A hybrid systematic and conventional approach for the design and development of a product: A case study

This paper aims to study the effectiveness of systematic and conventional approaches to design. A team of students who had been educated on the systematic approach to design was engaged in the design of a new product - a disposable bicycle made out of paper. The students tried the systematic approach wherever they could use it and adopted the conventional approach whenever they encountered difficulties with systematic design. When they adopted new philosophies or concepts not proven by either systematic or conventional models, some rework was needed. The work suggests that a hybrid approach is the most suitable one when developing new products with limited data available. This paper describes the different approaches and the approach undertaken by the students.