Manufacturing companies today are working tirelessly to come up with products that satisfy the users and their customers as well. The methods of evaluating product design and the links between the product lifecycle management have been carefully assessed. Constant redesigning of products and services to suit the market should be a priority for all manufacturers. Conventional product evaluation appears only during the phase of design based on research and the market experience, but the product design evaluation should be carried out throughout the whole product lifecycle based on the thought of product lifecycle management. Raymond Vernon first proposed the concept of product life cycle in 1965 and asserted the complete process entails the introduction stage, growth stage, maturity stage, and eventually the decline stage. The initial stages of developing a product involve idea formulation followed by the selection of raw materials, coming up with the product through production or manufacturing and then distribution to the end users of the product.
After assembly or manufacture of the product, there should be a consistent and efficient supply chain and distribution channel that will ensure the products reach the clients when they want them. When evaluating a design of a product, many aspects should be taken into consideration which may include the impact on the environment, discovering the problem that the design may have and providing a suitable solution to save time on development as well as cost. The process of developing a product should incorporate the idea of evaluating the design while carrying out research and conducting evaluation experiments to ensure that any possible flaws or problems have been adequately addressed during this stage. Different methods of assessment should be carried out at various phases to come up with concrete and suitable outcomes. The general design of the product can be evaluated during the initial assessment stage, evaluation experimentation stage and after statistical analysis evaluation stage.
The reaction of the end user to the product should also be assessed. The client’s response that may include preferences, emotions, beliefs, cognitive impression and behavior is essential in gaining feedback and information on how the product has been received. User experience can be defined as the consciousness of the end user while using a particular product or service. The existing study and application of the experience of the user are focused in the field of the model, user experience and the content of the assessment. For instance, some technology and computer companies have set up laboratories and research centers to study human interaction with computers and the users’ reaction these products. UX Curve was proposed by Kujala and Roto to carry out studies and come up with explanations about the experience of product users and the relationship with the loyalty of the customers towards these products (Kujala & Roto 474).
The focus on the user experience and evaluation of the design of the goods was mostly centered on software design, lack of operational instructions and product development process. The behavioral experience, emotional experience and relevance experience of the users, was evaluated on the elements that influence the user experience. Therefore, it can be understood that during designing an individual product, the development process in the life cycle of the product can be divided into the planning stage, the concept stage, the production stage and the product recycling stage. The product life cycle management offers a series of harmonized solutions to support the product definition, production, management and supply or distribution through various channels so as to position the product in the market successfully. In today’s businesses and economy, technology should be considered when designing any product because of the massive technological developments and advancement that the world of business has witnessed lately.
References
Kujala, Sari. & Roto, Virdi. “UX Curve a Method for Evaluating Long-term User Experience.” Interacting with Computers 23.5 (2011): 473-483.
