When it comes to inventing and making a product, a fantastic engineering idea is not enough. The World War 2 Spitfire was an ingenious aircraft to take into battle but its manufacture was very costly, and took three times as long as the enemy's equivalent. An essential aim for engineers today is to design a good product that is also easy to manufacture, and completing this vision demands effective management tools.
 

This module introduces you to management concepts and techniques and takes you through the whole engineering procedure from marketing your product idea; exploring fundamentals like patents and intellectual property, to ensuring that your design fulfils customer requirements; and use techniques like QFD or House of Quality in which market needs and major product aspects are analysed to guide your design.

Studying design for manufacture is a key element of this module and this covers different techniques that attempt to ensure your designs are suitable to be made. The main aim is to teach you not just about the value of a strong engineering idea but about the practicalities of how you bring it to market and how these two factors must work together.

By the end of the module you will understand the design and development process and how it is controlled; in particular how you will monitor this efficiently at various stages to produce a product that meets the specification you wrote and the original customers' requirements. With a strong grasp of designing for manufacture in mind, you will also have become more competent to work in the design process of real companies and have an excellent knowledge of how to manage this.
 

The module aims to introduce you to the process of generating ideas for new product development. It also aims to develop your awareness of how the basic concepts and tools for managing new product development are applied in practice. Finally, it highlights the integration of product development process and the delivery system reliability and maintenance.

This is a constituent module of one or more degree programmes (i.e., Bachelors/MEng) which are accredited by a professional engineering institution under licence from the Engineering Council. The learning outcomes for this module have been mapped to the output standards required for an accredited programme, as listed in the current version of the Engineering Council’s ‘Accreditation of Higher Education Programmes’ document (AHEP-V3).

This module contributes to learning outcomes: SM1p-SM3p, SM1m-SM3m, SM6m, SM1fl, SM3fl, D1p-D6p, D1m-D8m, D1fl-D3fl, ET1p, ET1m, ET1fl, ET2p, ET2m, ET2fl, ET5p, ET5m, ET5fl, ET7m, EP2p, EP2m, EP1fl, EP9p, EP9m, EP2fl, EP9p, EP11m, EP4fl, G1p, G1m, G1fl, G4p, G4m, G4fl

A full list of the referenced outcomes is provided online: http://intranet.exeter.ac.uk/emps/subjects/engineering/accreditation/

The AHEP document can be viewed in full on the Engineering Council’s website, at http://www.engc.org.uk/.

On successful completion of this module, you should be able to:

 

Module Specific Skills and Knowledge: SM1p-SM3p, SM1m-SM3m, SM6m, SM1fl, SM3fl, D1p-D6p, D1m-D8m, D1fl-D3fl, EP2p, EP2m, EP1fl, EP9m, EP2fl, EP9p, EP11m, EP4fl

1. Understand the issues that arise when developing products, services and processes and awareness for sources of generating new ideas.
2. Comprehend the fundamental nature of product/service development and its relationship with the delivery system.
3. Participate effectively in the process of new product development.
4. Demonstrate familiarity with a range of concepts and tools for effective management of new product development.

 

Discipline Specific Skills and Knowledge: ET1p, ET12m, ET1fl, ET2p, ET2m, ET2fl, ET5p, ET5m, ET5fl, ET7m

5. Appreciate the strategic nature and importance of new product development to the corporate success.

 

Personal and Key Transferable/ Employment Skills and Knowledge: EP9p, EP11m, EP4fl, G1p, G1m, G2fl, G4p, G4m, G4fl

6. Work in teams to analyse problems and present analysis to larger groups.
7. Illustrate critical analysis skills through analysis of case studies.
8, Enhance communication, report writing, and organisational skills.

- introduction to new product development;

- the essential differences between product and service;

- the role of markets and marketing function;

- product/service designs - issues and considerations;

- product reliability;

- process reliability - making a system fail-safe;

- process reliability - checking for failure;

- maintenance - concepts and tasks;

- maintenance - types;

- life cycle design and costing;

- design knowledge management;

- management of innovation;

- design re-use.

Reassessment will be by a single written exam only worth 100% of the module. For deferred candidates, the mark will be uncapped. For referred candidates, the mark will be capped at 40%.

ELE – http://vle.exeter.ac.uk

Reading list for this module: