The Problem

In the presence of Trinidad and Tobago’s current financial crisis with decreasing fossil fuel revenues, the need for development in the manufacturing sector is not only imperative but has now become long overdue. Scholarly publications targeting the local industry’s product design practice are rare. Previous studies found that the current use of integrated manufacturing technologies within manufacturing firms in Trinidad and Tobago is not at required levels to facilitate the design and development of new products. In addition, Trinidad and Tobago lacks product and process innovation capabilities that lead to a wider range of manufactured goods as a vital response to the dependency on tourism and depleting oil and gas reserves.

What was done

In order to expand local innovation initiatives, a sound understanding of current local product design practice is necessary. A study was therefore conducted to identify local manufacturing companies that are engaged in electro-mechanical product design, and capture the design processes, product quality, and environmental forces affecting innovative product development.  Using the Trinidad and Tobago Manufacturer’s Association (TTMA) database, 16 companies were shortlisted for inclusion. Based on company screening and willingness to participate, three companies eventually participated in the in-depth study (Company 1: Concrete Products, Company 2: Construction and Building Materials, Company 3: Wood and Wood related products).

Results

The results indicated that none of the three companies were found to have any established protocols for executing or managing design activities. In fact, respondents said that the discussions held were the first time any thought was being put into this matter. In addition, no formal engineering design or market analytical skills resided in any of the companies interviewed. The product and process audit results highlight several deficiencies in the quality of products and the management of design projects. For instance, companies were found to be weak in conducting market research for the purpose of capturing design requirements. Intended product users are hardly involved in design projects. No concept generation methods were being used resulting in usually one concept being generated and enhanced along the project.

Designs are produced with some manufacturing and assembly considerations. However, these aspects do not carry much decision-making weight during the project and are dealt with in more detail after the design is complete. As no formal design process was established in any of the companies, creativity, project generation and selection rested mainly with the business owners who used no established methods aside from industry experience and common sense to manage or conceptualise product ideas.

Recommendations

Given these findings, the following recommendations have been put forward:

1. Design Education: A major problem affecting the design practice is the lack of, or an appreciation for, product design knowledge in the industry, especially among SME owners/management. Product design workshops seeking to generate an awareness and an appreciation of what “good product design” entails with its associated benefits might be useful. Market data collection and interpretation methods, design process execution and management as well as design methods for key design process stages would be useful focus areas for these workshops. These elements would serve to assist business owners with engaging the market for possible product innovations and then convey these ideas constructively to design personnel.

2. Training in Product and Design Process Audits: Participants in this study responded well to the proceedings of the product and process audits conducted. Though many aspects of good product design were not being performed, participants were able to grasp the general idea of what was required and were able to give examples of how they could perform these actions as well as the perceived benefits. The audits also provide a means to benchmark design capabilities, as demonstrated in this project, and should now be used to track the improvements of the product design practice alongside companies.

3. New Product Development Incentives and Partnerships: In an effort to encourage business owners to pursue new product development projects, relevant governmental entities should consider incentivising beneficial aspects of the design trade. For instance, tax exemptions can be granted to help with the purchasing of prototyping equipment or modelling software. Companies that already own these technologies can also be encouraged to enter into arrangements with individual entrepreneurs to combine resources to materialise and market innovative product ideas.

This scope of this research was restricted to companies that design and manufacture products that possess electrical and/or mechanical properties. However, the research methodology in this paper can also be utilised to investigate product design practices in other manufacturing sectors with adjustments of the audit to account for the type of products being audited.

Conclusions

The research findings present evidence that electro-mechanical product design capabilities are relatively poor within SME’s in Trinidad and Tobago. Companies not being able to afford full-time product design expertise and formal design skills not being appreciated by business owners seem to be the main reasons. In order to improve this situation, much work remains to be done in terms of educating business owners on how to design new products, how to carry out process and product audits, and how Government and Tertiary Institutions could assist in making the product development process more effective.

The study has been published in the West Indian Journal of Engineering: Ramkissoon J, Persad U (2018) Evaluation of Product Design in Trinidad and Tobago. West Indian Journal of Engineering, Vol.41, No.1, July 2018, pp.65-73.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the assistance of the Trinidad and Tobago Manufacturers’ Association (TTMA) for access to their member database and all the companies who agreed to participate in the study, giving of their time and experience to advance local product design practice.

Author Biographies

Jeewan Ramkissoon acquired a B.Sc. (Hons.) in Mechanical Engineering from the University of the West Indies (U.W.I.) in 2014 and a Technician’s Diploma in Mechanical Engineering from UTT in 2010. Subsequent to his technical and undergraduate studies, Mr. Ramkissoon has held positions as an Engineering/Operations Professional across multiple industrial sectors including Energy, Manufacturing, Construction, and Food Processing. His post-graduate research interests surround the local design practice as it relates to innovation and entrepreneurial competencies for inspiring national economic diversification and hence sustainability.

Dr. Umesh Persad is an Assistant Professor in Design and Manufacturing at The University of Trinidad and Tobago. He obtained his BSc. in Mechanical Engineering (First Class) from The University of the West Indies, and his Ph.D. from The University of Cambridge in the area of Engineering Design, with a special focus on Product Development, Inclusive Design and Human Computer Interaction. Dr. Persad is the leader of the Engineering Design and Product Development group and academic coordinator of the MSc in Innovative Design and Entrepreneurship (IDE) which is accredited by the IET. He holds the first three Industrial Design Patents for The University of Trinidad and Tobago and his research spans the application of Product Development, Interaction Design, Software Engineering and Machine Learning across a range of industries.