Chemical product design begins by identifying customer needs, those unfilled wants which are the original spark for product development. The customers include both those who will buy the product and those who will use the product. Who these customers are and how their needs can be identified is the subject of Section 2.1. These needs are the starting point for our design. Sometimes, our product will be used primarily by consumers; in this case, the needs will often be described in non-scientific terms which are hard to quantify. In Section 2.2, we explore special problems associated with these consumer products, where we may wish to use subjectively assessed product attributes.

Needs are often vague, qualitative desires for solutions to ill-defined problems. To make these needs more definite, we seek particular specifications that our product must meet. Setting these specifications is explored in Section 2.3. Usually, the specifications will require continuing revision and re-evaluation. This revision can be greatly facilitated by using “benchmarks,” which are often competing products that we hope to replace. The revision of specifications and the use of benchmarks are the topics covered in Section 2.4. By the end of the chapter, we will have a basis from which to begin designing a successful product.

Customer Needs

Elucidating customer needs involves three sequential steps: interviewing customers, interpreting their expressed needs, and translating these needs into product specifications.