concept generation of portable chair

Concept generation of the Portable Chair

     Concept generation is actually a phase of developing a creative thinking mind and also to develop a new product. Such creative thinking mind is developing using various methods. For instant, practical methods for enhancing creativity like brainstorming and Synectics, developed in the 20^th century, are now adapted and adopted as methods for generating design concepts and ways for develop creative thinking mind. It is also a phase to generate as much ideas as possible. Some ideas may look irrelevant, but it may be the starting point for generating another brilliants ideas. Generating ideas and selecting among competing ideas are two of the most important determinants of successful design. Good detail design will never rescue a poor concept. Below is the diagram of concept generation processes.

      Before the phase on creative thinking takes place, we should be able to identify the problem as well as possible. As a student, it is important to have a condusive learning environment to grasp as much knowledge as possible. Such condusive environment includes the presentation of the topic by the lecturers, the condition of the tables and chairs, the air flow circulation in the class and many other factors. It is observed that the conditions of the chairs at various kulliyyah of International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) are not in good conditions. Such kulliyyah are Islamic Revealed knowledge and Human Sciences (IRKHS), Ahmad Ibrahim Kulliyyah of Law (AIKOL) and Kulliyyah of Economics (EMS). Before stated the problem of the chairs, we should know how the chair look like. Below is the picture of the currently used chair in the classroom of those kulliyyah.

      Figure 1 show the front view of the chair that is currently used at those kulliyyah. The frame of the chair is made up from steel and the seat is made up from wood. The leg and the body frame are welded together. Figure 3 show the chair equipped with small table. The small table is made up from wood and connected together to the holding frame. The holding frame is being inserted into the round hollow shaft called the slot.

Figure 1: Front view

Figure 2: Side View

 

Figure 3: front view (chair with small table)

Figure 4: Side view (chair with small table)

       The design of the chair was good at that time (maybe for the past 10 years) but now lots of improvements need to be done. There are several problems that cause by that chair. Firstly, the chair is quite heavy to lift. Some may ask why we need to lift that chair. The answer is that, the number of students never be exactly the same as the amount of chairs in a class. It can be more or less, when the chairs are not enough for the students, thus it is necessary to lift another chair from another empty class. Since the frame of that chair is from steel it cause the chair to be heavy to lift from one place to another.

       Secondly, the chair is not stable because the leg of the chair not properly in contact with the floor. Maybe the leg is not properly bending or because of the misalignment during the assembly or welding operation. Thirdly, the small table produce some irritating sound during opening and closing of that small table. Besides, the angle of opening of that small table is not big enough to make the small table foldable. The chair is made not for foldable and portable. Next, the holding frame is bending due to excessive load exert on the small table. Due to that reason the small table often break and have some damage. The materials selection was not good for the small table as well as the chair. Below show the pictures related to the problems of that chair. The main problems causes by that chair are:

1.      The chair is quite heavy to lift.

2.      The chair is not stable because the leg of the chair not properly in contact with the floor.

3.      The small table produce some irritating sound during opening and closing.

4.      The chair is made not for foldable and portable.

Figure 5 Maximum opening angle of the small table

Figure 6 Bending holding frame

Figure 7 Broken small table

Figure 8 Close up view of broken small table

Figure 8 Paper is used to eliminate the shaking of the small table

       The design of the new chair should be able to eliminate those problems. Various methods can be used to obtain the optimal solution to the problems of that chair. We should be able to recognize that the problem exists and problems are already being recognized. Now is the step called fluency step. Fluency is actually the ability to produce a large number of alternative solutions to a problem. There are methods that can be used to obtain as many solutions as possible. Not all the solution can be accepted. At the end the optimum and the best solution achieved accepted by the consensus of the team members.
 

        We used brainstorming method to generate as much idea as possible. It is the most common method used for generating ideas.

 



      The used morphological method is quite relevant to select the best optimum solutions to get the best design of the new chair. Morphology means the study of shape and form. We develop the morphological chart to find the best solution to the chair’s new design. Morphological analysis is a way of creating new forms. The morphological chart is developed based on the ideas generation from the brainstorming sessions.

Morphological chart

       Noted that the final new design of the chair not necessary follow the exact best solution of the morphological chart. It may come from the combination of any options of each topics and the design also may be very from the selected option.

Figure 9 General design of the new chair

 

The design of the chair by combining each selected option on each topic.

1.      The leg and the body come from the option 1 on their respective topic.



Figure 10 First design of the chair

 

2.      The design of the small table come from option 4 of the small table topic.

Figure 11 Second stage design of the chair

 

3.      The design of the basket or box for books and etc. come from option 2 of its respective topic.

Figure 12 Third stage design of the chair

4.      The design of drinking bottle holder comes from option 2 of its respective topic.

Figure 13 Final stage of the design of the chair

 

5.      Finished design of the chair.

Figure 14 Different view of the chair

      Noted that the design may be vary for each option selected and it’s may be as much as 20 design or even more based on the matrix of the morphological chart above.

BEHAVIORAL ASPECT OF DECISION MAKING

Behavioral psychology provides an understanding of the influences of risk taking in individuals and teams. Making a decision is a stressful situation for most people because there is no way to be certain about the information about the past or predictions of the future. This psychological stress arise from at least two sources.

1.      Decision makers are concerned about the material and social losses that will result from either course of action that is chosen.
2.      They recognize that their reputation and self esteem as competent decision makers are at stake.

Severe psychological stress  brought on by decisional conflict can be major cause of errors in decision making. There are five basic patterns by which people cope with the challenge of decision making.

1.      Unconflicted adherence: Decide to continue with current action and ignore information about  risk of losses.

2.      Unconflicted change: Uncritically adopt whichever course of action is most strongly recommended.

3.      Defensive avoidance: Evade conflict by procrastinating, shifting responsibility to someone else and remaining inattentive to corrective information.

4.      Hypervigilance: Search frantically for an immediate problem solution.

5.      Vigilance: Search painstakingly for relevant information that is assimilated in an unbiased manner and appraised carefully before a decision made.

All these patterns of decision making, except the last one, are defective.

The quality of a decision does not depend on the particulars of the situation as much as it does on the manner in which the decision-making process is carried out. We discuss the basic ingredient in a decision and the contribution made by each. The basic ingredient is every decision are listed in the accompanying table. That a substitution is made for  one of them does not necessarily mean that a bad decision will be reached, but it does mean that the foundation for the decision is weakened.   

          A decision usually leads to an action. A situation requiring action can be thought of as having for aspects; should, actual, must and want.

         The should aspect identifies what ought to be done if there are no obstacles to the action. A should is the expected standard performance if organizational objectives are to be obtained. The should is compared with the actual, the performance that is occurring at the present point in time. The must action draws the line between the acceptable and the unacceptable action. A must is a requirement that cannot be compromised. A want action is not firm requirement but is subject to bargaining and negotiation. Want actions are usually ranked and weighted to give an order of priority. They do not set absolute limits but instead express relative desirability.

        To summarize this discussion of the behavioral aspects of decision making, we list the sequence of steps that are taken in making a good decision.

1.      The objectives of a decision must be established first.
2.      The objectives are classified as to importance. (Sort out musts and the wants)
3.      Alternatives actions are developed.
4.      The alternatives are evaluated against the objectives.
5.      The choice of the alternatives that holds the best promises of achieving all of the objectives represent the tentative decision.
6.      The tentative decision is explored for future possible adverse consequences.
7.      The effects of the final decision are controlled by taking other actions to prevent possible adverse consequences from becoming problems and by making sure that the actions decided on are carried out.

DECISION THEORY

         Decision making models usually are classified into four groups with respect to the state of knowledge.

Decision under certainty: Each action results in a known outcome that will occur with a probability of 1.

Decision under uncertainty: Each state of nature has an assigned probability of occurrence.

Decision under risk: Each action can result in two or more outcomes, but the probabilities for the states of nature are unknown.

Decision under conflict: The state of nature are replaced by course of action  determined by an opponent who is trying to maximize his or her objectives function. This type of decision theory usually is called game theory.

UTILITY THEORY 

Maximax and maximin are strategies that incorporate attitude toward risk in decision problems. The examples presented in the previous section presuppose the ability to determine the utility of each outcomes. A more direct method is to use Utility Theory in establishing the problem.

In Utility Theory, everyday words take on precise meanings that are not the same as in common usage. Definitions are required

Value is an attribute of an alternative that is implied by choice (e.g., if A is chosen over B, it is assumed that A has more value than B). Nowadays, money is the medium of exchange that is used to express value. A buyer will exchange an amount of money B for a material good only if the buyer perceives A to be worth more than B at the time exchange.

Preferences is statement of relative value in the eyes of decision maker. Preference is a subjective quality that depends totally on the decision maker.

Utility is a measure of preference order for particular user. Utility is not necessarily equal to the value of exchange in the market place.

Marginal utility is a key concept of utility theory is the understanding of the nature of what is gained by adding one more unit to amount already possessed. Most decision makers have utility functions that are consistent with the Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility.

     

Concept selection

Pugh concept selection method

1.choose the criteria by which the concept will be evaluate
2.formulate the decision matrix
3.clarify the design concept
4.choose the datum concept
5.run the matrix
6.evaluate the ratings
7.establish a new datum and rerun the matrix
8.examine the selected concept for improvement opportunities