Efficiency and Resilience in Product Design by Using Morphological Charts

The paper presents the possibilities and results of using either brainstorming or morphological charts for the development of new products in the field of smart furniture. In order to ensure the best possible match between product characteristics and customer requirements and to shorten development time in terms of resilience, an application of morphological charts is presented. The process started with potential customer polling. The obtained data was centralized and processed as shown into morphological matrices and the results were validated within conceptual design experiments. Similarly, a pure brainstorming based incremental design solution is presented, as well as a combined approach, integrating both methods. Analyzed by several professionals in furniture design, the models resulted from the experiments show the potential of each method with respect to market targeted by a start-up furniture company.