Product development processes | M7014T

The focus of the course is to develop sustainable products through systematic analysis of needs and solutions. Your company will receive proposals for redesigning an existing product or a completely new one to make it sustainable from an economic, social and ecological perspective.

The students work with an "open ended" problem, i.e. where there is no right answer but they have to evaluate their solution in an engineering way. They initially have to break down an existing product to analyse its function and solution, and then propose a new one. The work is done in project form and students develop skills in product development processes, as well as oral and written communication.

The project assignment from the company may involve developing a new and better solution for an existing product or developing a completely new product. The students' competence profiles are a mix of mechanical engineering, technical design and industrial economics and they come from both the international master program and technical design with a production focus, which creates interdisciplinary project teams.

Expected results

Expected results from the project are:

• A new product concept
• Need and solution analysis for the product
• Presentation material about the product concept

Implementation of the project

The course runs during the fall (August-October).

• The student groups work individually on the business project for a total of about six weeks.
• Initially, a functional analysis is made (the existing product is taken apart, i.e. decomposition).
• The group composition is changed in the middle of the course to provide further analysis of the product to be redesigned.
• Results of the new product concept are presented in mid-October.
• In parallel, the students have lectures, exercises and supervision.

Commitment

The company needs to:

• Provide a product, preferably one that can be taken apart to be analysed in order to find a better, more sustainable design.
• A contact person who can answer questions from the student group.
• Tell them about the company and the industry.
• If possible, but not necessary, participate in the presentation at the final seminar.

Expression of interest

• Register your interest here External link, opens in new window.
  (Opens in Swedish)