Operations Management: Sustainability and Supply Chain Management, Twelfth Edition

Defining a Product

Student Tip

Before anything can be produced, a product’s functions and attributes must be defined.

Once new goods or services are selected for introduction, they must be defined. First, a good or service is defined in terms of its functions—that is, what it is to do. The product is then designed, and the firm determines how the functions are to be achieved. Management typically has a variety of options as to how a product should achieve its functional purpose. For instance, when an alarm clock is produced, aspects of design such as the color, size, or location of buttons may make substantial differences in ease of manufacture, ...