A quick peek into some research from Michelle Boucher at Aberdeen Group on system design and the development of mechatronic products. The study shows that leading companies are taking a systems approach to designing smart products. In turn, these leading companies are rewarded with the ability to hit the metrics that drive product profitability (time to market, quality, cost, sales achievement) on their smart or "mechatronic" products. Let's take a look at the findings.

What are Mechatronic Products?
A quick look at the phone in your pocket or at your car (I hope you are not driving while you are reading this) should reveal a simple truth - products are getting smarter. Cars used to be mechanical products, with enough electrical content to get them started, ignite the fuel, and run some lights and accessories. But the mechanical systems (brakes, suspension, steering, etc.) were all purely mechanical elements. Those were the days when your car was serviced by a man (or possibly a woman) with a nice set of wrenches and other mechanical tools. Today, the major systems in your car are electronically enhanced. And the more your car costs, the more you this is likely to be true. Anti-lock breaks, traction control, or even "drive by wire" technology has interjected controls and computation into the mix. But don't think this is just for high-end products, your next toaster might have more computing power than your first PC.

Why is Mechatronic Design Different?
In short, mechatronic design is harder because for the product to work the mechanical elements, controls, electronics, and the onboard software all need to work in concert. It's hard enough to develop a product where the physical parts fit together, particularly in a world where the design and manufacture of different parts happens in parallel and dispersed across the globe. But now, when a mechanical part changes you have to consider the impact on the rest of the structure as usual, but also on the electronics and software. When a mechanical designer makes a decision, it could impact a lot of other designs across different engineering disciplines. And with shorter development schedules (the top pressure identified in the study) you don't have time for trial and error and "shaking out the bugs" slowly. It needs to be designed right the first time.

What Makes Mechatronic Product Development Work?
In short, a systems approach - viewing the entire product as an inter-related system that encompasses the disparate engineering disciplines. Finding errors early requires the ability to view not just the individual elements, but the system as a whole. Some key findings from the benchmark support this. In fact, one of the key findings shows that Best-in-Class companies (the top 20% at getting products to market on time, at cost, on budget, with quality, and hitting sales targets) are over seven times as likely to digitally validate systems behavior across mechanical, electrical, and software components (using simulation technology). Not an easy thing to accomplish, but it is showing tremendous value. They are also more likely to have change notification across disciplines and to allocate requirements across systems, subsystems, and components. These companies are looking across design elements and seeing the forest in addition to the trees. 

The most common challenge reported? The ability to find people that know how to take this systems-level approach. This is a new and growing discipline. The report has a lot more to say, but I realize I am turning my blog post into a novel and testing your patience. Thanks for listening.

So that was a quick peek into some recent research, I hope you found it interesting. Are you developing "smart" products. Does the research reflect reality? Do you see it differently? Let us know what it looks like from your perspective.