The course deals with the analysis of industrial products from both a functional and technical point of view. In particular, the aim of the course is to provide students with methodological tools for analyzing products and discovering innovation opportunities. The content of the course mainly concerns methods and tools to support value analysis, starting from the services it offers.
Thompson Rob, Il manuale per il design dei prodotti industriali, Zanichelli, Bologna, 2012.
Slides of the lectures.
Learning Objectives
The educational objective of the course is to transfer to the students a set of methodological tools for the analysis of the value of the industrial product. Specifically, the course wants to contribute:
- To carry out a systematic analysis of the technical solutions available in a given industrial context;
- To identify opportunities for radical/incremental innovation in the industrial context, starting from unmet needs;
- To translate opportunities for innovation into design objectives.
Prerequisites
None
Teaching Methods
The course includes theoretical lessons and exercises. The lessons are integrated with examples and tutorials to clarify the use of the methodological tools introduced. The exercises aim to apply the notions introduced during the theoretical lessons through case studies, in order to put the student in a position to evaluate the problems of use. During the second part of the course, which is mainly practical, students will work on the paper to be submitted for the final exam.
Further information
Meeting with the Professor to book by email to federico.rotini@unifi.it
Type of Assessment
Students should apply the concepts introduced in the course to identify opportunities for innovation in the context of the analysis. The work must be done by groups of three students. The topic is chosen by the working group in agreement with the teacher. The examination will be oral. For this purpose, groups should produce a presentation of their work, which summarizes:
- the theme of analysis;the organisation of the project team, from which the roles of each component can be derived;the methodological approach followed to carry out the analysis, describing the methodological tools used and how they were used;
- the results obtained from the analysis process and their use to identify opportunities for innovation.
The presentation will be discussed in 15 minutes.
The criteria on which the evaluation is based are the following:
- ability to work in group and methodological path (weight 0.80);
- quality of the papers produced for the exam (weight 0.20).
Students who want to participate to the exam have to make the registration on-line. Late registrations are not allowed.
Course program
The programme is divided into two main parts. The first part is mainly of a theoretical nature and aims to transfer the key concepts. The second part is of applicative nature and aims to use the notions and concepts introduced in Part 1 by carrying out an analysis case.
Introduction to the course: context and motivation, objective of the course, introduction to the parts of the course and map of the lessons, how to check the learning, didactic material.
PART I: Instruments and methods for industrial product analysis. The concept of need and the definition of value. The size of the value (stakeholder concepts, life-cycle/use). Definition of the concept of product attribute and its relation with the concept of value. Modeling of the value of an industrial product (product profile, value map, value curves). Search for information, available sources. Functional analysis of the industrial product, functional model. Notes on materials and manufacturing processes.
PART II: Application of the concepts introduced in Part 1 to the analysis of an industrial product. Preparation and review of the team work to be presented for the final examination.