1.Identify customer needs
We present a six-step methodology to identify customer needs.
1) Define the scope of the effort.
2) Gather raw data from customers.
3) Interpret the raw data in terms of customer needs.
4) Organize the needs into a hierarchy of primary, secondary, and tertiary needs.
5) Establish the relative importance of the needs.
6) Reflect on the results and the process.
Customer's needs of a bookcase is listed as follows.
1) storage capacity
2) low space occupying
3) easy access and reachability
4) protect stored things against dust
5) keep privacy
6) durability
7) easy to assemble
8) acceptable price
9) modular
10) design
11) easy to move
To decide the importance of customer needs, we rated the criteria against each other using a simple code(1 for “more important than”,0 for “equal importance”,-1 for “less important than”)(more details shown in document "Customer needs survey.doc")
We get low space occupying, storage capacity, easy access and appearance as the key needs of a bookcase.
Later on we will concentrate on the needs especially the key needs of customers to do the conceptual design.
| customer_needs_survey.pdf | |
| File Size: | 61 kb |
| File Type: | doc |
2.Main functions of the product
According to the survey we conducted, the main function of a rack is offering as much storage capacity as possible. This result is not surprising at all. While realizing this function we had to keep in mind the other important customer needs, e.g. low space occupation, which is especially important in our key market, furnishing dormitory and small apartments in the cities; easy reachability, it has to be possible to put the rack where it is needed and not having to look for some place where it might fit because of its size or its shape. Last but not least the design plays a decisive role for furniture purchasing. Only very few people would buy some furniture that they do not like at all just because it is cheap or practicable. But we have to focus on the price as well, in our case it might even be more important than the design because somebody who decides about furnishing dormitories probably does not care a lot about the appearance but about the price.
The main function, to store things away while not occupying a lot of space, is realized by our concept of the sliding-shelf. By this the room is used more efficiently. Besides that we realized some less important customer needs as well, e.g. the things stored in the back shelves are protected against dust and it is possible to put things away and lock them. Durability and a reasonable price will be obtained by the simple design. To adjust storage capacity and appearance to the customer needs is no problem at all because of the modularity.
3.Conceptual design and selection
We have 3 different conceptual designs listed as follows:
A:Stand-up sliding bookcase
The whole bookcase is composed of a desk and a sliding shelf. The up cover of the desk can be folded so as to put private things in it. There is a shelf under the cabinet of the desk which is used to put things with big volume such as dictionaries, etc.
The sliding part stands on the up cover of the desk, of which two sides are fixed to the up cover of the desk. The middle clapboard can be moved along a leading track which can be made of wood or metal. We can put common used books on the sliding shelf for it’s very easy to fetch. With the help of the sliding clapboard, it’s flexible to adjust the storage capacity of each separate room beside the clapboard. The board on the top of the sliding shelf can be used to put things to. In addition the board can help protect things stored from pollution.
B:The modular design
- Design for people living in school dormitory or small apartment who have limited space and no too much money
- Adaptable according to actual room space and customers’ needs
- Easy to assemble by customers themselves
- Possess a large capacity in a relatively concentrated space
The minimum productà①+③
①
- A shelf with two levels
- On the front level one block is laid and able to slide along the runner in left-and-right direction
- On the back level two blocks are arranged closely together.
- The left one is able to move from back to front along the runner in the top plate
– The right one is fixed on the bottom plate
- The shelf can be locked when the left block slides to the front level to keep privacy, as long as the stuff stored in the right back block is unexpected to display.
- The four grooves on the right face are functioned for the expansion of the product
③
- The plate can be connected to ① as the right cover to prevent the sliding blocks from falling out.
The separate and selectable unità②
- Insert as many units as the customer wants between ① and ③
- Is composed of four parts, A, B, C and D.
- Can be easily assembled by oneself
- After the unit is assembled with ① and ③, the front block can sliding both on the runners of ① and ②, so that the back block can be used.
C:Stand-alone rack
Design idea:
The idea was to build a rack that uses the available room as optimal as possible. The two storrage layers of this stand-up rack offer a lot of storage room without taking in more space of a wall than an ordinary rack does. Because of its design it is still a big furniture and thus is not suitable for small apartments.
Design features:
- The modules in the back (a and b) are fixed to the frame. They can hold whatever necessary, e.g. a TV or something else that one does not like to look at all the time.
- The front module on the left can slide back and forth. If it is sled to the back, the other front modules can slide left and right, thereby access to the back modules is granted.
- The usage of back modules is like the one of a cupboard with sliding doors. Using the front modules is like using an ordinary rack, constant access is possible and the things are convenient to pick.
- By locking the left front module, access to the back ones is prohibited.
Final design
Evaluation of the different designs:
- The combined desk and rack is a very unique design and probably a great and functional furniture that would fit into every dormitory or small apartment. Probably not very many people will put a desk into their apartment if they already do not have very much room and because of the combination of desk and storage capacity, only the people who need both at the same time are potential customers. The market for this special furniture is probably very limited.
- The stand alone style rack is probably much too big for the average customer and could only be sold to people with a big flat or an own house. So it faces the same problems like the combined design does, the market is too limited and small. Even though both of them would be great, functional furniture it is too risky to choose those.
- The third design, hang-up-style, is probably the one that fits our key market perfectly. It is small, but because of the modular design it can easily be enlarged to the size needed. It is easy to put up and handle. Like the IKEA-furniture everybody can put it together himself and expand it at a later time if necessary. By screwing it to the wall it does not occupy any valuable space on the floor and if it was put above a bed or some other furniture it would even provide additional room, that could hardly be used before. Through the sliding feature things on the back-shelf are locked away like in a cupboard and the ones on the front shelf are easy to fetch and always accessible like in an ordinary rack. By securing the sliding-block on the left in front with a lock, there is no way to reach the stuff sored inside without unlocking or destroying the furniture.
Because of the many advantags of the third one we chose this design to built. It satisfies almost every customer need and fits the target market the best. The only need that is not satisfied is „easy to move“ because it is not necessary to move this furniture because it is put somewhere where it does not bother at all.
4.Structure
A. Product structure
The price will be an important factor for the success of our product. Therefor we decided to use as few different products as possible. Every wall of the modules is produced exactly the same and the top and bottom boards of those are the same as well. Also the shelfes can be used in the front, back and in every additional module.
The product structure includes every possible variation of the product with just changing the number of modules added.
B. Function structure
According to the topic „conceptual design“ our product offers only very few functions. Thus the function structure of the product is pretty straightforward.
Product structure
B. Function structure
5.WBS(work breakdown structure) of the project
