
• Are there alternative ways to decompose the
  problem?
• Have external sources been thoroughly pursued?
• Are there alternative function diagrams?

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Concept Generation Summary

• A product concept is an approximate description
  of the technology, working principles, and form
  of the product.
• The degree to which a product satisfies customers
  and can be successfully commercialized depends
  greatly on the quality of the underlying concept.
• The concept generation process begins with a set
  of customer needs and target specifications and
  results in a set of product concepts from which
  the team will make a final selection.
• In most cases, an effective development team will
  generate hundreds of concepts, of which 5 to 20
  will merit serious consideration during the
  subsequent concept selection activity.

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Concept Generation Summary (Continued)

• Five steps to concept generation
• Clarify the Problem understand the problem and
  decompose it into simpler subproblems.
• Search Externally gather information from lead
  users, experts, patents, published literature,
  and related products.
• Search Internally Use individual and group
  methods to retrieve and adapt the knowledge of
  the team.
• Explore Systematically Use classification trees
  combination tables to organize team thinking
  and synthesize solution fragments.
• Reflect on the Solutions the Process Identify
  opportunities for improvement in subsequent
  iterations or future projects.

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Concept Generation Summary (Continued)

• While concept generation is inherently creative,
  teams can benefit from using a structured
  approach. This allows full exploration of the
  design space and reduces the chance of oversight
  in the types of solution concepts considered
  while serving as a map for team members less
  experienced in design problem-solving.
• Teams will likely return to each step several
  times. Iteration is common when a team is
  developing a radically new product.
• Professionals who are good at concept generation
  seem to always be in demand as team members. This
  is a skill that can be developed and the process
  presented herein can facilitate such development.

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Concept Development
Mission Statement
Identify Customer Needs
Establish Target Specification
Generate Product Concepts
Select a Product Concept
Refine Specifications
Plan Remaining Development Project
Analyze Competitive Products
Perform Economic Analysis
Development Plan
Concept Development
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CONCEPT SELECTION

• Early in the development process the product
  development team identifies a set of customer
  needs. The team then generates alternative
  solution concepts in response to those needs.
• Concept Selection is the process of evaluating
  concepts with respect to customer needs and other
  criteria, comparing the relative strengths and
  weaknesses of the concepts, and selecting or more
  concepts for further investigation or
  development.
• The approach presented is useful both in
  selection of an overall product concept and in
  the selection of subsystem concepts, components,
  and production processes.
• While this is a convergent process, it is
  frequently iterative and may not produce a
  dominant concept immediately. A large concept set
  is winnowed down to a smaller set that may
  subsequently be combined and improved to
  temporarily enlarge a set of concepts under
  consideration. After several iterations a
  dominant concept is finally chosen.

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All Teams Use Some Method for Choosing a Concept

• External Decision concepts are turned over to
  the customer, client, or some other external
  entity for selection.
• Product Champion an influential member of the
  development team chooses a concept based on
  personal preference.
• Intuition concept is chosen by feel. Explicit
  criteria or trade-offs are not used. The selected
  concept just seems or feels better.
• Pros Cons team lists the strengths
  weaknesses of each concept and makes a choice
  based upon group opinion.
• Prototype Test the organization builds and
  tests prototypes of each concept, making a
  selection based upon test data.
• Decision Matrices the team rates each concept
  against prespecified selection criteria, which
  may be weighted (the method presented herein).

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Potential Benefits of a Structured Approach

• Customer-Focused Product concepts explicitly
  evaluated against customer-oriented criteria.
• Competitive Design By benchmarking concepts
  w.r.t. existing designs, designers push the
  design to match or exceed their competitors
  performance along key dimensions.
• Better Product-Process Coordination Explicit
  evaluation of the product with respect to
  manufacturing criteria improves the products
  manufacturability and helps to match the product
  with the process capabilities of the organization.

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Potential Benefits of a Structured Approach

• Reduced Time to Product Introduction a
  structured approach becomes a common language
  among design engineers, project managers,
  manufacturing engineers, industrial designers,
  and marketers, resulting in decreased ambiguity,
  faster communication, and fewer false starts.
• Effective Group Decision Making within the
  development team, organizational philosophy and
  guidelines, willingness of members to
  participate, and team member experience may
  constrain the concept selection process. A
  structured approach encourages decision making
  based on objective criteria and minimizes the
  likelihood that arbitrary or personal factors
  influence the product concept.

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Potential Benefits of a Structured Approach

• Documentation of the Decision Process A
  structured approach results in a readily
  understood archive of the rationale behind
  concept decisions. This record is useful for
  assimilating new team members and for quickly
  assessing the impact of changes in the customer
  needs or in the available alternatives.

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A Two-Stage Concept Selection Process

• Concept Screening this alone may suffice for
  simple design decisions. This is a quick,
  approximate evaluation aimed at producing a few
  viable alternatives. Rough initial concepts are
  evaluated relative to a common reference concept
  using the screening matrix. Scoring is coarse.
• Concept Scoring. This is a more careful analysis
  of the relatively few concepts that make it
  through screening in order to choose the single
  concept most likely to lead to product success.
  This is more finely detailed with finer
  quantitative evaluation using the scoring matrix
  as a guide.
• The screening matrix and scoring matrix are each
  used by the team to rate, rank, and select the
  best concept(s). The team may well also apply
  their collective insight to improve and combine
  concepts.

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Concept SelectionCommon Steps for Screening
Scoring Matrices

• Prepare the selection matrix.
• Rate the concepts.
• Rank the concepts.
• Combine and improve the concepts.
• Select one or more concepts.
• Reflect on the results and the process.

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Step 1. Prepare the Selection Matrix

• The design team can use a matrix similar to the
  one on the following slide, but depending on
  the number of concepts being examined, may need a
  lager medium such as a flip chart or butcher
  paper.
• Selection criteria and concepts are used to
  provide the basic rows and columns of the matrix.
  Concepts should be presented at similar levels of
  detail for meaningful comparison and unbiased
  selection. These should combine a written
  description and graphical representation.
  Criteria are usually expressed at a fairly high
  level of abstraction and typically include 5 to
  10 dimensions such as low manufacturing cost.
  These equally weighted dimensions are chosen in
  part in order to differentiate between concepts.
• Concepts are compared to a reference concept that
  is generally an industry standard or an obvious
  solution to the problem. This can be commercially
  available, an earlier generation, a concept under
  consideration, or a combination of subsystems
  combined to represent the best features of
  different products.
• If more than a dozen concepts are being
  considered, then multivoting should be used in
  this procedure each team member simultaneously
  votes for their preferred three to five concepts
  with colored dots and those concepts with the
  most votes are chosen for the screening phase.

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Concept Screening Matrix
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Step 2. Rate the Concepts

• A relative score of better than (), same as
  (O), worse than (-)
• is placed in each cell of the matrix rating the
  concept in comparison to the reference concept
  relative to the specific criterion. While this is
  a coarse level of granularity, remember that at
  this stage in the design process each concept is
  only a general notion of the ultimate product and
  more detailed ratings have little meaning.
• When available, objective metrics should be used
  to rate a concept e.g. a good approximation
  of assembly cost is the number of parts in a
  design. Similarly a good approximation of ease of
  use is the number of operations required to use
  the device. Such measures help to minimize the
  judgmental nature of the rating process.
• Objective measures for concept selection may
  arise from target specifications. Absent such
  metrics, ratings are established by team
  consensus. Some criteria may need further
  investigation or analysis.

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Concept Screening Matrix
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Step 3. Rank the Concepts

• After rating all the concepts, the team sums the
  number of better than, same as, and worse
  than scores and enters the sum for each category
  in the lower rows of the matrix.
• A net or overall score can be calculated by
  subtracting the number of worse than ratings
  from the better than ratings.
• Once the summations are completed, the team rank
  orders the concepts.
• In general, those concepts with more pluses and
  fewer minuses are ranked higher.
• Often at this point the team can identify one or
  two criteria that really seem to differentiate
  the concepts from one another.

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Concept Screening Matrix
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Step 4. Combine Improve the Concepts

• Having rated and ranked the concepts, the team
  should verify the sensibility of the results and
  consider if there are ways to combine and improve
  certain concepts. Two issues to consider are
• Is there a generally good concept that is
  degraded by one bad feature? Can a minor
  modification improve the overall concept and yet
  preserve a distinction from other concepts?
• Are there two concepts that can be combined to
  preserve the better than qualities while
  annulling the worse than qualities?

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Concept Screening Matrix
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Step 5. Select One or More Concepts

• Once team members are satisfied with their
  understanding of each concept and its relative
  worth, they determine which concepts to select
  for further refinement and analysis.
• During prior steps the team likely developed a
  clear sense of which concepts are most promising.
  The number of concepts selected for further
  review will be limited by team resources.
• Having determined the concepts for further
  analysis, the team must clarify which issues need
  to be investigated further before a final
  selection can be made.
• The team must decide whether another round of
  concept screening will be performed or whether
  concept scoring will be applied.
• If the screening matrix does not provide
  sufficient resolution for the next step of the
  evaluation selection, then the concept scoring
  stage with its weighted selection criteria and
  more detailed rating scheme would be used.

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Step 6. Reflect on the Results the Process

• All team members should be comfortable with the
  outcome.
• If an individual is not in agreement with the
  team decision, then perhaps one or more important
  criteria are missing from the screening matrix,
  or perhaps a particular rating is in error, or is
  not clear.
• An explicit consideration of whether the results
  make sense to everyone reduces the likelihood of
  making a mistake and increases the likelihood
  that the entire team will be solidly committed to
  subsequent development activities.

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CONCEPT SCORING

• Concept Scoring is used when increased resolution
  will better differentiate among competing
  concepts.
• In this stage the team weights the relative
  importance of the selection criteria and focuses
  on more refined comparisons with respect to each
  criterion.
• Concept scores are then determined by the
  weighted sum of the ratings.
• In the following description of steps, we will
  focus on the differences relative to concept
  screening.

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Step 1. Prepare the Selection Matrix

• As in the screening stage, the team prepares a
  matrix and identifies a reference concept. A
  computer spreadsheet may prove useful to
  facilitate ranking and sensitivity analysis.
• Concepts and criteria are entered in the matrix
  as before, but the concepts have typically been
  refined since concept screening and may be
  expressed in greater detail. Similarly, selection
  criteria may be provided in greater detail. The
  level of detail will depend on the needs of the
  team.
• After the criteria are entered, the team adds
  importance weights to the matrix for each
  criteria. Several schemes are available such as
  assigning an importance value from 1 to 5 or
  allocating 100 points among them. Marketing
  methods are available to facilitate this
  allocation.

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Step 2. Rate the Concepts

• As in the screening stage, one way to rate the
  concepts is to compare them to the reference
  concept. Because of the need for additional
  resolution to distinguish among competing
  concepts, a finer scale is used with following
  being recommended
• RATING RELATIVE PERFORMANCE
• 1 Much worse than reference concept
• 2 Worse than reference concept
• 3 Same as reference concept
• 4 Better than reference concept
• 5 Much better than reference concept

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Step 3. Rank the Concepts

• Once the ratings are entered for each concept,
  weighted scores are calculated by multiplying raw
  scores by the criteria weights. The total score
  for each concept is the sum of the weighted
  scores
• n
• Sj Srijwi where
• i1
• rij raw rating of concept j for the
  ith criterion.
• wi weighting for the ith criterion.
• n number of criterion.
• Sj total score for concept j.
• Each concept is then given a rank corresponding
  to its total score

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Step 4. Combine Improve the Concepts

• As in the screening stage, the team looks for
  changes or combinations that improve the
  concepts.
• Although the formal concept generation process is
  typically completed before concept selection
  begins, some of the most creative refinements and
  improvements occur during the concept selection
  process as the team realizes the inherent
  strengths and weaknesses of certain features of
  the product concepts.

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Step 5. Select One or More Concepts

• The final selection is not simply a question of
  choosing the concept that attains the highest
  ranking after the first pass through the process.
• Rather, the team should explore its initial
  evaluation by conducting a sensitivity analysis.
  This is done by varying the weights and ratings
  to determine their effect on the rankings.
• In doing this the team can assess whether
  uncertainty about a particular rating has a large
  impact on their choices and hence the team may
  then select a lower-scoring concept about which
  there is little uncertainty instead of a
  higher-scoring once that may prove unworkable or
  less desirable as more is learned about it.
• The team may also create two scoring matrices
  with different weightings to yield the concept
  ranking for customer groups with different
  preferences. The same concept may not be dominant
  in such cases.
• The team should also carefully consider the
  significance of differences in concept scores
  given the resolution of the scoring system, small
  differences are typically insignificant.

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Step 6. Reflect on the Results the Process

• As a final step the team reflects on the selected
  concept and on the concept selection process.
• This is in some ways a point of no return for
  the concept development process so that everyone
  on the team should feel comfortable that all of
  the relevant issues have been discussed and that
  the selected concept will satisfy customers and
  be economically successful. Two questions are
  worth considering in order to improve subsequent
  concept selection activities
• 1. In what way if at all did the concept
  selection methodology facilitate team decision
  making?
• 2. How can the methodology be modified to improve
  team performance?

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CAVEATS

• Decomposition of Concept Quality. By supposition
  selection criteria and customer needs can be
  evaluated independently and concept quality is
  the sum of the quality of the concept relative to
  each criterion. When this is not true the
  process is more complicated.
• Subjective Criteria. Some selection criteria are
  highly subjective. Choices among alternatives
  based to a high degree on subjective criteria
  must be made carefully. In such cases it is
  usually better for the team to narrow the
  alternatives to three or four concepts and then
  solicit the opinions of representative customers
  from the product target market perhaps using
  mock-ups or models to present the concepts.

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CAVEATS

• Where to Include Cost. Most selection criteria
  are adaptations of customer needs. However, for
  example, ease of manufacture and manufacturing
  cost are not overtly customer needs, though they
  do map to a lower boundary on sales price. Still,
  cost is an important consideration in concept
  selection as it maps to economic success. SOME
  MEASURE OF COST should be included among
  selection criteria. Similarly, there may be needs
  of other stakeholders that are not strictly
  customer needs, but are important to economic
  success.
• Selecting Elements of Complex Concepts. Some
  complex concepts are aggregations of several
  simpler ones. If all concepts under consideration
  are combinations of the same set of simpler ones,
  then the simple ones can be evaluated first and
  in an independent fashion before a more complex
  one is evaluated.

58
CAVEATS

• Applying Concept Selection Throughout the
  Development Process. Concept selection is used
  again and again at many levels of detail in the
  design and development process. Once the basic
  approach has been determined, concept selection
  could be used to choose the basic product
  concept. Finally, concept selection could be used
  at the most detailed level of design for
  resolving decisions such as choices of colors or
  materials.

59
SUMMARY

• Concept selection is the process of evaluating
  concepts with respect to customer needs and other
  criteria, comparing the relative strengths and
  weaknesses of the concepts, and selecting one or
  more concepts for further investigation or
  development.
• All teams use some method, whether implicit or
  explicit, to do this. These may range from
  informal to very structured approaches.
• Successful design is facilitated by structured
  concept selection and the two-stage process of
  concept screening and concept scoring can be
  helpful. These use a reference concept to
  evaluate concept variants against selection
  criteria.

60
SUMMARY

• Concept Screening uses a coarse comparison system
  to narrow the range of concepts under
  consideration.
• Concept Scoring uses weighted selection criteria
  and a finer rating scale. Concept Scoring may
  skipped if concept screening produces a clearly
  dominant concept.
• Both screening and scoring use decision matrix as
  the basis for a six step selection process
• prepare the selection matrix.
• rate the concepts.
• rank the concepts.
• combine improve concepts.
• select one or more concepts.
• reflect on results process.

61
SUMMARY

• Concept selection is applied not only during
  concept development, but throughout the
  subsequent design and development process.
• Concept selection is a group/team process that
  facilitates the selection of a winning concept,
  helps build team consensus, and creates a record
  of the decision-making process.

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CONCEPT GENERATION SELECTION
End of Session
DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS
REDGEMAN_at_UIDAHO.EDU
OFFICE 1-208-885-4410
DR. RICK EDGEMAN, PROFESSOR CHAIR SIX SIGMA
BLACK BELT