Generating Concepts for Product Design

Engineering a great product comprises of many steps. From idea generation to actual production, you have to look for the best solution at every stage. In this article, we will focus on the first of them – concept generation.

什么是概念一代？

Product concept generation is a process that starts with a list of parameters set by the customer regarding his needs and specifications. Based on the requirements, concept generation helps to pinpoint a variety of possible solutions and ideas that answers those needs.

许多工程公司倾向于忽略这一阶段，因为这似乎是浪费时间。逃避第一个想法并开始设计过程更容易。

However, looking at the problem from different angles can result in concepts that you may not have come up without some deep thinking. Hence, it is a crucial part of the product development process.

产品规划的概念生成可能被视为一种类似有效和前瞻性的机制精益制造用于生产和并发工程for the whole product development process. A systematic approach to the different sides of a product journey pays dividends at the end.

创建概念的步骤

The conceptualisation phase itself is a step in the larger engineering process, which goes like this:

• 确定客户需求
• Defining the problem and objectives
• 概念生成
• 起草和分析
• 详细的设计和图纸
• 创建原型
• Testing
• 最终交货

当然，您的实践工程师可能说您通常缺乏触摸一半点的时间和资源。如果您的客户在一次性机器之后，您可能没有钱来创建用于严格测试的全尺寸原型。

This, however, does not mean that you should skip everything other than customer needs,工程图纸and manufacturing. It only means that you are probably more restricted when it comes to trying out wholly new ideas because you cannot test if they actually work out as planned.

Even if you have to stay on the safer side, going through the concept process is of help when looking to provide the best possible solution to answer the need. So let’s take a look at what it entails.

Product concept generation steps are as follows:

• Understanding the problem
• Researching established solutions
• 集思广益& ideation
• Assessing the ideas & solutions
• 挑出其中的赢家和开始工作

Step 1 – Understanding the Problem

第一步是所有下一步的基础。不设置这一正确的方法将使整个开发过程徒劳无功。

Bear in mind that you are the engineer and the customer may not always know what kind of information is actually necessary. They may have a vision for a solution which ignores many important details.

因此，在此阶段，您必须真正有条不紊。访问网站（例如生产设施），询问项目目标，谁必须受益以及如何，对设计的要求等等。

All this contributes a great deal in the next steps. You will know what questions to ask yourself before putting anything to paper (or CAD).

步骤2 - 研究已建立的解决方案

Before getting to generating your own designs, expose yourself to the available information. Researching solutions for the same和类似的问题is a great way to kickstart the product development process.

当然，您最好的朋友是Google。您还可以从我们的机械工程师的最佳网站列表。查找与您的问题有关的所有内容。

There is a reason, however, why the customer is turning to you. Maybe he didn’t find what he was looking for, although it exists. Maybe he needs a customised solution. Maybe there is nothing available on the market that could satisfy the requirements.

Whatever the answer, there will be solutions similar enough. Exposing yourself to them is necessary before going on to the next stage.

Maybe your customer needs a solution for opening doors softly so the wind couldn’t blow it wide open with a bang. And nothing like that exists. Go on doing the research about mechanisms for closing doors softly. You may find a lot of inspiration if you do not limit yourself too narrowly.

That is also why seasoned engineers are so valuable. Even if they have not worked on a project with a similar scope, bringing in the experience from a variety of different projects will help immensely. Implementing an idea that answers a similar problem may need some adjusting, but it’s a good start.

步骤3 - 集思广益和构想

Now we get to put the research phase behind us to move on to the creative side of the design process. As we outlined in our工程师的提示文章，我们总是建议生成至少3种解决方案供您选择。

当然，在这些选项的路上，您将提出更多的想法。但是通过初始判断的3个将更详细地介绍。这包括使用制造技术，对最困难的子组件的深入分析等。我们将在步骤4中实现。

生产概念的技术

工程师以批判性思维能力而闻名。我们也臭名昭著，因为能够从一开始就没有意义的想法击落想法。

When looking to create a new concept for a product, the latter quality is not really useful. At least not in this stage. It is better to switch off the critical thinking part when looking to come up with a variety of ideas.

尽管这些想法将包括很多垃圾，但即使是最糟糕的垃圾也可能以一种或另一种方式促进最终概念。来自可怕的初始想法的单一设计元素仍然非常有价值。

最重要的部分是确保您的想象力可以自由流动。当然，这是一项需要开发的技能。寻找发展该技能的方法的绝佳资源是Thinkertoys by Michael Michalko。

在这里,我们将轮廓最常见的箍tegies to come up with some ideas.

集思广益

Let’s start with the most famous one of them all – brainstorming. This is a group exercise that is based on two premises – quantity breeds quality and deferring judgment.

The optimal size for a group is between 5-10 people and there should be a designated group leader. A session can last anywhere from fifteen minutes to an hour and there is one goal only – to come up with a lot of ideas. Of course, first you need to lay out the problem details you pinpointed in the first step.

Everyone will have to work together to continue developing each other’s ideas. A good practise to follow is answering an idea with “Yes, and…” rather than “Yes, but…”. This will set the tone for the whole process.

一旦遵循一个想法并快速进步逐渐减弱，小组负责人就可以改变主题。

这里的一个重要方面是，集思广益的会议可以甚至应该包括来自设计工程师圈外的人。这些人可以在没有大量限制逻辑的情况下带来新的视野。大公司经常在团队中有这种类型的人，他们永远不会迈出该项目的下一步。他们的目标是仅在此阶段做出贡献。

我tis the product development team’s task to later assess these ideas and choose whether using them in the concept is realistic or not.

反向头脑风暴

This is a combination of brainstorming and a technique called reversing. Engineering questions tend to be something like “How can I solve this problem?” and “How could I make this work?”. Reversing means asking “How can I make this problem worse?” and “How could I break it?”.

This gives a whole new perspective which can lead to great results.

Once you have created a set of reverse questions, you can start solving them. If your brainstorming buddies come up with ingenious ideas for breaking things, they may stumble upon something that is also actually useful for preventing this from happening.

You do not have to limit yourself to asking questions only, though. Statements about the “common understanding” work just as well.

ThinkerToys书中最著名的例子之一是归因于Alfred Sloanwho reversed the idea that a person must first buy a car before he can drive it. The reversal meant that you can buy it while driving the car, hence coming up with the idea for instalment buying.

Mind Maps

对于喜欢有组织思考的人来说，思维映射是一个很好的工具。有人喜欢……工程师。

You can take your main problem as the central word and write it down on paper. Then you just start writing down everything that relates to this word. And do the same, in turn, for those newly written-down words.

At last, you end up with a mind map with a lot of branches.

When creating a new product for your client, you can also start with the central word just being “the product” and add the requirements as the first branches – safety, ease of use, quickness, etc. When you add terms that relate to these qualities, you may well come up with a concept that covers all the necessary functions.

Just beware of the possibility ofcreating a feature shock。如果单一项目使使用更复杂，那么它并不总是必须解决世界上所有问题。或导致可怕的设计。

6-3-5方法

Another team effort that requires 6 people. Each writes down 3 ideas over a 5-minute period. Now you know what the numbers stand for.

First, each individual writes down 3 ideas for a solution. Again, the problem has to be clearly defined from the start.

Next, they pass their paper along to the person sitting next to them. He can then further develop these ideas or add new ones based on the ideas he sees. Seeing another person’s perspective can be a strong ignitor of a wholly new concept.

The same process will be done until each person gets their original paper back after a full circle. And now you have 108 ideas in total. Yes, some of them are very raw and partial. But you just spent less than an hour (including setting up the meeting and explaining what is going to happen) to generate a wide range of concepts for your product.

横向思维与垂直思维

Lateral thinking is definitely one of the most important elements of product design concept generation. Although we have already addressed it in principle, it will not hurt to lay it out.

Lateral thinking refers to a broad search for a large number of possibilities and ideas. The aim is to avoid going in-depth with any of this or even pass judgment. Sure, passing the opportunity to make a joke about your colleague’s lack of intelligence may be tough to resist, but do your best.

垂直思维是相反的，您可以在其中分析一个解决方案，以实现其优缺点。由于这是工程师性质的一部分，因此抵制诱惑需要一些纪律和意志力。

但是，如果您成功了，您将有机会在下一阶段做到这一点。

步骤4 - 评估思想和解决方案

现在，您的桌子上有各种各样的建议。当然，他们中的大多数无法解决您的问题。但是，在大量的想法中，必须有一些好的想法。如何筛选所有这些？

现在是时候将逻辑重新采取行动了。松了一口气 - 终于！

首先，审议这些想法，选择一些看起来像出色候选人的想法 - 3至5个概念将是很棒的。

Secondly, do some sketching for the select few. Besides being just illustrations, sketching can bring out the pros and cons of many of these ideas. Also, turn your attention to the more difficult aspects of each concept and try to come up with the general idea of how to solve them. This will help to assess many of the crucial points here.

Next, build up an assessment form or scoring matrix. It can include everything that is necessary for this project. Every idea gets a rating which is weighed. The scoring points can includemanufacturing cost, manufacturability, time to design, efficiency, durability, aesthetics, etc.

也许成本是最重要的方面，因此将其重量为1，而美学是一个不错的选择，重量为0.25。在以相同规模（例如最高10分）为每个方面得分之后，您将获得获胜的概念。

步骤5 - 选择获胜者并开始努力

因此，您拥有它 - 获胜的概念。现在是时候开始产品开发的过程了。接下来是特定的设计选择。在那里，您还可以利用强大的CAD软件功能（例如生成设计）来帮助创建高度优化的设计。

在此阶段，您还应该了解材料或至少材料类，因为它决定了零件的厚度和整体几何形状。最后但并非最不重要的一点是制作制作图。除非可以manufacture your parts straight from 3D files。

工程与解决问题有关。客户需要一些东西，他转向您解决问题。尽力而为，在过程的每个阶段都将其全部付诸实践。

当然，时间限制可以呼吸到您的脖子，但是寻找想法的初始阶段实际上并没有花费很长时间。但是，找到合适的一个将有助于大大减少在下一阶段和整体成本中所花费的时间。

And if you really are in a hurry, remember that generating two ideas is still better than one.

Now, armed with a few techniques, let’s start making better products!