Achieving Simplicity: Development and Design of Simple Products

Abstract

Increasing requirements on today’s products, as well as possibilities resulting from globalization and digitization, lead to a growth of increasingly complex products. However, design principles from the field of design engineering call for a product to be designed as simple as possible. It is not yet clear what characteristics and properties a simple product has. The aim of this paper is to clarify the different definitions of simplicity in different disciplines within the product lifecycle and to provide a general description of a simple product from the viewpoint of the different groups.

Achieving Simplicity: A Consideration of a Systematic Approach

“…In addition, they are subject to seemingly random, dynamic changes that fluctuate over time. They are difficult to disassemble, calculate and organize (Pilz et al, 2018). By further exploring simplicity within product development, it is possible to identify a much larger number of research areas dealing with this topic).…”

“…From the user's viewpoint a product is simple if the expected product benefits are available within a defined or rather expected time interval in an obvious and trouble-free manner and in which the product exhibits the expected range of functions. From the provider's point of view, a product can also appear to be simple if its profitability can be achieved quickly, as expected, and without disturbances (Pilz et al, 2018).…”

“…In summary, it can be concluded that, despite the many advantages of simple products, no uniform definition of a simple product prevails. On the one hand, this can be due to a narrow view on one's own field of research, on the other hand, to a mutual contradiction of the properties of simple products (Pilz et al, 2018).…”

“…Fuzzy decision systems, which do not rely on such distinct limits within evaluation variables, offer a remedy (Rommelfanger and Eickemeier, 2002). Examples for the use of such fuzzy decision systems in linguistic environments can be found under (Rommelfanger, 1993;Güllich, 1997;Pilz et al, 2018). In contrast to the classic quantity theory, in which a value can only be assigned to one set at a time, fuzzy sets can belong to more than one set by means of different affiliations.…”