73472 - Industrial Products Design Methods T

Learning outcomes

Upon completing the course, the student will possess the fundamental knowledge and skills needed to use methods and tools for industrial product design, and will be able to evaluate the impact of decisions made during the design definition phase of a new or updated industrial product with respect to expected quality and market targets. Additionally, the student will acquire the basic knowledge required to perform a reliability assessment of industrial products for large-scale production.
Upon completing the course, the student will possess basic knowledge and skills in industrial and intellectual property, with specific reference to the legal instruments for protecting designs and projects within the industrial design sector.

Course contents

Module 1:

Introduction to product design methods.

Project phases and functional development.

Sequential, simultaneous (concurrent), and robust design: design and product time, cost, and quality.

Overview of project support tools. Typical composition of a working Team.

Analysis of project requirements, specifications, and objectives: QFD (Quality Function Deployment):

• Relative importance and cause-effect interrelation matrices, objective tree. Examples.
• The House of Quality and its composition. Examples.
  

Creative design:

• Functional analysis.
• Morphological Matrix and identification of conceptual solutions and design variants. Decision matrix.
• Value Analysis. Technical rate and economic rate, their determination and composition.

Practical examples of complete projects.

Reliability and failure analysis:

• Reliability and (cumulative) Probability of failure.
• Failure Probability Density.
• Mean Time to Failure (MTTF).
• Failure rate.
• Reliability of series, parallel, and series-parallel (combined) systems.
• (Optional), overview of FMEA (Failure Mode and Effect Analysis).

 

Module 2:

Introduction to industrial and intellectual property: regulatory framework and main protection instruments.

Industrial design protection:

• designs and models (registered and unregistered): requirements, registration procedures, and scope of protection;
• copyright applied to industrial design: prerequisites, limits, and interaction with other protection tools.

Patents and utility models:

• patentability requirements and filing procedure;
• utility models: distinctive characteristics and differences from patents for invention.
• Trademarks: types, registrability requirements, and distinctive function.

Intellectual property searches.
Exploitation of intellectual property:

• licensing: contract structure, types, and main clauses;
• assignment of intellectual property rights: methods and negotiation aspects.

Management and negotiation tools:

• Non-disclosure agreement (NDA): structure, content, and function in protecting confidential information;
• patent marking: obligations, methods, and strategic relevance.
  Overview of unfair competition: definition, relevant cases, and connection with intellectual property tools.

Readings/Bibliography

References

Handouts by the Professors, slides and notes following every lecture.

 

Recommended readings

Pahl G., Beitz W., Feldhusen J., Grote K.-H., [http://www.springer.com/it/book/9781846283185] - A Systematic Approach, 2007, Springer, ISBN 978-1-4471-6025-0

Ullman G.D.

“The Mechanical Design Process”

Mc Graw-Hill, 1992.

 

Ulrich Karl T., Eppinger D.

“Progettazione e sviluppo di prodotto”

Mc Graw-Hill, 2000.

Gevirtz C.,

“Developing new products with TQM”

McGraw-Hill, 1994

Teaching methods

The lectures will be dedicated to the understanding and correct use of methods and tools useful for the design of industrial products and systems.

Exercitations will deal with the development of a project concerning an industrial product, based on the course topics. Projects will be developed by 5-6-student groups, and will be supervised by the course professors. For this purpose, specific exercitations for project advancement check and review will be arranged.

Assessment methods

The learning assessment exam is a single examination covering both modules and includes a project presentation and an oral exam.

Students will be required to present and discuss an industrial product design project developed in groups of 5-6 students. All group members must participate in the project presentation. Upon receiving a passing grade (the same score is awarded to all group members), students will be admitted to the oral exam.

The project discussion will be followed (either on the same day or a subsequent day) by an oral exam, during which the two course instructors will ask 2-3 theoretical questions (covering the entire syllabus). Students may be required to begin their answers in writing, and then discuss and potentially complement their responses during an interview with the two professors.

Please note that the group grade achieved in the project discussion does not expire.

In accordance with the University Code of Ethics, students are reminded to maintain the utmost integrity. Any activity aimed at improperly altering exam results is strictly prohibited (e.g., cheating, plagiarism, accessing online learning resources, using unauthorized AI tools). Specifically, please note that the mere possession of unauthorized equipment or materials during the exam results in immediate cancellation of the test and reporting to the competent offices.

Behaviors that violate this prohibition may lead to disciplinary proceedings or reports to the competent authorities if criminally relevant; in the latter case, the students involved risk facing criminal prosecution.

Teaching tools

Slide projector, PC, tablet

Office hours

See the website of Giorgio Olmi

See the website of