Pugh Matrix

Selection Procedure Based on Pugh
(Pugh Matrix)

Term / Description
Pugh Analysis*, Pugh Matrix, selection procedure based on Pugh

When
In the Analyze and Design Phases, selecting concept ideas

Goal
Identify the best design concept through direct comparison and the sensible combination of specific feature characteristics for further optimization

Steps
The Pugh Matrix can help identify the concept that best fulfills customer requirements.
An analysis of strengths and weaknesses reveals those optimization approaches which enable a weak characteristic to be enhanced by a stronger one taken from another concept idea.

Criteria of efficiency (Critical to Business – CTBs) and effectiveness (Critical to Quality – CTQs) serve as the basis for evaluation.

The criteria are weighed according to the priorities elaborated in the Measure Phase.
In the form of a matrix (Pugh) the alternative concept ideas are compared
with an already existing or at least thoroughly analyzed standard concept.

Source: Identifying Design Concept
* Stuart Pugh (1991): Total Design – Integrated Methods for Successful Product Engineering, Pearson Education, Peachpit Press, Berkeley, CA, USA.

A Pugh Matrix is presented:

Pugh Matrix
Comparison of alternative concept ideas

A concept (usually the existing one or that of a competitor) is set as the standard and every criterion is given the value 0.

The alternative concept ideas are compared with this standard with respect to fulfilling the individual criteria.

A better evaluation vis-a-vis the standard concept is tagged with a plus sign (+) and a poorer one with minus (-).

For each concept the number of same valuations is added together and weighed according to the prioritization of the evaluated criteria (e.g. concept
1: prioritization of criterion 1 (= 3) + prioritization of criterion 2 (= 4) corresponds to the weighed aggregate + (= 7)).

Pugh Matrix
Valuation of alternative concept ideas

An analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the alternative concept ideas is now possible by considering the following questions:

– Is there one concept that dominates the others?

– Why is it dominant?

– What are its weaknesses?

– Can these weaknesses be compensated by characteristics taken from other concept ideas (optimizing combination)?

A new solution approach can be developed out of this analysis:

a good but still in part weak concept can be combined with the strengths of other concepts to generate an optimal solution.

Pugh Matrix
Optimizing weak characteristics of a best concept

Following an iterative procedure the optimized concept is continually compared and evaluated with the standard.

Tips

• A column-oriented focus on the dominating, best concept within the Pugh Matrix reveals possible conflicts / contradictions in the degree of fulfillment of single criteria.
• These contradictions can be described and solved with help of TRIZ methods.