CHAPTER 2

CONCEPT SELECTION

In todays era, the tendency of peoples desire to buy something is driven

by the quality of the products. The quality itself can goes higher, and eventually
affect the sales of the product, because its related with how innovative is the
concept. In this case, we need to do concept selection. It is a stage when we are
picking the ideas which best satisfy the product design specification, also driven
by the customers needs. A good concept in a specific product is a critical thing in
product design, due to its relation with how good will be the level of demand and
sales. Based on that, a certain degree of creativity is importantly needed in
creating a good concept of a product.
While generating ideas, we often step our self back from the wild and
uncommon ones. In fact, innovation comes from something different and
uncommon. Our imagination and creativity should not be stopped while we are
trying to generate breakthroughs. In addition, breakthroughs can come from a
simplest thing in our life, such as daily problems that we face every time. Other
than that, peoples opinion (especially our market) is also important in creating
innovation. In the end, every producer could ended up having bunch of new ideas.
If we have already collected our own ideas, we need to classify them into
groups that can make us easy to choose which ideas are worth to apply. One of the
most used method to select and classify ideas is called top-down concept. This
method runs in a way where we arrange ideas from the most general to the
detailed.
 Figure X. Top-down concept in ideas generation
(Source: J. A. Wesselingh, et al, 2007)
To step forward into a more realistic perspective, we need to evaluate all
the new ideas and deselect those which seems irrelevant. Generally, we can give
status on the irrelevant ideas with 3 categories, which are:
1. Foolish (F)
Ideas are assumed as something silly and seems like impossible.
2. Vague (V)
Ideas are stated with an unclear character or indefinite vision.
3. Redundant (R)
Ideas are not strictly necessary to functioning.

Figure Y. The top down method of selecting

(Source: J. A. Wesselingh, er al, 2007)
Concept generation is a critical point in the engineering process design.
without concept and ideas, there will not be any innovative product. A concept
can be defined as both an approximate description of the technology, working
principles, and form of the product as well as a concise description of how the
product will satisfy customer needs (Ulrich & Eppinger, 2012)
Afterwards, we will give scores to our own ideas to evaluate the
feasibility. At first, we will give qualitative score. After that, we will determine
parameters to change qualitative scoring into quantitative scoring. The best idea is
the one with the highest score and that idea can be implemented in our new
product.

2.1. Concept Generation

Concept generation, getting the ideas, is the most critical step in the engineering
process design. It is starting with a set of customer needs and target specifications,
the process concludes with an array of product alternatives from which a final
design is selected. The writers have already generated multiple ideas, which will
be shown on table down below.
Table X. List of Concept Ideas

Ideas
Concept
Number
Consumable product like cookies that made from oats as
1st idea
food with solid form.
Consumable product like cookies that made from honey as
2nd idea
food with solid form.
Consumable product like cookies that made from corn as
3rd idea
food with solid form.
Consumable product like candy that made from Fenugreek
4th idea
seed as food with solid form.
Consumable product like candy that made from katuk leaf
5th idea
as food with solid form.
Consumable product like candy that made from honey as
6th idea
food with solid form.
Consumable product like candy that made from corn as food
7th idea
with solid form.
Consumable product like chips that made from Fenugreek
8th idea
seed as food with solid form.
Consumable product like chips that made from katuk leaf as
9th idea
food with solid form.
10th Consumable product like chips that made from oats as food
idea with solid form.
11th Consumable product like chips that made from corn as food
idea with solid form.
12th Consumable product like cereal that made from Fenugreek
idea seed as food with solid form.
13th Consumable product like cereal that made from katuk leaf
idea as food with solid form.
14th Consumable product like cereal that made from oats as food
idea with solid form.
15th Consumable product like cereal that made from honey as
idea food with solid form.
16th Consumable product like cereal that made from corn as food
idea with solid form.
17th Consumable product like chocolate that made from cocoa as
idea food with solid form.
18th Consumable product like tablets that made from katuk leaf
idea as drugs with solid form.
19th Consumable product like capsule that made from katuk leaf
idea as drugs with solid form.
20th Consumable product like effervescent that made from
idea Fenugreek seed as drugs with solid form.
21st Consumable product like effervescent that made from katuk
idea leaf as drugs with solid form.
22nd Consumable product like effervescent that made from corn
idea as drugs with solid form.
23rd Consumable product like milk that made from soya as
idea drinkable product with liquid form
24th Consumable product like herbal drugs that made from
idea Fenugreek seed as drinkable product with liquid form.
25th Consumable product like herbal drugs that made from katuk
idea leaf as drinkable product with liquid form.
26th Consumable product like herbal drugs that made from
idea honey as drinkable product with liquid form.
27th Consumable product like herbal drugs that made from corn
idea as drinkable product with liquid form.
28th Consumable product like tea that made from katuk leaf as
idea drinkable product with liquid form.
29th Consumable product like porridge that made from
idea Fenugreek seed as food product with semi-solid form.
30th Consumable product like porridge that made from katuk
idea leaf as food product with semi-solid form.
31st Consumable product like porridge that made from oats as
idea food product with semi-solid form.
32nd Consumable product like porridge that made from honey as
idea food product with semi-solid form.
33rd Consumable product like porridge that made from corn as
idea food product with semi-solid form.
34th Consumable product like ice cream that made from
idea Fenugreek seed as food product with semi-solid form.
35th Consumable product like ice cream that made from katuk
idea leaf as food product with semi-solid form.
36th Consumable product like ice cream that made from oats as
idea food product with semi-solid form.
 37th Consumable product like ice cream that made from honey
idea as food product with semi-solid form.
38th Consumable product like ice cream that made from corn as
idea food product with semi-solid form.
39th Skin product like balm that made from cajuput oil as semi-
idea solid drugs
40th Skin product like balm that made from serai as semi-solid
idea drugs
41st Skin product like cream that made from almond as semi-
idea solid drugs
42nd Skin product like cream that made from aloe vera as semi-
idea solid drugs
43rd Skin product like cream that made from goats milk as
idea semi-solid drugs
44th Skin product like oil that made from cajuput oil as liquid
idea drugs
45th
Skin product like oil that made from serai as liquid drugs
idea

2.2 Concept Screening and Combining

The next stage is to select the most feasible ideas and eliminate the
impossible, which is called a concept screening. This method is pioneered on
1980 by Stuart Pugh, the inventor of the total design methodology. His invention
about concept screening is titled as the Pugh Concept Selection or Decision
Making Matrix. The main objective in this stage is to narrow down the concept
that existed and reduce the many ideas generated to a more realistic ideas that can
still be refined and developed. It is needed for the manufacturer or designer to
bring the right ideas to the marketplace and select commercially viable concepts.
The steps of concept screening are:
a. Prepare the selection/screening matrix.
This step is aimed to construct all ideas in matrix before we can narrow them
down. The row in the matrix will represents the ideas and every column
describes the selection criteria. Selection criteria must relate to key customer
needs. Selection criteria selection is done on the basis of things that
distinguish each concept ideas. Idea concepts will be compared to benchmark
brand as reference concept. The reference concept is chosen to determine the
concept ideas.
b. Rate the concepts.
Rating the concept is a stage to score the matrix in detail. Rating on the idea
of the concept is given based on the following provisions:
+ is given for better than reference concept,
is given for concepts that are worse than reference concept,
0 is given for concepts that are equal than reference concept.
Based on those meaning, the reference concept will have zero symbols for all
criteria. These rating value represent how each concepts is compared to a
reference based on particular criteria. The way we give rating for each
concepts is based on literature study, benchmarking and based on intuition.
c. Rank the concepts
Ranking the concepts is very important and needed to be done as objective as
possible. After we rate each concept, rating for all concepts from all selection
criteria was summed up and became the net score. The net score then will be
sorted from the highest to the lowest. This step is aimed to decide which
concepts is best to apply and which ones are better eliminated.
d. Combine and improve the concepts
It is needed to find if there are any generally good concepts that are
downgraded by one feature and to find if it possible for two concepts to be
combined to preserve the better than features while simultaneously
removing any worse than features. This step is aimed to verify whether the
output of rating and ranking concepts make sense and feasible to apply. To
improve the concept, this stage also leads us to combine ideas with the same
net score, so we can get a better quality of ideas.
e. Select one or more concepts for further refinement and analysis
This stage is aimed to finisih our concept generation. In other words, we will
analyze the final ideas and refine them into more feasible ones. Based on the
net score and the ranking, we can decide which concepts can be passed to the
next steps for further analysis and development and which ones should be
eliminated. For our case, we decided that concepts that can be passed to the
next step are concepts that have 1 net score and have rank from first up to
three. This is based from our opinion that if a concepts have net score 0, it
 means that they are worse or same with reference concepts and will not have
a good potency to be developed. In other hand, based on previous step, there
will be the most promising concept that left to be chosen.
f. Reflect on the results and process
All team members need to reflect on current results to find if it is comfortable
enough with the decisions that have been made. If its not comfortable, the
manufacturer/ designer team members should find what needs to be resolved.

The selection criteria are based on the consumers needs, but we dont have to
write all the needs, we just have to write the main point of all needs. Here is the
table of selection criteria:
Table X. Selection Criteria
Selection Criteria

Health & Safety

Effectiveness

Easy to a. simple composition

Manufacture b. Easy to produce
a. Easy to consume
Easy to Use b. Practical in serving
c. Safe to be consumed anytime

Affordable Product Price

The table above shows the list of selection criteria that have been chosen by
our team. Those list are considered at the best basis of valuation to distinguish all
concept ideas. After considering the relevance and importance of the list, we
finally got 5 criteria, which are health-safety, effectiveness, easy to manufacture,
easy to use, and affordable product price.
Health and safety is one of the most important basis of valuation to our
product, due to the main concern of breast milk booster is about improving
womens breasts healthiness. Health and safety are the main thing that our product
should have. If it doesnt have it, then our product may not be useful for our target
market.
 Other than that, we also have a big concern of effectiveness. This can be
meant by the effectiveness of the usage, production, and cost. As our target
market is a women with a healthy issue, especially on her glandular tissue, we
should create a product that can be as practice as possible and at the same time
can cure effectively.
To value the ideas based on its production and development, we choose
easiness to manufacture as our basis valuation. This basis will score the ideas
based on how easy the product to be produced massively, distributed clearly, and
made easily in the manufacture.
The other criteria is its easiness to be used. The easier product to use, the
more demand we will get. because no matter how high the quality or even how
low the price, one would not be interested to buy something if it does not give
easiness and comfort, so that we selected easy to use to be one of the criteria.
Last but not least, how affordable the price is also becoming the selection
criteria. If we want to design a product that can be a huge success on the market,
we need to make something that is very useful yet having a cheap price. Even
though it seems like its hard, but it actually can be made with the knowledge of
product design and development.
Table X. Matrix of Concept Screening

Health Product Easy to Easy Afforda

Ideas
and Effectiv Manufact to ble Score Result
Number
Safety eness ure Use Price
Katuk Tea 1 -1 -1 0 0 -1 Not go
Katuk
1 -1 -1 0 -1 -2 Not go
Capsule
1st idea 0 0 0 0 0 0 Not go
2nd idea 0 0 0 0 0 0 Not go
3 idea
rd 0 0 0 0 0 0 Not go
4 idea
th 0 0 0 0 0 0 Not go
5th idea 0 0 0 0 0 0 Not go
6 idea
th 0 -1 0 -1 1 -1 Not go
7 idea
th 0 0 0 -1 0 -1 Not go
8th idea 0 0 0 -1 0 -1 Not go
9 idea
th 0 0 0 -1 1 0 Not go
10th idea 0 0 0 -1 0 -1 Not go
11 idea
th 0 -1 0 0 0 -1 Not go
12 idea
th 0 -1 0 0 0 -1 Not go
13th idea 0 -1 0 0 0 -1 Not go
14th idea 0 -1 0 0 0 -1 Not go
15th idea 0 -1 0 0 0 -1 Not go
16th idea 0 -1 0 -1 0 -2 Not go
17th idea 0 -1 0 -1 0 -2 Not go
18th idea 0 -1 0 -1 0 -2 Not go
19th idea 0 -1 0 -1 0 -2 Not go
20th idea 0 -1 0 -1 0 -2 Not go
21st idea 0 -1 0 0 0 -1 Not go
22nd idea 0 -1 1 0 0 0 Not go
23rd idea 0 1 1 0 0 2 Go, join
24th idea 0 -1 0 0 0 -1 Not go
25th idea 0 -1 0 0 0 -1 Not go
26th idea 1 0 1 1 0 3 Go, join
27th idea 0 1 1 1 0 3 Go, join
28th idea 0 -1 1 -1 0 -1 Not go
29th idea 0 -1 0 -1 0 -2 Not go
30th idea 0 -1 1 -1 0 -1 Not go
31st idea 0 1 0 1 1 1 Go, join
32nd idea 1 1 0 1 1 1 Go, join
33rd idea 1 0 -1 1 1 2 Go, join
34th idea -1 1 -1 1 0 0 Not go
35th idea 1 -1 -1 1 0 0 Not go
36th idea 1 -1 -1 1 0 0 Not go
37th idea 1 -1 -1 1 0 0 Not go
38th idea 1 -1 -1 1 0 0 Not go
39th idea 1 -1 -1 0 0 -1 Not go
40th idea 0 -1 0 -1 0 -2 Not go
41st idea 0 -1 0 -1 0 -2 Not go
42nd idea 0 0 0 -1 0 -1 Not go
43rd idea 0 -1 0 -1 0 -2 Not go
44th idea 1 0 0 -1 0 0 Not go
45th idea 0 0 0 -1 0 -1 Not go

Table Y. Selected concept that passed the concept screening

Ideas
Concept
Number
Consumable product like tea that made from katuk leaves as
Katuk Tea food with liquid form.
(Reference)
Consumable product like capsule that made from katuk
Katuk
leaves and fenugreek seed as food with solid form
Capsule
(Reference)
Consumable product like milk that made from soya as
23rd idea
drinkable product with liquid form
 Consumable product like herbal drugs that made from honey
26th idea
as drinkable product with liquid form.

Consumable product like herbal drugs that made from corn as

27th idea
drinkable product with liquid form.

Consumable product like porridge that made from oats as

31st idea
food product with semi-solid form.

Consumable product like porridge that made from honey as

32nd idea
food product with semi-solid form.

Consumable product like porridge that made from corn as

33rd idea
food product with semi-solid form.
2.4. Concept Testing
After a long steps from concept generation, concept screening, and scoring,
we need to test out selected idea based on the basis of valuation. The breast milk
booster that the producer wants to create and develop will have to be implemented
to real-life prospective customers. Thus, we need to spread a survey to ensure that
our ideas are the best to apply and finally can be successful on the market.
The result of the survey will tell us how satisfying will be the concept of our
breast milk booster for our target market. We will also be able to see whether the
ideas can fulfill the customers needs or not.
2.4.1. Determining the purpose from concept testing
The purpose of concept testing is to ensure that the selected concept from
the product designer can be accepted by the prospective customers. This is
important because designers should be able to know how well their concept can
be applied according to their customers needs.
2.4.2. Determining the survey population
Our team choose mothers with breast milk issues as the survey population.
We believe that they are the most prospective market, which can help us refine the
idea that we select for our product. The survey population consists of 55 women
in which 90% of them are housewives.
2.4.3. Determining the survey format
The format of the survey is online questionnaires. This format was chosen
so that we were able to get a larger scope of respondents whom are potentially
interested in the concept of herbal antipyretic. With that, we will be able to
receive more inputs on a variation of the prospective customers needs and
suggestions regarding antipyretics.
2.4.4. Communicating our product concept
Our team decided to write down the complete detail of the products
concept in the beginning of the questionnaire. We also put some illustration of the
concept hoping to make them easier to understand. We explain the concept
specifically, starting from the type, ingredients, flavor, etc.
2.4.5. Calculating the customers responses
Below are the result of the costumers responses from our survey.

Interested in Buying Consumable product like

porridge powder) that made from oats as food
product with semi-solid form.
0

91% Yes
No

55

Figure X. Graphic of respondents interest in buying a consumable product like porridge powder)
that made from oats as food product with semi-solid form.
Figure above shows the result of the survey towards the question of whether or
not respondents would be interested in buying consumable product like porridge
powder) that made from oats as food product with semi-solid form. The result
shows that 91% of respondents answered yes, while the rest of them answered no.