PRODUCT DESIGN

Have you ever been with a group of friends and decided to order pizzas?
One person wants pizza from Pizza Hut because he likes the taste of stuffed-crust pizza made with cheese in the crust. Someone else wants Gracias pizza because she likes the unique crispy-thin crust. A third wants pizza from Smokey’s because of the wood grilled oven taste. Even a simple product like a pizza can have different features unique to its producer.
Different customers have different tastes, preferences, and product needs. The variety of product designs on the market appeal to the preferences of a particular customer group. Also, the different product designs have different processing requirements. This is what product design and process selection are all about.

We can all relate to the product design of a pizza just from everyday life. Now consider the complexities involved in designing more sophisticated products. For example, Palm,Inc. (www.palm.com) is a leading provider of handheld computers whose slogan is “different people, different needs, different handhelds.” The company designs different products with differing capabilities, such as personal information management, wireless Internet access, and games, intended for different types of customers. The company also has to decide on the best process to produce the different types of handhelds.

The challenge of product design can also be illustrated by an example of the Alza Corporation. Alza is a leader in designing new ways that pharmaceutical drugs can be administered to different types of patients. One of their product designs is an under the skin implant for pharmaceutical drugs that previously could only be administered by injection. The product design had to include time release of the drug, as well as the best material and shape of the implant. In addition to the product design, a process had to be