Product & Concept

Development

Product Development Process

The sequence of steps/activities employed to

conceive, design & commercialize a product

Many are intellectual and organizational

instead of physical
Highly evolved business enterprises follow a

defined, precise & detailed development process. Some companies may not be able to describe their process
Every organization employs processes that are

at least slightly different from the rest.

There are companies that follow different

processes for each of several types of development projects

Uses of a Well-Defined Devt Process

Quality assurance. Specified phases and checkpoints assures quality of product Coordination. Devt plan acts as master plan, defining roles, timelines & coordinative actions Planning. Milestones marks the completion of each phase. Occurrence is set by devt plan Management. Devt process is a benchmark for assessment of ongoing devt effort. Actual events ranged against established process allow managers to identify possible problem areas Improvement. Careful documentation & ongoing review of a devt process and its results are tools to identify improvement opportunities

Generic Product Devt Process

The 6-Phase Process

Planning
Concept Development. System-Level Design

Detail Design
Testing & Refinement Production Ramp-up

1 of 6 Stages: Planning
Planning aka The Zero Phase.
Precedes the project approval & launch of actual product devt

process Identifies Opportunity as guided by corporate strategy. Covers technology devt assessment & market objectives Project Mission Statement. Output of planning phase, Specifies target audience, business goals, key assumptions, and constraints Opportunity identification. Explains a process of gathering, evaluating and choosing from a broad range of product opportunities

Product Planning. Presents a discussion of the subsequent product planning process

2 of 6 Stages: Concept

Devt

Needs of target market identified

Alternative product concepts are generated & evaluated

One or more concepts are selected for further devt & testing

Concept is a description of the form, function & features of a product that usually comes with a set of specifications, analysis of competitive products, and economic justification for the project

3 of 6 Stages: System-Level

Design

Defines the product architecture, decomposition of the product

into subsystems and components, and preliminary design of key

components
Initial production system plans and final assembly are defined in

this phase
Output is geometric layout of the product, a functional

specification of each of the subsystems, and a preliminary process flow diagram for the final assembly process

4 of 6 Stages: Detail

Design

Complete specification of the geometry, materials, and tolerances of

all the unique parts in the product and the identification of all of the standard parts to be purchased from suppliers are dealt in this phase.
Process Plan established. Tooling is designed for each part to be

fabricated within the production system

Output of this phase is the Control Documentation drawings or

computer files describing the geometry of each part & its production tooling, specifications of the purchased parts, and the process plan for the products fabrication & assembly
Finalized in this stage are 3 critical product devt process issues:

materials selection, production cost, and robust performance

5 of 6 Stages: Testing

& Refinement

Involves the construction and evaluation of a products multiple

preproduction versions
Alpha prototypes are built with production-intent parts or parts with

similar geometry & material properties as per the production version but not necessarily fabricated with the actual processes to be used in production. Alpha prototypes are tested to determine whether the product will work as designed and/or it satisfy key customer needs
Beta prototypes are usually built with parts supplied by the intended

processes but may not be assembled using the final assembly process. Beta prototypes are extensively evaluated internally and are typically tested by customers using their own environments. The goal for Beta prototypes is to answer performance & reliability questions in order to identify final engineering changes for the final product

6 of 6 Stages: Production

Ramp-up

The product is made using the intended production system to train the

workforce and work out any remaining problems in the production process
Products produced during this stage are sometimes supplied to

preferred customers and are carefully evaluated to identify any remaining flaws.
Transition from Production Ramp-up to actual production is usually

gradual. At some point during the transition, the product may be launched and made available for widespread distribution. Postlaunch Project Review are usually done after the launch.

Concept Development
The Front-End Process

Key Areas of Concept Devt

Identifying Customer Needs Establishing Target Specifications

Concept Generation
Concept Selection Concept Testing

Setting Final Specifications

Project Planning Economic Analysis Benchmarking of Competitive Products Modeling and Prototyping

Identifying Customer Needs

GOAL: Understand customers

needs and to effectively them to the development team.

OUTPUT: A set of carefully

constructed customer need statements, organized in hierarchical list, with importance weightings for many or all of the needs

Establishing Target Specifications

Specifications provide a precise

description of what a product has to do. These are the customer needs translated into technical terms. Targets for the specifications are set early in the process and represents the hopes of the devt team.

Specifications are later refined as dictated by the products concept.

OUTPUT: List of target specifications,

each consisting of a metric, including marginal and ideal values of that metric.

Concept Generation
Includes external search,

creative problem solving within the team, and systematic exploration of the various solution fragments the team generates
GOAL: Thoroughly explore the

space of product concepts that may address the customer needs.

OUTPUT: 10-20 concepts,

represented by text & a brief descriptive text

Concept Selection
Various product concepts

are analyzed and sequentially eliminated to identify the most promising concept or concepts. This usually require several reiterations and may initiate

additional concept
generation and refinement

Concept Testing
One or more concepts are tested

to verify that the customer needs

have been met, assess the market

potential of the product, and identify any shortcomings that must be remedied during the further development. If the customer response is poor, the devt project may be terminated or some earlier activites may be repeated as needed

Setting Final Specifications

Target specifications earlier set in

the process are revisited after a

concept has been selected and

tested. During this stage the team commits to specific values of the

metrics reflecting the constrains

inherent to the product concept, limitations identified through

technical modeling, and trade offs

between cost and performance

Project Planning
The final activity of concept devt where a

detailed devt sked is created, a strategys is devised to minimize devt time, and identify the resources required to complete the project.
Major results of front-end activities are

captured in a contract book, which contains the mission statement, the customer needs, details of the selected concept, product specifications, economic analysis of the product, the devt sked, project staffing and budget. The contract book serves to document the agreement between the devt team and the senior management of the enterprise

Economic Analysis
Supported by a financial analyst, the devt team builds an economic model

for the new product which is used to

justify the continuation of the over-all devt program and to resolve specific trade-offs between, for example, devt

cost & manufacturing cost. It is an

ongoing phase in the concept devt phase. Economic analysis are often performed before the project even

begins and this analysis gets updated

as more info are made available

Benchmarking of Competitive Products

Understanding the competition is critical to successfully position a

new product. It is also a rich source of ideas for the product and production process design. This is performed in support of many front-line activities

Modeling and Prototyping

Stages of concept devt process involves various forms of models and prototypes. May include:
Proof-of-concept models. Helps in

demonstrating feasibility
Form-only models. Usually shown

to customers to evaluate ergonomics and style

Spreadsheet models of technical

trade-offs

Variants of Generic Product Devt Process

Product Devt Process Flows