Paper Authors

Abstract

NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract

Main Menu

Session 3425

Excellence in Product Design

Jon C. Dixon Adjunct Faculty Programs in Engineering and Technology Management University of St. Thomas St. Paul, Minnesota

Abstract

Industry strives mightily to provide excellent products. No manufacturer is likely to produce excellent designs without understanding what is meant in some way by “excellence”. However, it is extremely infrequent to find solid definitions of “design excellence”.

The University of St. Thomas (St. Paul, MN) has established a nationally recognized program for graduate level manufacturing engineering education. One of St. Thomas’ master’s level courses, “Excellence in Product Design”, is unique in its approach to defining design excellence.

More right-brain than traditional approaches, the course attempts to capture the essence, the root, the genesis of “excellence”. Each student attempts to derive a definition of “excellence in design” that may be universally applicable to all consumer products. Selected authors’ quotations about excellence help spark lively debate. Discussion includes where in the design process the spark of excellence might originate. Attempts at understanding how such excellence might be fostered in the workplace are undertaken. The roles of industrial design and its potential contributions to design excellence are examined. The concepts of “favorite”, “best in class”, “quintessential” and “design excellence” are compared and defined. Questions about whether we live in a “claptrap” world are considered.

Topics such as “S-Curve” analysis, closed versus open systems and technology push versus market pull are blended with critiques of DFM/A and QFD to attempt methods of understanding product development methodologies. Ethics in design forms an essential final point of discussion.

This paper outlines the course and illustrates its unique nature.

Proceedings of the 2002 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition. Copyright © 2002, American Society for Engineering Education

Main Menu

• Citation

• Format
  • APA
  • APA - LaTeX bibitem
  • MLA
  • MLA - LaTeX bibitem
  • Bibtex
  • EndNote - RIS

Dixon, J. (2002, June), Excellence In Product Design Paper presented at 2002 Annual Conference, Montreal, Canada. 10.18260/1-2--10072