| The Development Process |
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No two product developments are the same, but there are
principles
to which they should all adhere:
- Develop in short stages to manage both risk and
investment.
- Each stage should be clearly achievable, given that
previous stages have been completed successfully.
- Work as an integrated team with Marketing, Sales, Design,
Manufacturing,
Service, Finance ... all making positive contributions. The reward will
be
joint "ownership" and commercial success.
- Don't re-invent the wheel. If a solution has been found
elsewhere, analyse
it, adapt it and improve it.
- Develop incrementally; Big steps have big risks and big
costs.
- Remember that for a product to be successful the final
customer has to
see a fair exchange of value for price. The value side must be
understood
by the development team if the best product is to be developed. Even
for
novel products there are techniques for measuring value in customers'
eyes
early in the development cycle
Model Development Sequence for technical products
Not all developments will require all of these stages, and
others
may be needed in special cases:
Business and opportunity analysis:
- Statement of Corporate objectives, current and desired
position,
SWOT analysis
- Desk research: Market
- Desk research: Technical
- Review existing patents
- Customer research
Result: Analysis of present position, dynamics, threats and
opportunities
Opportunity development:
- Focus groups
- Desk research
- Concept development
- Commercial analysis
Result: Candidate business/product concepts with estimated
costs,
benefits and risks
Concept Validation:
- Outline marketing development (targets, positioning,
communications)
- Customer research
- Proof-of-Principle technical prototype development
- Investigation and development of outline manufacturing plan
- Review commercial opportunity
Result: Quantified commercial opportunity
Product Development:
- Outside specification (what the customer sees
and includes
all of: functions, performance, price, position, support, disposal ..)
- System design & module outline specification
- Source critical components
- Source manufacturing
- Critical experiments (to confirm practicality of the
specifications)
- Target costing & timescales for both development
and production
- Detailed specifications for functional modules
- Outline design-for-manufacture
- Develop test harnesses
- Functional module design, prototype and debug
- Product testing with users
- Product prototype build and debug
- Statutory and non-statutory testing
- Production assembly and test systems development
- Build models for customer research and technical trials
- Develop marketing communications & customer support
- Design modifications
- Review for any patent infringement
- Apply for patent protection of valuable IP
Results: Product design, marketing plan, Quality
plan, marketing
communications, production plan, patent application(s)
Introduction to production
- Tooling
- Pilot production & debug
- Repeat statutory and non-statutory testing
- Full Production
- Quality monitoring
- Launch
- Plan and execute incremental product improvement
Result: commercial success & plan for improving market
position
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