Fall 2015 1

• Last Homework assignment

−Complete the FSD. Due Today. Put on website and email a copy to me.

−Work on the Concept Generation portion of the CG&S Document for your Project.

−Email me with ~5 concept fragments for your actual project. We will discuss these in class on Tuesday.

−Read Chapter 7, Concept Selection in Ulrich and Eppinger

ECEn 490

Fall 2015 2

Team Pythagoreans: 01/27/09 Jonathon Taylor Daniel Richins Jim Meaders Ryan West

ECEn 490

Fall 2015 3

Lecture 7 Concept Selection

ECEn 490

Decision Making 101

Fall 2015 4

Phase 1

ConceptDevelopment

Phase 2 Phase 5Phase 4Phase 3

System-LevelDesign

DetailDesign

Testing andRefinement

ProductionRamp-up

Concept Development Phase

MissionStatement

DevelopmentPlan

Concept DevelopmentExhibit 2 Chapter 3 Ulrich & Eppinger

IdentifyCustomer

Needs

EstablishTargetSpecs

GenerateProduct

Concepts

Select aProductConcept

Test ProductConcept

SetFinalSpecs

Plan DownstreamDevelopment

Perform Economic AnalysisBenchmark Competitive Products

Build and Test Models and Prototypes

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Fall 2015 5

Concept generation

Concept screening

Concept scoring

Concept testing

Iterative Process of Screening and Scoring

Expand our thinking

Filter and decide

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Fall 2015 6

• Every team uses some method of decision

making. Common methods include:−External decision; let someone else decide,

customer, client, etc.−Product Champion; an influential team member

chooses the concept.−Intuition; subjective criteria are used to decide. It

just feels better.−Multi-voting; team members vote for their favorite.−Pros and Cons; team list strengths and

weaknesses and choose based on opinions.−Prototype and test; team builds several units and

decision is based on results.−Decision matrices; team rates each concept

against defined selection criteria.

ECEn 490

Fall 2015 7

• Benefits of using decision matrices−A customer focused approach; concepts

are evaluated against customer-oriented criteria.

−More competitive designs; concepts are benchmarked against best-in-class designs.

−Reduced development time; using a structured approach develops a common vision and language for the design team.

−Better group decision making; the decision is more likely to be based on objective criteria.

−Documentation of the decision process; the method provides its own documentation.

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Fall 2015 8

Caution

• Concept Scoring and Screening matrices are only used on those few (less than 5) design problems that will make a significant difference in the outcome of your project.

• You don’t need the formality of concept scoring and screening for obvious design choices or those that are dictated by the preferred solution.

ECEn 490

Fall 2015 9

• The Two Stages of Concept Selection−Concept Screening: give relative score

against a known benchmark design.−fast, approximate evaluation that produces several

viable concepts.−Best used when quantitative comparisons are

difficult.−Usually requires some sort of reference concept for

relative evaluation.

−Concept Scoring: weighted ranking of measurement criteria.

−Used when only a few alternatives are being considered.

−Required quantitative comparisons of concepts.−Can still be quite subjective due to choices of weights

and ranks.ECEn 490

Fall 2015 10

• In both cases we use the Six Steps of

Concept Selection−1. Prepare the selection matrix—choose

the selection criteria.−2. Rate the concepts.−3. Rank the concepts.−4. Combine and improve concepts.−5. Select one or more concepts.−6. Reflect on the results and the process.

Evaluate against a reference

Give the concept a # score

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Product Concepts

A B C E FSelection Criteria

Criteria 2

Criteria 1

Criteria 3

Sum/Rank

Method 1--Concept Screening

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0

- 0 + --

0 - + ++ 0

0 0 - 0 -

0 -2 0 +3 -3

Concepts

A B C E FCriteria

Criteria 2

Criteria 1

Criteria 3

Sum/Rank

Concept ScreeningConcept Ratings

A= reference

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Fall 2015 13

• Step 1--Preparing the Selection

Matrix.−The choice of the selection matrix is key

to the success of both Screening and Scoring.

−Selection criteria should be independent.

−Selection criteria should be chosen to differentiate among the concepts.

−The criteria should be of the same relative worth.

−Don’t get too many criteria.−Use industry comparisons if available.

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Fall 2015 14

• Concept Screening matrix−Start with the selection criteria. −Where are you going to get the

selection criteria?

−These are the key attributes or features of the product as determined in the FSD.

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Fall 2015 15

• Next develop the list of concepts that

you are considering for the solution −This list is the output of the concept

generation exercise. −Prune the list using intuitive methods to a

manageable number of concepts to consider.

−Each concept should be a solution to the same problem.

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Fall 2015 16

• Concept Screening−Step 2--Rating Concepts

• Use a relative score, +, 0, - or colored dots• rate against a reference

−Step 3--Rank the Concepts• sum up the scores• rank the concepts by scores, highest to

lowest.

−Step 4--Combine and Improve the Concepts• Look at the results and see if there are

ways to combine concepts• is there one bad feature that is degrading a

good concept?ECEn 490

Fall 2015 17

• Your team is working for “Innovative Directions”

• You have been given the assignment to work with BYU on a special project.

• Your team has been assigned this task:

• “Design and build an economical solution which will make it easy for those unfamiliar with the BYU campus to find their way around.”

In-Class Exercise

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Fall 2015 18

Innovative Directions Concept Generation

What would be some of the possible solutions for providing campus directions?

• Physical map

• Downloadable map

• New signs on campus

• New building signs

• Color coded strips on the sidewalks

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Fall 2015 19

Criteria• Cost of the solution• Ease of use• Portability• Accuracy of data• Cost of development• Availability of solution

Innovative Directions Concept Screening example

What would some good screening criteria for choosing the best alternative for the Innovative Directions example?

What would be a good benchmark concept?

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Fall 2015 20

Concepts

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Criteria

Availability of information

Ease ofUse

Cost

Sum/Rank

Concept Screening

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Fall 2015 21

• Concept Screening continued−Step 5--Select One or More Concepts

• Look for patterns and groupings of concepts.

• Look for natural breakpoints among concepts.

−Step 6--Reflect on the Results• try to get consensus among the team on

the results.• Ask if the criteria reflects the critical

customer needs.

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Fall 2015 22

• Method 2--Concept Scoring−Step 1--Preparing the selection matrix.−In addition to the requirements for

screening:• each criteria must be assigned a weight in

relationship to its importance.• A good way of assigning weights is to

allocate 100 percentage points across all criteria.

• Or, importance values can be assigned, 1-9.

• There are empirical methods of assigning weights, but more often they are determined by team consent.

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Fall 2015 23

• Concept Scoring Matrix

Concepts

Criteria Weight Rating WeightedScore Rating Weighted

ScoreRating Weighted

ScoreRating Weighted

Score

Concept AConcept B Concept C Concept D

100%Totals

Criteria 1Criteria 2Criteria 3

X%Y%Z%

139

1X3Y9Z

Sum

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Fall 2015 24

• Concept scoring, continued−Step 2--Rate the Concepts

• assign a numerical value to each concept with respect to the criteria.

• Use a wide scale to help differentiate among concepts. I.e. 1,3,9

−Step 3--Rank the Concepts• ranking is done by multiplying the concept

scores by the criteria weights.• Add up all the scores for each concept.• List the concepts by descending order.

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Fall 2015 25

Methods of PDA<->Computer Communication (Hardware)

0 = Terrible 2 = Decent 4 = Good 6 = Awesome

Cost

(Weight

ed x 3)

Comm

unicati

on

Distanc

e

(Weight

ed x 2)

Reliab

ility

(Weigh

ted x

1)

Ease

of

com

muni

catio

n

progr

ammi

ng

(Weig

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x 1)

Custo

mizati

on of

PDA

neces

sary?

(Weig

hted x

1)

Powe

r

cons

umpti

on

(Weig

hted x

1)

TOTALS

Serial Radio Link (One on each side)4x3=12

6x2=12

4x1=4

4x1=4

2x1=2

4x1=4 38

Wireless LAN (802.11)0x3=0

4x2=8

6x1=6

6x1=6

6x1=6

4x1=4 30

IrDA6x3=18

0x2=0

2x1=2

4x1=4

6x1=6

4x1=4 34

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Fall 2015 26

• Concept Scoring continued−Step 4--Combining and improving is

similar to concept screening.−Step 5--Select one or more concepts

• choose the highest ranking concepts• look for individuals scores where one criteria

was significant to the total.• Decide whether the scoring was quantitative

enough to make a decision.

−Step 6--Reflect on the Results• this is again similar to screening, does the

answer make sense.

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Fall 2015 27

• In class exercise−Develop a scoring matrix for the criteria

that you developed in Exercise #1. −Give relative weights to the criteria and

design a scoring definition for the ranking.

−How does this help with the evaluation of the criteria?

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Fall 2015 28

Concept Scoring

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Ease of use 0

Availability of information 0

Cost 0

Sum/Rank 0 0 0 0 0 0

In class exercise

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Fall 2015 29

• Potential problems−Concept criteria are not independent

• a set of criteria reflects a common need, resulting in too heavy a weighting.

• For example, if you had three criteria relating to quality, and only one relating to cost, the sum of the quality scores would be spread over three criteria, while cost is concentrated in one criteria.

−Criteria are too subjective. How do you deal with subjective criteria?

−Cost must always be included in some form, because of the importance to the customer.

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Fall 2015 30

• Summary

• All teams use some form of selection, often it is

implicit and unstructured.

• Structured concept selection provides a level of

objective measurement that can help

differentiate between competing solutions.

• Concept screening is useful for eliminating

alternatives when you have a large number to

consider.

• Concept scoring is used to refine the selection

when you have only a few choices.

• Screening and scoring are not exact sciences.

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Fall 2015 31

• Homework

−Complete the Concept Generation and Scoring Document. Due at design review next week.

−Be sure to cover all 5 of areas of the decision Matrix to insure that the reader will understand your thought process, and especially the assumptions that you are using. (see the document description on the ECEn 490 business website.)

ECEn 490

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Ease of use 40 5 5 6 4 6

Availability of information 40 5 7 4 4 5

Cost 20 5 7 3 2 3

Sum/Rank 100 500 620 460 360 500

Critical parts of the body of the CG&S document. You need a written section with Scoring for each of the following;

1. Description of the alternatives considered2. Discussion of the decision criteria; why were they chosen? why they are important?

These should come directly from the customer needs/FSD.3. The thought process that resulted in the weighting factors. This should be heavily

driven by the FSD prioritized needs. Include the values.4. An analysis of the process of scoring. Why did you choose the various scores?

Include the scores!5. Review your results.

Fall 2015 32ECEn 490