48080 Introduction to Innovation
48080 Introduction to Innovation
Group Assignment
ASSIGNMENT 3 (30%)
Group Name:
Group Members:
Name: Student ID:
Name: Student ID:
Name: Student ID:
Name: Student ID:
Day and time of Class:
Scenario:
You are members of a business unit, developing and producing a moderately complex tool, do NOT use one of the examples we have discussed extensively in class (Iron, Oven, Mobile Phone, Lawnmower) - Choose a tool of a similar level of complexity.
Your tool exhibits little differentiation versus its global competitors, the core design and technologies are in the public domain and most clients make rational purchases based on the best price/performance mix.
The newly appointed vice-president of the business unit has tasked your team with addressing an outstanding quality problem that customers are experiencing, so that the product can be more competitive in the market.
Your job is to identify and test several changes that are likely to address the problem.
Task 1: Customer Analysis and Quality Function Deployment (QFD) [5]
Goal: Understanding and planning customer requirements of quality-attributes for engineering thought process
a) Research (from secondary sources) the desirable and undesirable characteristics, according to customers, of the chosen tool and translate that into meaningful quality attributes/variables for the QFD [100-200 words] [2]
b) List meaningful design variables in relation to fulfilling the customer requirements identified in the previous step. Use the QFD (House of Quality) format to present these. Identify the degree of importance for each design variable [3]
Task 2: Problem Definition (Statement and Criteria) [5]
Goal: Understanding the problem customers are facing and identifying criteria to measure improvement
a) Write a Problem Definition for a common customer problem/complaint that you found in Task 1. [100-200 words] [2]
You should include:
A concise problem statement (5-15 words)
Explanation of any specific terms and context
Evidence of the problem experienced by customersb) Define improvement criteria (i.e. performance variables) to measure how effective solutions are [100-200 words] [3]
Task 3: Systems Thinking and Causal Loop Diagram (CLD) [5]
Goal: Understanding holistic view of the problem and solution provided by the chosen tool.
a) Prepare a list of system variables that are associated with the chosen tool and identified problem, enumerating the relationships between them [100-200 words] [2]
Your model should include the performance variables identified in Task 2.
b) Draw Causal Loop Diagram to show the relationships between variables [3]
Task 4: Design of Experiment (DoE) [5]
Goal: To be able to design an experiment to test potential changes in the chosen tool.
a) Briefly re-state the response/dependent variable(s) for your experiment. These should have been defined in Task 2b. [1]
Response Variables Measurement Techniques
b) Define several factors (independent variables) at two levels for possible changes to be tested [2]
Include for each:
A brief explanation of how the levels will be varied between experimental units.
A brief rationale for why you believe that the factor is worth studying.
Factors under study - Level + Level
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c) Define several background (confounding/noise) variables that need to be considered for the proposed experiment, and how you will manage/mitigate their impact [2]
Background Variables Method of Control
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