Hardware design as a basis for functional product development

Sammanfattning: The business environment in manufacturing industry is changing from a hardware based product focus to a process and function focus. A current industrial interest is the development and sale of functions. This function could be realised as a product based on hardware, software and services and may be sold as a function rather than as hardware. This function view is referred to as Functional Products (FP). The new focus is on value for the customer rather than on hardware for the customer. This change creates new challenges for how engineering design of the hardware may best be carried out. To develop a functional product, several parties need to be involved in the particular project. These parties are suggested to be supplier, seller, sub- contractor, customer and end user. Since the functional product is not only consisting of hardware but also of services the relations between manufacturers and customers will change. Product development will be carried out in networks to an increasing degree where assignments, activities of, and relations between involved parties will be continuously changing. This thesis introduces the area of functional products and related literature from a hardware engineering design perspective. It starts from a holistic approach and introduce the area of functional products in relation to traditional hardware design and development. Product and process issues considered to be important are raised and discussed; value of hardware product versus value of functions, increased need for integration, communication and collaboration over cross-disciplinary borders, increased need for simulation support to be able to increase the predictability of design concepts. Simulation as an activity to verify the capabilities of the hardware product must be taken for granted in functional product business negotiation. Elongated needs exploration and identification stage are likely early on in functional product development. The concept verification stage in product development of functional products is suggested to increase until such times when integrated simulation support has been developed to support system simulation of functional products. Additionally, issues brought forward in this thesis include: -Suggestions on processes necessary for functional product development -Changes in value for the customer and ownership of the hardware with the introduction of the FP concept - Questions have been raised for how the engineering design activities actually will be affected with the introduction of functional products The thesis is seen as exploratory rather than verifying and invites discussion of the issues raised here, in order for these issues to be developed further.