Customer Reviews

Product Design and Development

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is required reading for my class "New Product Development" at California College of the Arts and I must say that it covers all of the basic steps. The examples that it gives for specific stages of the process of creating a new product are very basic, but it allows you to use them as a template to embellish your own. I would definitely recommend this for the student and working professional. A big thumbs-up from me.

This was a huge waste of time. If you have no clue what product development is, and are looking for an encyclopedia entry-type definition of the process, read this book. However, if you're looking for tips on how to be more effective in product development, this is the absolute last book you should buy. It was nothing but 350 pages of dull definition drudgery: this is what product development is; these are the phases of product development; this is what you do in each phase; etc, etc. Nothing about strategy or relevant & innovative management techniques. And the fact that it was a $65 book just added insult to injury. This should sell for $20, tops.

Ulrich and Eppinger do a very nice job presenting the product development process. What I found particularly helpful is their practical approach to cross-functional development and a very complete treatment of the front end. They deal quite a bit with establishing a company strategy and how to translate that and customer needs into products. Many other references try to cover details in the whole development process, but I found their focus refreshing and of particular interest to me as an engineer who leads development teams. I also plan to use this book as a text for a class I teach in product development.

A good introduction for techies: engineers, scientists, machinists, industrial designers, etc. This book covers many topics that are a function of the "Technical Development" stage of NPD. There are better books that go into more detail on specific subjects such as DFA/DFM, QFD, etc. But this book is the best place to get started. Essential for techies, but probably not so useful for marketing people. Use in conjunction with a Stage-Gate NPD process, and portfolio management. All three resources together will give you a good foundation upon which to create new products.

If your class requires this book, pool together with a friend and just share it. There isn't enough valuable information in it to warrant buying your own.

Book will give you the basics at different product development tools that will allow you to evaluate multiple design concepts

This is a short textbook targeted at engineers taking interdisciplinary graduate courses about how their industrial design work fits into the overall product development process. It is strongest in outlining the key concepts that make industrial designs succeed. In its 4th edition, this is a well-written text with good supporting tables, charts and pictures. There is a good balance of theory and practice. The text could be digested by any junior level engineering or business major. It could be especially helpful to a non-technical marketing or finance MBA student seeking to understand the structural drivers of technical design success.

Chapters 1-4 lay out the usual process, plan and customer requirements components of a broader new product development course. They are not a substitute for the comprehensive treatment in a marketing course. Chapter 5 on product specifications is strong on the basics of metrics, values, technical and cost factors, but weak on the process of actually selecting and prioritizing factors at this stage.

Chapters 6-7 on concept generation and selection are strong, outlining the research and problem solving steps, followed by examples and processes for making choices. Chapter 8 on concept testing is elementary.

Chapters 9-11 are the heart of the book, explaining how product architecture, industrial design and design for manufacturing are done and why they, rather than technical brilliance or marketing innovation, are commonly the greatest drivers of life cycle project success. Product variety, standardization, modularity, chunking, interfaces, interaction, platforms, cost types, target costs, sequences, secondary features, assembly and support factors are defined and illustrated.

Chapters 12-13 provide an introduction to the important roles of prototypes and robust design. These are descriptive chapters with limited depth.

Chapters 14-16 cover the complementary topics of intellectual property, economics and project management at a surface level.

Anyone involved in the industrial design process will find value in this helpful textbook. It's 350 pages can be skim-read in less than 2 days.

Professors Eppinger and Ulrich have captured all of my nearly 30 years of industry experience in this one text book. This book is a must read for any student, engineer or manager who wants to understand the complete process of taking a concept or idea to a successful product launch.

The Ulrich/Eppinger text is excellent as always, but the 4th Edition differs from the 3rd in only a few trivial ways. Save yourself some money and buy a used 3rd Edition.

I enjoyed reading this book. It does appear boring in some chapters but in totality its an interesting book for people interested in NPD.