Teaching Chapter 8: Concept Selection
Timing
This session is most appropriately used soon after the sessions treating customer needs, product specifications, and concept generation. The basic concept selection matrices presented in this chapter are useful throughout product development, so the earlier the students learn to use them, the more effectively their project teams will work together. Because the idea of a concept selection matrix is relatively straightforward, this session could also include a discussion of concept testing and/or prototyping as they relate to selecting among alternative product concepts.
Objectives and Strategy
The primary objective of this session is to solidify students’ understanding of the concept selection matrix, which is one of the most widely used decision tools in product development. A second objective is to reinforce the importance of the concept selection activity within the product development process. A third objective is to expose students to alternative methods for selecting product concepts, particularly various data gathering techniques used to solicit customer feedback. We generally find that a hands-on exercise is most effective in meeting these objectives. The exercise could either involve the selection from among concepts generated by the class in a previous session or could involve the selection of a product from among several provided to the class by the faculty (pencils, screwdrivers, etc.).
Session Outline
Introduction/Motivation
Discuss the importance of the product concept activity in determining manufacturing cost and satisfaction of customer needs. The instructor might cite a few examples of instances in which new and superior concepts quickly dominated the market:
Review of Process
Quickly (2-3 minutes) review the steps described in the chapter. This can be done by simply displaying a concept selection matrix on a slide and talking through the steps in establishing it. If the expectation has been established that students prepare for class by reading the chapter, then do not spend more than 1 or 2 minutes on this. Otherwise, we find that students stop preparing for class.
Exercise
We generally lead the class through a concept selection exercise in which they choose from a set of existing products. While strictly speaking this is more of a "benchmarking" exercise, because the products already exist, it is exactly analogous to the problem of selecting among concepts described only as sketches or prototypes. The exercise is described below.
Discussion
The discussion that ensues after the exercise is usually quite rich. Some students may raise concerns about the method (of which there are many). Often, other students will respond to those concerns.
One important follow-up activity is to conduct a sensitivity analysis of the results. Would the results change dramatically if the weightings were different or if a few ratings were changed? Another important follow-up activity is to generate ideas for combining and improving the concepts.
Issues for discussion include:
Throughout the session, we create a list of principles and/or issues related to concept selection. A few of these follow:
We also find that the students are interested in the prices of the products they have evaluated, so we tell them this information at the end.
Props
The instructor may wish to bring in a few products (for the introduction) as examples of powerful concepts.
The instructor must procure products for the exercise. Note that as many instances of each type of product are needed as there are groups for the exercise (usually 4 to 8 each of 4 to 6 different products).
In-Class Exercise
The exercise works well when the students can touch and feel the products, so the instructor should choose an inexpensive product of which several sets can be procured. For example, we have used screwdrivers, mechanical pencils, erasers, ball-point pens, ice cream scoops, vegetable peelers, and ice scrapers. Four or more different versions of a product should be obtained as shown in the photo below.
This session is most appropriately used soon after the sessions treating customer needs, product specifications, and concept generation. The basic concept selection matrices presented in this chapter are useful throughout product development, so the earlier the students learn to use them, the more effectively their project teams will work together. Because the idea of a concept selection matrix is relatively straightforward, this session could also include a discussion of concept testing and/or prototyping as they relate to selecting among alternative product concepts.
Objectives and Strategy
The primary objective of this session is to solidify students’ understanding of the concept selection matrix, which is one of the most widely used decision tools in product development. A second objective is to reinforce the importance of the concept selection activity within the product development process. A third objective is to expose students to alternative methods for selecting product concepts, particularly various data gathering techniques used to solicit customer feedback. We generally find that a hands-on exercise is most effective in meeting these objectives. The exercise could either involve the selection from among concepts generated by the class in a previous session or could involve the selection of a product from among several provided to the class by the faculty (pencils, screwdrivers, etc.).
Session Outline
Introduction/Motivation
Discuss the importance of the product concept activity in determining manufacturing cost and satisfaction of customer needs. The instructor might cite a few examples of instances in which new and superior concepts quickly dominated the market:
- "U-Locks" for bicycles dominated cables and chains.
- Florescent lighting dominated incandescent lighting for commercial and industrial applications.
- Mountain bikes dominate road bikes in total sales.
Review of Process
Quickly (2-3 minutes) review the steps described in the chapter. This can be done by simply displaying a concept selection matrix on a slide and talking through the steps in establishing it. If the expectation has been established that students prepare for class by reading the chapter, then do not spend more than 1 or 2 minutes on this. Otherwise, we find that students stop preparing for class.
Exercise
We generally lead the class through a concept selection exercise in which they choose from a set of existing products. While strictly speaking this is more of a "benchmarking" exercise, because the products already exist, it is exactly analogous to the problem of selecting among concepts described only as sketches or prototypes. The exercise is described below.
Discussion
The discussion that ensues after the exercise is usually quite rich. Some students may raise concerns about the method (of which there are many). Often, other students will respond to those concerns.
One important follow-up activity is to conduct a sensitivity analysis of the results. Would the results change dramatically if the weightings were different or if a few ratings were changed? Another important follow-up activity is to generate ideas for combining and improving the concepts.
Issues for discussion include:
- How is the reference concept useful? What about reference points for each criterion?
- Under what conditions is concept testing with actual customers desirable?
- What is the role of physical prototypes and analytical models in concept selection?
Throughout the session, we create a list of principles and/or issues related to concept selection. A few of these follow:
- Remember that the goal of concept selection is to create the best product concept, even if it is not one of the original concepts. Combination and refinement is essential to develop better concepts.
- Beware of selecting the "best average" product. Products often compete in niches. The weightings should reflect the preferences of customers in the target market.
- Note the sensitivity of the results to changes in weightings and ratings.
- Recognize when a customer test is required to evaluate a concept.
- Watch out for scale compression. This is when a different reference point may be helpful.
- The selection process is at least as important in building consensus and fostering discussion as in selecting a good concept.
- Concept selection is iterative and convergent.
We also find that the students are interested in the prices of the products they have evaluated, so we tell them this information at the end.
Props
The instructor may wish to bring in a few products (for the introduction) as examples of powerful concepts.
The instructor must procure products for the exercise. Note that as many instances of each type of product are needed as there are groups for the exercise (usually 4 to 8 each of 4 to 6 different products).
In-Class Exercise
The exercise works well when the students can touch and feel the products, so the instructor should choose an inexpensive product of which several sets can be procured. For example, we have used screwdrivers, mechanical pencils, erasers, ball-point pens, ice cream scoops, vegetable peelers, and ice scrapers. Four or more different versions of a product should be obtained as shown in the photo below.
We conduct the exercise as follows:
- Present the class with a mission statement and a set of customer needs (abbreviated) for the product. The instructor can make these up or actually gather data from a few customers (family members, colleagues).
- As a class, generate a set of possible criteria for evaluating the products. The list usually grows quickly, so the class should also agree on which few criteria are most significant in differentiating the products. We usually limit the criteria to about 8.
- As a class, agree on which product should be the "reference concept." Or the instructor can simply designate one concept to be the reference.
- As a class, agree on the weightings (if any) which are appropriate for the criteria, given the mission statement presented at the beginning of the exercise.
- Divide the class into N groups, where N is the number of criteria identified above. Provide each group with a complete set of products.
- Alternatively, divide the class into N+1 groups. The extra group can be assigned to determine the weightings (for one or two market segments), which saves class time in discussing weights for each criterion.
- Instruct each group to evaluate the products with respect to the criterion they have been assigned. The groups may wish to develop a metric associated with the criterion (e.g., number of parts as a metric for manufacturing cost).
- While the groups are working, the instructor prepares the concept selection matrix on the board or in Excel.
- Instruct the groups to report the ratings they have generated.
- Ask each group to briefly report to the class on the method they used to evaluate the products and on their rationale for the ratings they generated.
- As each group describes their findings, note features that can be applied to improve a concept and solutions that may be applied to other concepts.
- Compute and review the overall scores.
- Discuss how to combine and refine concepts before considering which ones are the most promising.
- Does one concept best address multiple market segments? This requires weightings for two or more segments.