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Given its leverage effect on downstream processes, the early phase of product development has special significance for the success of an innovation project. The scope for decision-making in the early phase is high and the time and effort required for changes relatively low. The late correction of wrong decisions made in early phases, on the other hand, is often associated with a disproportionately high effort. Validation activities in the early phase of product development are thus key to development success. At the same time, however, early validation activities come with special challenges, partly resulting from the high degree of uncertainty and a lack of resources in this phase. Early validation starts from product models. The product profile is a product model established for the use in the early development phase and beyond. It contains both solution-open and solution-specific elements. A particular challenge that developers face in practice when preparing early validation activities is the specification of solution-open elements of the product profile. Contributing to a targeted validation in early development phases, this paper presents a method that supports the developer in prioritizing, selecting and concretizing solution-open product attributes for early creation-validation cycles starting from the initial system of objectives. The method enables product developers to reduce uncertainties systematically regarding relevant customer and user requirements by means of targeted validation already in early development phases. We will explain the findings of this paper by using an example from the automotive industry. We will also discuss results from the evaluation of the method which we generated in a development project for mining equipment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An established commercial grade SrO doped ZTA composition has been considered to design, fabrication through uniaxial pressing followed by sintering and polishing, validation of dimension, 3D surface profile, 3D microstructure, and compressive load bearing capacity of femoral head – acetabular socket liner prototypes for the hip prosthesis. While design and dimensions are concerned, both the steel (HRC60) molds were designed and machined to achieve precious dimensions of femoral head (FH; OD – 30 ± 0.01 mm) and acetabular socket liner (ASL; ID – 30.15 ± 0.01 mm). A close variation in the range of ±0.01 mm was confirmed the precision geometry of polished FH and ASL with consideration of 22 points coordinate measuring method (CMM). 3D surface profile ensures the surface characteristics of R a = 0.2 ± 0.01 μm and R q = 0.5 ± 0.01 μm for outer surface of FH and an inner surface of ASL, respectively. Structure integrity and fabrication defects including cracks and pores free bulk structures were confirmed by Micro CT. The compressive load resistance known as burst strength for independent FH and FH-ASL assembly were measured 16.2 KN and 17.6 KN, respectively. The developed ceramic prototypes have an economic advantage and can be adopted as artificial hip prosthesis after extensive in-vitro and in-vivo analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides an overview of General Motor Corp.'s (GM) approach to manage driver workload, including some background on guidelines from the Alliance of Automotive Manufacturers in the U.S. It states that GM has developed formal requirements for driver workload to ensure consistency and discipline for product assessments. Included are the guiding principles of GM for telematic and infotainment systems and assessment of the secondary systems and features for communication.