4.7 SUMMARY

The development of the product concept and the product design specifications is an important stage in the product development project. These are filled out in as much detail as possible while still leaving room for creativity in design. They are formally agreed by all the participants so that there is no opportunity halfway through or even at the end of the design for someone to say 'that is not what I meant'. This avoids redoing of the design procedure, which is so costly in time and money, is frustrating to all, and often leads to a very confused commercialisation.

The product concept summarises the consumers' needs and wants in a quantitative way through the product profile. There should if practicable be a study of the first prototypes by consumers so that as realistic a picture as possible is built up. These prototypes should display controlled variations of the product characteristics.

The product design specifications are built up by using product concept engineering, in which the consumer, the product, marketing and production are studied together to give quantitative descriptions of the product qualities, raw materials, processing conditions, storage life, pricing, promotion and distribution.

At the first attempt, the specifications may be rather vague in some areas and information needs to be collected during the design to make them more specific.

At the end of the design process, the product specifications for production and the strategy for marketing are in place.