Do you want to accurately define your customers requirements and your market expectations? Do you want to benefit of a standardized tool to validate the compliance of your designs? And do you want the development of your products and services to remain focused on the needs of your customers and your market?
Then this seminar will help you master the essential principles and tools to enable you to achieve this.
At the end of this training course, participants will understand the importance of specifications in the product or service development process: first as the “foundations” on which the “building” of development is based, and then as the guiding principle that ensures compliance with customer and market requirements.
Participants will thus be able to fully understand the principles and master the standard methods used to document customer needs and then translate these needs into technical and design specifications.
The content covered applies to both standard product or service development and custom design.
- Directors and managers in engineering, R&D, or innovation;
- Engineers and technical staff working in design, R&D, or innovation.
The training will consist mainly of dense, well-documented educational content (with relevant references and examples). A concrete example of how to apply the methods and principles presented will be achieved during the seminar.
1 day, or 7.5 hours (spread over 1 day or more - flexible schedule).
Ramez Zalat, Engineer, MBA – President, Manavue Inc. Has been advising companies for over 35 years on innovation and performance. Has also been teaching at Polytechnique Montréal for several years (lecturer in the bachelor's program and the HEC/Poly joint MBA program on innovation).
1. Client needs and design specifications
a. Relevance and role in product definition;
b. Role of the design specifications in product compliance and traceability throughout its life cycle;
c. Stakeholders in the preparation of the design specifications;
d. The three (3) levels in establishing requirements, or design specifications.
2. Level 1: client needs specifications
a. Identification of needs: formulation, categorization, and prioritization.
3. Level 2: functional design specifications
a. Definition and link to client needs specifications.
4. Level 3: internal design specifications
a. Definition and link to functional design specifications and client needs specifications.
5. Scope, elements, and attributes of a specification
a. From the product cradle to the product grave;
b. Statement and categorization of functions and constraints;
c. Prioritization, metric, target level, and flexibility;
d. Risks associated with a specification;
e. Best practises and pifalls to avoid when writing the Design specifications.
6. Methods and tools for preparing the Design specifications
a. Functional analysis – internal and external: a method and a format for presenting specifications;
b. Functional analysis - original format and format adapted to the particularities of the product to be developped;
c. Quality Function Deployment (QFD) and Prioritization Matrix: tools for propagating the prioritization of client needs to Design specifications and to product manufacturing;
d. How to gradually implement standard Design specifications into company's projects.
7. Design specifications throughout the Product Development Process (PDP)
a. Design specifications and project definition;
b. Design specifications and product configuration;
c. Design specifications and design reviews;
d. Design specifications and product documentation;
e. Design specifications and product cost control;
f. Design specifications and change management;
g. Design specifications and prototype validation;
h. Design specifications and manufacturing processes;
i. Design specifications and the product data sheet;
j. Revisions to the Design specifications.
Eligible under the mandatory continuing education regulations for Engineers (Règlement sur la formation continue obligatoire des ingénieurs).