The quantification of workarounds and ways to utilize these ramifications

User innovation is steadily becoming an irreplaceable factor in product development. Thus it is necessary to find ways to measure these workarounds and ways to utilize these figures. I selected three (3) particular styles of workarounds to quantify and discuss. With makeshift window workarounds, I found that user workarounds in automobiles cost 84.9 times and households cost 67.9 less in magnitude compared to full repairs. Table adjustments workarounds were found to be many times greater than then replacing the table and the gap became greater with the increase in table price. Lastly examining medical instrument workarounds, I discovered that many these innovations can create profitable, niche markets. By using workarounds in general, producers can manufacture consumer desired products that generate revenue. In the future, I hypothesize that companies will lower their research and development funding in place of observing potentially, profitable workarounds.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2011

Author dc:creator

• Hollman, Wayne Jacob Mario

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Maria C. Yang.

• Mechanical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/68845

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/68845