L'obiettivo dell'insegnamento è quello di fornire conoscenze economico-gestionali orientate alla progettazione di prodotti industriali.
Attraveso lezioni teoriche e lo studio di casi applicati, saranno fornite agli studenti le conoscenze necessarie per valutare le connessioni tra progetto e contesto economico ed industriale di riferimento.

The first part of the course introduces the theories regarding the economics in business processes, with a specific focus on the costs incurred to businesses in new product development and the management of product lifecycle. The course covers the following topics:

Basic concepts

Basic concepts introduce what are the elements of costs in business process, and how could costs be classified (fixed and variable costs, direct and indirect costs, product and period costs, sunk costs, etc.), and their implications to the business process. It also introduces the concepts of cash flows (in particular, cash outflows) and net present value, for project evaluation.

Costs in New Product Development (NPD)

NPD is one of the business processes most relevant to design. This section discusses in each of the main phases of NPD, what are the elements of costs and the types of costs involved, and how such costs would influence the decision making process and the planning of a NPD project.

Costs in the Management of Product Lifecycle

This section discusses what are the elements and type of costs involved in managing the product throughout its lifecycle, how the anticipation of such costs could affect management decision and management planning, and how do they affect the success of the product.

The second part of the course discusses the topics covered in the theoretical part, applying to real business cases. The students will be introduced with an overview of a new product development project, from the idea to the preliminary setting:

• Macro-phases of a project, identification of competences and definition of the project team
• Pre-project, in-progress, and final project evaluation
• Identification of project milestones, activity planning, risk/delay analysis and recovery
• Product positioning, analysis of strengths and weaknesses of the product being developed compare to the competitors in the market
• Product targeting, definition of functions and choice of technology as a result of expected costs, forecasted sales, time-to-market and expected investment
• Mock-up and definition of final product
• Validation of equipment and production process; start of production

Non sono richiesti pre-requisiti per la frequenza dell'insegnamento.

The first part of the course will be evaluated by an individual written exam consists of:

Multiple-choice questions (40%): test the students’ understanding of the basic concepts introduced in the course

Short case analysis (60%): students will be presented with short case(s) of new product development and/or management of product lifecycle, and will be required to solve the questions based on the case context. The questions could include:

• Open-ended questions: to identify the cost issues in the case context; to make cost-related judgment.
• Computational questions: to make basic cost-related calculation to support decision making.

The second part of the course will be evaluated by an individual oral exam, based on the discussion of the topics elaborated during the course, both within the lectures and in the additional activities. Students will be asked to apply the theories and instruments taught in the course to the context of case studies suggested by the student or the professor.