Design Management and the British Standard - Assignment Example

your Design Management and BS 7000 – 2: 2008 0 Introduction 1 BS 7000 is the British Standard series concerning the design management aspects within an organisation that supplies goods and services to the market and is also applicable for non-profit organisations. It comprises a series of individual standards on the different aspects such as management of: innovation, design of manufactured product, services design work, construction and inclusive design. It thus forms a comprehensive reference and guidance format to enable organisations to benchmark themselves on their current practices and to get inspiration to turn themselves into innovative businesses. ‘Invention is ten percent inspiration and ninety percent perspiration’, as the popular saying goes and BS 7000 series describes the scientific path to the perspiration part and as such is invaluable for all organisations. 1.2 This essay attempts to summarise BS 7000-2: 2008 ‘Design management systems – Part 2: Guide to managing the design of manufactured products’ by considering issues such as the importance of this standard for design work, its ramifications for a company, the product user, operator and its disposer, product and process controls, risks and benefits of managing a product design. 2.0 Choice of the selected standard Managing the design of a manufactured product is an aspect that has very wide implications – from the different functional departments of a company to the users, and in fact over its entire life cycle up to and including its disposal after use. While an engineering design work is commonly understood as a mere technical function, this (your last name) 2 British Standard brings about a totally new meaning and awareness to the profession of product design and its relevancy. Awareness brings a greater sense of responsibility as well as a greater degree of challenge to the task of managing product design. The systematic approach recommended in BS 7000-2:2008 helps in understanding the fact that it can also be managed – meaning organised, planned, executed, controlled and corrected in a feedback loop, which would result in improved products. Thus it is appropriate to select this standard for learning the totality of circumstances of a product design. 3.0 Process of selection of the standard I have reviewed the scope of the standards covered under BS 7000, more particularly Parts 1 and 2. Part 1 dealt with managing innovation, which again like managing the design function, is a much misunderstood term. Part 1 elaborated on the systematic approach to analyzing the existing attitudes and informing the practices of an innovative organisation. While the aspect of managing innovation is not confined to just product design but also to all the series of activities that form a part of the value chain of an organisation, innovation in product design is integral to design function. To this extent, even though this paper deals with design function only, by selecting this standard, I had to review both the standards and this has enabled me to take a broader view of managing innovation as well as design. 4.0 Impact of managing design 4.1 This standard impacts a number of areas and agencies in a complementary way – on the one hand it defines excellence in design over the life cycle of a product, and on the (your last name) 3 other lists out very detailed guidelines by following which, it becomes easier to achieve design excellence. The effect of the standard in some specific areas is discussed below: 4.2 The design: ‘Excellence in design is an important differentiating factor between competing products, and can be the key to company survival in increasingly competitive world markets’ (BS 7000-2:2008, p.1). This is the crux of this standard. Managing design means laying down the policy that looks at a product from all angles – from its conception to the design, manufacturing, marketing, usage, life expectancy, customer satisfaction and ultimate disposal – and enjoins the designer to build the desired characteristics into the product so as to create excellence in design. The designer receives this design policy and shoulders the responsibility to ensure total compatibility of his design work with the aims, objectives and goals of his counterparts in other functional areas within his organisation. The check lists of key actions to be undertaken by the key executives and project managers as given by this standard help to achieve this. 4.3 The company: Customer satisfaction and corporate governance issues are at the core of corporate policy and mission statements. In order to achieve the organisational goals, senior executives have to write down (among other things), the policy for design control, quality control and general guidelines as appropriate. In addition, a company also draws up the programme of specific activities and investments along with time scale for implementation. Finally, it formulates the strategy for achieving the business and design objectives and commits the needed resources. In all these areas of policy formulation, drawing up the programme and strategic implementation, BS 7000-2:2008 offers specific (your last name) 4 guidelines. Figures 3 and 4 (ibid, p.8 & 9) give the organisational set up for product development and the roles to be assumed by the different functional authorities respectively. Figure 5 (p.11) is the check list of design management responsibilities. Similarly, the standard offers guidance in virtually all areas of operations of a business like design, manufacturing, sales & marketing, resource commitment and revenue generation, risk management etc. These are specific recommendations to be adopted by any company. 4.4 The user: BS7000 – 2:2008 is not a mandatory standard that imposes contractual obligations. It is recommendatory in nature, drawn up with a view to help companies to adopt best practices for achieving excellence in managing product design function. To this extent, companies that get accreditation under standards like ISO 9000 (quality control) series or ISO 14000 (environmental control) series etc. as the obligatory standards, can use BS 7000 -2:2008 as a practice to supplement their policy frame work. Users of products from such companies will have the satisfaction of obtaining excellent products, good value for money, and a feeling of following socially responsible consumer behaviour. 4.5 The disposer: The standard emphasizes the need for adopting a ‘cradle to grave’ approach while designing a product (ibid, p.21 & 22). It suggests promoting environmentally sensitive design practices so that at the end of useful life, a product is easily disposed off in a law abiding and environmentally responsible way. It could mean reducing consumption of natural resources in the process of manufacture, potential for reuse, recycling after use for making new products or disposability for easy and natural (your last name) 5 degradation with minimal impact on the natural environment. The disposer collects waste products according to segregation (paper, plastic, glass, bio-waste etc.) for further course of actions (reuse, recycle, incineration etc.) and hence a product design should also permit such classification with appropriate labeling. 4.6 The operator: BS 7000 – 2:2008 is relevant for managing design of consumer and industrial products. For consumer products, the user is the operator, in a way. Industrial products are put to use by the more popularly understood term ‘the operator’. He is benefited by this guideline standard since the products that he comes to operate are designed, manufactured, tested and validated by a due process of product design management. Any defects that are a potential source of risk to the final operator or which may lead to malfunction are eliminated in the process of testing and validation. Records of all materials and processes culminating in the final acceptance of the product for regular and safe use are maintained as per legal requirements and this gives additional level of comfort to the operator. 5.0 Controls and procedures In order to achieve the objectives of managing the product design from conception to its ultimate disposal, BS 7000 – 2:2008, proposes that companies adopt the appropriate controls and these controls are spelt out in the form of check lists, tables and flow charts to aid senior executives and project management teams. The flow charts identify activities at both the organisational and project levels (ibid, pp.8 & 27). The key aspect of controls is the audit procedures, which are to be established and reviewed from time to time. Principal executives periodically audit the output of different departments, (your last name) 6 facilities, subsidiaries and agents and the audit covers the design as well as design management as per the set procedures. Procedures are comprehensively designed to cover a variety of product design, manufacture and related activities and include information on competition and emerging technologies (ibid, p.25 & 26). Documentation and final review after a product is produced also form part of the control procedures. 6.0 Risks Risks are related to investments in design, innovative ideas or technology. While dealing extensively with risk management in paragraphs 5.2.7 & 5.2.8 (ibid, p.32 & 33), BS 7000 – 2 :2008 suggests identifying, assessing and controlling risk as per the process suggested in BS 6079 – 3. The design management process should ensure that investments made in organisational resources (relating to design work) are not wasteful and would give the expected returns in terms of the desired products. New ideas or new technologies should enhance the current best practices rather than increasing risks such as product failure, user rejection, adverse environmental impact etc. 7.0 Benefits The guidelines are a set of do’s, clearly showing the road map for an organisation, its senior executives and project management staff. This readymade road map reduces the time and effort needed by the organisations to workout similar procedures, every time a new design work is undertaken. The risks of failure are reduced while the quality control, profitability and environmental compliance are ensured. Choosing between alternative designs and making continuous improvements over previous designs are the added (your last name) 7 benefits. Financial risks of investment are reduced or eliminated and level of comfort to aggressively market the product is enhanced. 8.0 Conclusion BS 7000 -2 :2008 is a very useful management tool for all business organisations and engineering executives to organise, plan, execute and control design functions. Successful product design involves a thorough process of evaluation from a range of angles – the company, its departments & resource commitments, customers, regulators, operators and ultimately the disposal. Awareness of such interdependence and following a procedure in a structured manner as suggested by the standard reduces the risks and enhances the benefits associated with product design work. (your last name) 8 References BS 7000 – 1: 2008, Design management systems – Part 1: Guide to managing innovation. BS 7000 – 2: 2008, Design management systems – Part 2: Guide to managing the design of manufactured products. Read More