A maximum profit product to please the customer

This article presents a simple technique for reconciling the conflicting objectives of the salesmen, designers and production engineers when considering the progressive development of an engineering product. Typically the salesmen express a need for a product that will sell more easily; the designers express a wish to utilise more advanced technology; and the production engineers wish to minimise manufacturing costs. The objectives of each of these groups are intended to be a reflection of the corporate objectives expressed at the functional level. It is rare for these intentions to have the desired effect in the company; each group develops a method of working which will satisfy the method of measuring effectiveness imposed by their immediate superiors. Thus the problem becomes one of providing a vehicle on which the attitudes and values of each group become explicit one to another and may be reconciled to the corporate good.