Comprehensive Overview of Product/Service Design and Process Optimization
Every business has a unique product design process and manufacturing process that enables it to develop a unique commodity of service for its target consumers. The specific product design, process selection, and work design used by a company affect the quality of the product, its costs in the market, and customer satisfaction (Reid & Sanders, 2016). This segment of the project investigates product design, process selection, and work design used by Zara in the production of its clothing for the fast fashion industry.
Product Design
Product design is the process of defining all of the characteristics that will make up the final product. At this stage, a company determines the materials that will go into the product, the measurements of those materials, and the blueprint that is to be followed in their production. The product design process begins with idea development. Idea development is a stage where new product design concepts are developed depending on what the customers in the market might want. At Zara, ideas are developed by the thousands of fashion designers who have been hired by the company. Zara has a high demand for new designs every few weeks. Hence, the designers work around the clock to come up with new style ideas. Some of these ideas are inspired by trends in the clothing market at a given point.
After idea development, the next stage of the product design process is product screening. At this level of the process, the product design concepts are reviewed and approved based on their quality and the financial, operations, and marketing requirements that they may need. At Zara, this approval is done by the design managers, who assess the designers’ ideas to determine whether they should be forwarded to the production level. The approved designs are taken to the preliminary design process. At this stage, the prototypes of the design concepts are developed. The prototypes bring the actual design idea to life. It helps the operations team to assess any possible issues that might affect its quality such as the type of materials used and the manner in which they have been assembled together (Reid & Sanders, 2016). At Zara, the prototypes are assessed to determine the quality of the fabric, the stitching quality, or even whether the design itself will be acceptable in the market. If the prototypes meet the company’s standards, then they are mass-produced for the market.
Process Selection
The process of developing products affects the final product that is released to the consumer. Even when producing the same product, every business has its own unique production process, which affects the final product significantly (Bocken et al., 2016). In every manufacturing process, there are intermittent operations and repetitive operations. Intermitted operations are used to develop a variety of products with different processing requirements in low volumes. On the other hand, repetitive operations are used to produce one or a few standardized products in high volume. Zara uses a repetitive production process. The company produces millions of single clothing designs for its over 10,000 stores across the world. The repetitive process enables the use of machinery to automate the processes for quick production of standardized clothing. This ensures that each of the clothing made is the same.
This production occurs in a specific flow. The following production process flow chart details the steps that are taken in the production of the final Zara clothing that is sold online and in the physical stores.
Image: Zara production process
Zara’s production process beings with trend forecasting where the company determines what trends will be popular in the market at a given point. This is done through market research and observing fashion shows. The company then develops product designs based on the expected market trends. After design development, the raw materials are sourced from Europe and Asia, the prototypes developed, and once approved, production is done for the market.
Work System Design
The successful development of products is dependent on an effective work system. The work system is a production structure of a company. It is made up of the job design, work measurement, and work compensation structure of an organization. The work system influences the kind of quality that is produced by the business.
Zara’s work design system mixes a human workforce and machines. The company has several designers who are responsible for coming up with the designs for sale. However, mass production is mainly done with the help of machinery. The use of machines in the work design enables the company to produce large amounts of inventory in a short period of time. In the fast fashion industry, a company has to produce large amounts of clothing in a short time period. The use of machines helps Zara to meet the high demand. For human workers, Zara operates a system of division of labour and specialization, which allows designers to focus on a specific line of clothing. As a result, they are able to perfect their craft in a given line of work to produce consistent quality.
References
Bocken, N. M., de Pauw, I., Bakker, C., & van der Grinten, B. (2016). Product design and business model strategies for a circular economy. Journal of Industrial and Production Engineering, 33(5), 308-320.
Reid, R. D., & Sanders, N. R. (2016). Operations Management, Binder Ready Version: An Integrated Approach. John Wiley & Sons.
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Question 
The second part of your course project focuses on the product or service design. For this component, you need to describe the product or service design, its processes, and work design.
Comprehensive Overview of Product-Service Design and Process Optimization
For more information on this component, refer to Chapters 3 and 11 in your textbook. Complete a flow chart (pages 68–70) to help you visualize how the processes are completed. Your submission should be approximately three pages, and should be submitted as an attachment in the assignment area.