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Chapter 5 The design of products
and services
Key questions
➤ Why is good product and service
design important?
➤ What are the stages in product and
service design?
➤ Why should product and service
design and process design be
considered interactively?
Introduction
Products and services are often the first thing that customers
see of a company, so they should have an impact. And although
operations managers may not have direct responsibility for
product and service design, they always have an indirect
responsibility to provide the information and advice upon
which successful product or service development depends.
But, increasingly, operations managers are expected to take a
more active part in product and service design. Unless a product,
however well designed, can be produced to a high standard, and
unless a service, however well conceived, can be implemented,
the design can never bring its full benefits. Figure 5.1 shows
where this chapter fits into the overall operations model.
Figure 5.1 This chapter examines product and service design
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