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Product specification

Ian Bark & Lloyd AnsellSeries Editor: Louise T Davies

Lesson 9

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Lesson objectives/aims

• Be able to write a justified product specification.• Be able to draw on experience and research carried out to justify

individual product specification points.• Become familiar with and apply CAFÉ QUE and ACCESS FM in

drawing up a product specification.• Understand how a product specification influences the quality of

designing.

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Learning ladder

By the end of the lesson:

You must:• be able to write a basic product specification.

You should:• understand how a product specification influences product quality.• be able to write a basic, justified, product specification.

You could:• be able to write a detailed, fully justified product specification.

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Starter

• Can you specify the route you took to come to school?

• Try to make it detailed enough for someone who doesn’t know the area to not get lost on the way.

• What amount of detail is required?

Introduction

• A product specification is a written statement of a product’s required characteristics, documented in a manner that enables the product to be produced, procured and accepted.

• For example:

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What is a product specification? (1)• A product specification is a written statement of a product’s required characteristics,

documented in a way that enables its production, procurement and acceptance.• Part of the product specification will be derived from the design brief.• However, it is possible to produce a full list of product specification criteria only once

some research has been carried out.

Why is it so important?• The product specification is probably the most important aspect of your product.• It is pivotal to the design.• It pulls together the research that has been carried out, and sets out the guidelines that

the product must adhere to.

Product specification

• The product specification sits at the heart of the design process. • It is built on research, and is therefore an informed document.• It sets the parameters for the design, manufacture and evaluation of

the product.

Research Productspecification

Design,manufacture

andevaluation

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CAFÉ QUE

CAFÉ QUE is a tool used to help in generating a product specification.

Each letter represents an area that needs to be considered if effective

research is to be completed, leading to an informed product specification.

C = Cost: how much will the product cost to buy?

A = Aesthetics: what will the product look like?

F = Function: what does the product have to do?

E = Ergonomics: how big or small will the product be?

Q = Quality: how will the quality of the product be measured?

U = User: who will buy or use the product?

E = Environment: where will the product be used?

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ACCESS FM

ACCESS FM is a tool used to assist in generating a product specification.

Each letter represents an area that needs to be considered if effective

research is to be completed, leading to an informed product specification.

A = Aesthetics: what will the product look like?

C = Cost: how much will the product cost to buy?

C = Customer: who will buy the product?

E = Environment: where will the product be used and/or stored?

S = Size: how big or small will the product be?

S = Safety: how safe will the product be to use?

F = Function: what does the product have to do?

M = Material: what will the product be made of?

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Standards

• There is no such thing as a standard format for product specifications, but there are guidelines that should be followed.

• The British Standards Institution has produced a guide document for producing product specifications entitled PD 6122: A Guide to the Preparation of Specifications.

• The diagram on the next slide is based on PD 6112. It lists various criteria that might have to be considered when producing a product specification.

• All products have different design requirements: therefore each factor listed will vary in importance.

• For example, the specification for a birthday card would place lower priority on product maintenance than that for a bicycle.

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Factors to consider

The need for compromise

• A product specification has to be a ‘best fit’ compromise.• For example, materials research has informed you that your

product would be best manufactured by injection moulding.• Unfortunately, your research has also informed you that there is a

limited market for your product.• So the use of injection moulding as the preferred manufacturing

method would be prohibitively expensive.

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• A product specification is best written as a series of bullet points.

• By starting each bullet point with ‘It must’ or ‘It should’ you can indicate how important it is that a particular product specification requirement is fully achieved.

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Bullet points

• For example, when developing the product specification for a car:

• It must be capable of being seen at night. This is clearly an important point that must be met.

• It should be capable of travelling at 180mph. This may be desirable, but it is not important in a country with a maximum speed limit of 70mph.

Justify what you say

• Each product specification point must be justified: you must give a reason for it.

• By using a connective such as ‘because’ or ‘in order to’ after your initial point you will automatically have to add a justification.

• For example, when developing the product specification for a car:• It must be capable of being seen at night in order to meet with

current legislation and warn other road users of its presence.• It should be capable of travelling at 180mph because research has

shown that there is a small number of potential customers for whom this is a major priority.

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Task

1. Identify ten specification criteria for one of the products listed below.

2. Write a fully justified product specification for one of the products listed below.

Products:• A head torch • A desk tidy • A skateboard • A pencil case • A stunt kite.

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Plenary

• What is a product specification?• Why should product specification points be justified?• What is the relationship between the product specification and:

– a tender document?

– a manufacturing contract?

– a customer warranty?

Extension

• How detailed are your specification points?• Take your points and try to make them more analytical. • Use descriptive technical terms if possible.• How many points have you written down?• Try to write another ten additional points in order to describe the

product better.

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Homework• Select a second

product from the list below and write a fully justified ten-point product specification.

Products:• A head torch • A desk tidy • A skateboard • A pencil case • A stunt kite.