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]AnalysisThis 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. ClientDescribe 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 clientCustomerWho 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 AnalysisResearch 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 ConstraintsDescribe the client’s constraints (money, time, quality, client reputation, time-to-market, other—use your imagination here and outline a fictional client)ResourcesDescribe 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 CriteriaDescribe 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

3References[add at least 2 references from the market analysis section]