This Is AuburnElectronic Theses and Dissertations

Creative-based Problem Solving Tool for New Product Design

Date

2019-11-22

Author

Yang, Chao

Type of Degree

Master's Thesis

Department

Industrial and Graphic Design

Abstract

In a highly competitive and uncertain market environment, product development needs not only to satisfy the quality and speed of production but also to ensure the product contains creativity values. Introducing new products persistently is one of the major tasks of companies and one of the important determinants for their survival; introducing creative products makes companies more competitive. Creative ideas are highly valued and rewarded by the market. Nevertheless, the high rate of product failure and the difficulties of predicting product trends accurately are the reason why companies fail to make large profits. Today’s market demands unique innovations that provide a conspicuous value to the customer. Companies must meet that challenge with fewer resources, at the lowest cost, with higher quality, and with shorter design cycle times. Conventional approaches to such unconventional demands simply will not get the job done. This thesis proposes a new product design template based on systematic design technique which does not heavily rely on marketing research. This creative-based new product design template enables companies to prepare a reserve for new products and to plan a strategy for their promotion even before the actual marketing step. This advanced preparation also makes it possible to enable companies to choose appropriate action and timing that may lead a maximum benefit. To demonstrate the feasibility of this design template, several case studies will be conducted. By applying product evolutionary thinking, integrating the resource in product system and system matrix, several solutions will be produced.