Design Process

Most of the products have been through a process which from conceptual design to mass production for selling. The attached diagram shows a rough product design process from my working experience for sharing especially in toys, premium & simple consumer products area. The process may be more complicated than we think for some high technology products.
Now I would like to explain more in some critical stages and let everybody have a little bit more understanding such as conceptual design, 3D looks/works like modeling, exploded view drawing, test shots (parts) molding review & product testing review.

• Conceptual Design/Rendering
  To create a line drawing with 3D, front, back & side views of the new product to give the client a basic idea about the shape & function of the product which they are going to buy or produce and sell to the market in future. These drawings should represent the client's requirement and show the spirit of the idea.
• 3D Looks/Works Like Modeling
  According to the approved rendering, a 3D looks/works like model needs to be make for further evaluation which including customer review, cost estimation, product safety requirement & functional design. The model should has the correct appearance and may need to be revised for few times base on the above evaluation.
• Exploded View Drawing
  These kind of drawings show all the parts consist in the product in a certain position. From these drawings, the costing engineer & manufacturer can easily calculate the cost and do some trouble shooting in this stage to prevent any serious problem in future. The most important is whoever make the drawings should try his best to create a most effective design for the new product(less parts to save cost & material, easy way for assembly & maintenance etc).
• Test Shot Molding Review
  After the injection molds have been finished, we need to review the parts after injection molding. The basic review is trying to find out is there any big problem in assembly, shape
  deformation & test the strength of the material for safety requirement. Usually it'll take 2-3 trials to finalize the result for molding, assembly & safety issues. It's quite a time consuming process.
• Product Testing Review
  The product needs to be tested before put into the market. The official testing result should be reported by the official testing agency. The basic testing includes drop test, bite test, pull test, sharp point/sharp edge test etc. But usually we’ll test the product once we get the 1st parts from injection molding and try our best to make the product to achieve the quality control specification for saving cost and timing.

Actually if the engineer(s) can pay attention with care in every stage, then the process would be worked out more easier and smoothly. For a good product designer should at least has some basic idea how the product has been made which can help in designing. It would be much better if the designer able to design the whole product and make it work, also can share with other people’s experience and opinion.

 Design Flow Chart

Product Design & Designed Product

For most of the people may not fully understand the difference between these two phrases.

• Product Design
  Only shows the outlook of the new product with some descriptions about the function of it.
• Designed Product
  Not only design the shape of the product but also all the contents have been designed which make it work & fulfilled all other requirements.

I myself have been working as a mechanical engineer in toys, premiums & some other consumer products for more than two decades, mostly dealing between the product designers & manufacturers. My experience has taught me that most designers only concentrate on the apparent design & the ideal function for the product and leave the inner (mechanical/electrical) design of the product to the engineer like us to solve. It is quite a challenge to the engineers that they have to design the components based on the cost saving, functional requirement and easiest way to be produced in mass production. Normally there will be some debate on the product between designer & manufacturer which may need compromise. Otherwise the product may cost a lot of time & money to solve the problems during production.

I want to point out is no matter how good the designer is, it would be much better for them to get some advice from the people who are going to make it happen before they finalize the product design. It would be very good if the designer has some basic knowledge about manufacturing process and production tool/mold making. This definitely can save much time & money on the whole process of the product creation and manufacturing.