problem analysis

You are employed by a medium-sized engineering design/manufacturing firm. A potential client has asked your company to design and produce a mousetrap. Your manager has asked you to do an analysis of problems that this client’s consumers have with the current mousetraps on the market and the firm’s resources in order to determine whether your firm may be able to design and produce an appropriate product for their customers. The customers who will ultimately purchase this mousetrap are concerned about contracting diseases from rodents caught in a mousetrap (specifically, they may be concerned about Hantavirus, a fatal virus carried by some mice). They also will purchase ONLY traps that are humane to trapped animals. 

Your manager wants you to analyze and describe the firm’s ability to:

• Manufacture a thing (mousetrap)
• That solves a certain problem (which we discussed in class)
• Using the resources available to the firm (some imagination is required for this part)
• Within certain constraints
• That will be acceptable to the client (meets the client’s CRITERIA FOR ACCEPTANCE)
• First, you will ANALYZE AND RESEARCH the problem. Next, you will use the template to WRITE an analysis section of a report. The technical communication part of this assignment is to write a problem analysis report. The engineering part of this assignment involves analyzing the problem thoroughly. REMEMBER THAT YOU DO NOT NEED TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM. We did some of the analysis for this problem in class. The notes I took of our in-class analysis are below in red. 
• What is the magnitude of this problem?
  • Hanta virus is not super-common (so any mousetrap we manufacture may not need to focus solely on Hanta virus)
  • Hanta virus may be more common in farming regions where food crops attract mice
  • Hanta virus may be more common in very urban areas where food waste attracts mice
  • Conclusion–Since Hanta virus is not a huge thing, perhaps the focus in the design of this mousetrap should be more on its general hygienic nature and less on Hanta virus in particular. In addition, perhaps the focus should be on other features of the trap
• When does this problem occur?
  • Mice usually look for food at night or between dawn and dusk
  • Conclusion–Any mousetrap we design and manufacture must be able to be used at night—probably not a problem, but something we may need to think about in the design
• Where does this problem occur?
  • U.S. homes and businesses 
  • Conclusion–Any mousetrap we design and manufacture must be safe around humans (especially children), and pets.
  • Conclusion–Any mousetrap we design and manufacture must meet U.S. regulations for consumer goods
• Is this problem getting better or worse? 
  • Conclusion–same (recall that in class we decided it is staying the same for now)
• What has been done so far to solve the problem?
  • The market has mouse traps that do these things:
    • Kill the mouse
    • Trap the mouse so that the mouse can be released later
    • Trap the mouse trap the mouse using inhumane means
    • Deploy poison (and kill the mouse)
    • Some traps are once-and-done
    • Some traps are reusable (and must be reset/re-baited)

Customer criteria for acceptance:  a customer will buy this mousetrap if . . .

• It is considered humane (what does that even mean?)
• It is reasonably priced
• It is safe for use around kids an pets
• The risk to catching Hanta virus from a mouse caught in the trap is tolerably low
• Additional criteria (can you think of anything else?

Client criteria for acceptance:  a client will hire your firm to design and manufacture the mousetrap if . . .

• You have the resources to do it
• The design meets the customer needs
• The completed mousetraps meet U.S. regulations
• The design and manufacturing costs are kept at a level where customers will readily purchase the final product
• Additional criteria (can you think of anything else?
• Problem Analysis
  Introduction
  [add two sentences telling the reader what is in this section of the report]
  Analysis
  This section describes the client, the customer, the problem the customer needs to solve. The section is
  finished with a description of the resources used to research the market.
  Client
  Describe the client who has asked you to design and manufacture the mousetrap. Where are they
  located? How big are they? Is it a local firm or national? Other information to help us understand the
  client
  Customer
  Who will purchase the product we are designing and manufacturing (the mousetrap)? What is the
  customer’s situation? What are the customer’s unique concerns? (see the assignment sheet and
  problem analysis we did in class for this information.
  Market Analysis
  Research at least 2 representative products on the market today. Describe them—their design and their
  features. Reference the websites or other resources in the references section (last)
  Client Constraints
  Describe the client’s constraints (money, time, quality, client reputation, time-to-market, other—use
  your imagination here and outline a fictional client)
  Resources
  Describe your engineering design/manufacture resources—do you have specialized engineering
  expertise/talent? Do you have/need legal resources to ensure that regulatory needs are met? Do you
  have facility space? Is there a local workforce available? Do you have access to particular raw materials?
  Acceptance Criteria
  Describe the consumer product that the client wants you to design and build. What would be unique
  about this product? Why would a CUSTOMER purchase a product you designed instead of a product that
  is already on the market. Describe the problem a customer is trying to solve with this mousetrap
  
  3
  References[add at least 2 references from the market analysis section]

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