Developed Concept: Embodiment Design

Abstract

There is a huge jump from the visualization of an abstract concept to the manufacturing drawings from which a safe and reliable product can be made. If this jump is made without sufficient thought and without appropriate development of the ideas, then design failure is almost certain. The jump may be made in a number of ways. Commonly, a prototype is built and put through a rigorous test program, which is a costly and time-consuming exercise. Technically, it is well worthwhile when mass-production is contemplated, but the tendency towards shorter and shorter development times may make it economically unacceptable. New products are now often introduced right on the production line by employing an incremental design approach. This involves systematically introducing new technology or redesigned components on existing products to test and prove them in practice, rather than taking the more risky approach of introducing everything at once in a completely new product. Not only has much of the new product then been through field testing, but the overall development time is dramatically decreased and it is easier to identify the cause of any problems that may arise. If the project is a “one-off,” or if very small production numbers are involved, then prototype testing of any kind may be out of the question. It may be possible to simulate the final performance on a computer, and it may be possible to gain sufficient confidence in the overall design by testing certain components only. Whatever course of action is appropriate, a lot of design effort is needed between the approval of a design concept and the final detailing of parts for manufacture. For the design manager, it is helpful to divide this large part of the design effort into more manageable phases, and for the purposes of this book two phases will be used, termed embodiment design and detail design.