CHAPTER 4 : NEED ANALYSIS

4.1. What is a need?
A need can be defined as a personnel unfulfilled vacancy which determines and organizes all psychological and behavioral activities in the direction of fulfilling the vacancy
A product can be product and marketed only if it is ‘needed’ by the customer. A person buys a pen because he ‘needs’ to write. A patient ‘needs’ something that can cure his illness. These examples show that needs are nothing but a scarcity or problem or wants felt by a person, device or a system. In fact a designer’s goal is to find solutions to such problems
4.2. Hierarchy of Human needs (W’ 96)
Maslow developed a hierarchy of human needs as given below
1. Physiological needs
- These are the basic needs of the body- For example, thirst, hunger, sex, sleep etc.
2. Safety and security needs
For a person whose physiological needs are met, the new emerging needs are safety needs. These include, protection against danger, threat etc.
3. Social needs
Once the physiological and safety needs are met, the next dominant need is social need. For example he/she want to love and be loved, he want to be “in group”, etc.
4. Psychological needs
These are the needs for self-respect and self- esteem, and for recognition.
5. Self-fulfillment needs
These are the needs for the realisation of one’s full potential through self-development, creativity, and self-expression.
4.3. Identification/Recognition of Needs (W 96)
The beginning of any design process is the recognition of need or problem. When a turner hears an awkward noise from some part of the lathe he identifies/ recognises a need. i.e. the lathe requires repair. When the sales personnel observes that their customers are always complaining of poor performance of the products, a need to develop a better product is identified. Similarly, when the customers are unsatisfied with the present ‘model’, a new need is recognised.
Needs can be identified from,
* Careful market analysis
* Statements made by politicians from their observations
* Interpretations of a community’s requirements
* Trends in other parts of the world
4.4. Variety of Needs [S’00]
Following are the needs, which can generate ideas for the development of new products.
(i). Variation of an existing product.
This could be a change in a single or a few parameters of an existing product.
Eg - Changing the length of a cylinder.
-Changing the power of a motor, etc.
(i) Improvements in the existing product.
This implies the need to redesign some of the features of an existing product. Such needs can arise, when
-Customers want a new feature or better performance than existing features
-A vendor can no longer supply components or materials that had been used so far
-Manufacturing or assembly departments identifies a quality improvement
-Invention of a new technology that can be incorporated in the existing design.
(iii) A change in production model
Whenever the production model changes from job-shop to mass, a corresponding change in product design may be demanded. For example, there is more tendency to buy off-the shelf components for short-run products.
Whatever may be the situation, a company has to identify or locate a need before the production of any device. This crucial step is called Recognition/ Identification of need.
Examples:
1. With the free-entry of Chinese products to Indian market, manufacturers in India recognize a need to sell their products at a lower price.
2. When a company observes that their products do not perform well, the company recognizes a need to re-design it.
4.5 Need Statement
Once the need has recognized, the next step is to prepare the need statement. It is a general statement specifying the problem for which a solution is required. In other words-It is the objective of design, expressed in the form of a statement.
Need Statement – Examples [S ‘93]
Give one need statement for each of the following
Bicycle
Voltage stabilizers
Personnel Computer
i). Bicycle: -
The need statement for a bicycle could be “A device for a common person to travel reasonable distance comfortably with least effort” –“The initial cost should be low- and be as light as possible, have adequate life, be easy to maintain etc “
(ii). Voltage stabilizer
“A solid state noiseless electrical device of adequate power rating to provide continuously an output at constant voltage, accepting the input power at varying voltage between the limits__and__volts “. The indications for input and output voltage levels may be provided.
iii). Personnel Computer “A computing device to accept input data, manipulate it according to a set of instructions and provide the desired output on CRT and printer”