The Concept of the Product Life Cycle - Assignment Example

? Manufacturing Technologies – Assignment Table of Contents Question 3 Product Life Cycle 3 Basic Stages in the Product Life Cycle 4 Automobile Industry 5 Mobile Phone Industry 7 PC Processor Industry 8 Question 2 8 Reference 12 Question 1 A product which satisfies the needs of the consumers remains in the demand. Hence the companies try to first understand the need of the consumers and then based on it design a product to meet their needs. But every product goes through a cycle known as product life cycle which shows the different stages that a product has to go through right from introduction to the decline phase (Horn and Faulkner, 2010, p. 382). In the present technologically changing environment, the manufacturers of goods and services need to improve on their current products to survive. Hence demand forecasting is crucial for the companies to make their product satisfy the needs of the consumer. Hence the concept of Product life cycle is very important. It is a tool through which we can analyse the demand within an industry. Through this PLC, it is possible to identify when a product needs to be replaced to make way for another product so that the manufacturer can make decision of introducing another new product replacing the existing one so that the manufacturer can earn profit (Gillies, 1996, p. 127). According to PLC theory a firm in any industry can predict the shift of product from one stage to another and hence will be able to adopt proper marketing-mix polices like when to replace a product with newer improved version to meet the expectations of the consumers. In 2004, the replacement purchases accounted for 55% of the digital camera sales, 63% of cell phones sales and 82% of computer sales. Product Life Cycle A product life cycle shows the sales pattern a product over a period of time. The time span begins with the period of introduction and ends with replacement of the product. Basic Stages in the Product Life Cycle Figure 1: Product Life Cycle Introduction / Development stage. Growth Stage Maturity Stage Decline Stage Here we will concentrate mainly on the Maturity Stage. It is here where the manufacturer has to get rid of old products and come out with strategies to rebrand the old products or manufacture and altogether new products in their portfolio of products. In the Maturity stage the product faces lot of market competitors and hence the profit declines as percentage of the sales (Grieves, 2006, p. 23). Hence companies when facing this has to come up with strategies to preserve their customer base and achieve profitability. Automobile Industry Figure 2: PLC of Car Industry In automobile industry the car manufacturers needs to replace their old cars with new cars to meet the demand and needs of the customers. Automobile industry faces extraordinary level of competition, which make the carmakers produce cars with a higher degree of differentiation (Kumar and Krob, 2006, p. 114). This makes the demand more elastic in nature and hence the carmakers are face with making new cars. In the 1970s most of the western car makers were in the saturation stages. Like in USA and Europe there was a demand of high motorization rate i.e. more car per person and hence the car manufactures had to make new products. The consumer’s decision to purchase a new car is based primarily on the search for a better car with more innovative solutions than ever before (Jones and Mathew, 2008, p. 384). Hence to retain the old customers and get new ones, the carmakers must offer new or better products to the customers at any time the customers decide. Car makers know that any delay in the product – innovation across the product life cycle will result in potential loss of consumer base. Whenever a car manufacturer comes out with newer car model, large manufacturers have economies of scale so that they can easily make the use of their resources and manufacture the new cars at a much reduced cost. Sometimes re launching of new car is not the only option. Car manufacturers sometimes decide to rebrand their existing cars to target new market segment. For example in India Tata Motors came out with a product Tata Nano. The idea of Tata Nano came out in 2003 and it was launched in the market in 2009. Initially it couldn’t reach the expectation and it quickly reached its maturity stage. Hence Tata motors deicide to take concrete steps. It decided to rebrand its car, and hence launched an extensive media campaign in the television, articles and even in radios to reach out to potential customers. They started making nationwide campaign along with attractive incentives like doubling of warranty and low maintenance contracts. Tata also enhance its financing options through tie-ups with more companies. As a result the sales of Tata Nano have increased as compares to its earlier models. Mobile Phone Industry Figure 3: Global Mobile Phone Shipments in 2012 Mobile phone industry also undergoes through the same life-stages though at a much quicker rate. In UK due to frequent changes in the product design, competition and willingness of the customers to replace their old mobile with newer ones have contributed to this industry being a highly dynamic industry (Macmillan, 2013, p. 54). There are also a high number of competitors in the mobile industry, which has makes the mobile manufactures come out with newer products. In UK mobile market there are players like Apple, Nokia, Samsung and HTC which comes out with new versions of their mobile phones to meet the consumer demands, like Apple comes out with variation of their iPhone like iPhone 4, 4s, 5,5C and 5S. PC Processor Industry PC processor industry is characterized by high-tech products where replacement of products becomes inevitable. PC processor industry consists of companies like Intel, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) which control roughly around 95% of the market. There is an intense competition in the market based on technological innovation and price completion. The companies hence have to come up with newer products to beat each other. The companies of this industry have to give importance to their R&D because they need to come up with newer mother boards to make the desktops and laptops more powerful Hence it is seen that in a manufacturing industry every company faces the need to either come up with newer product or rebrand their existing ones. This they need to achieve through their innovation and understanding the need so the consumers. In the time it takes for a product to reach the maturity stage depends on the industry it is in. The company needs to look at the different factors to replace the existing products. Question 2 The monolithic product which we have chosen is candle. We have chosen candle because it is made of wax. We can easily mould the wax into different shapes to form different types of candles. Since candles comes in a variety of shapes and sizes the wax can be easily moulded to form candles accordingly. Hence manufacturers mostly use Waxes to form candle. In today’s world wax can be found in a lot of variety hence it is used to create candles so that it can cater to the needs of the customers. Like manufacturers use different types of wax like Babyberry Wax which is an aromatic green vegetable wax. Then there is Paraffin wax which is a tasteless, white, odourless solid wax which is used because Paraffin is unaffected by most of the chemical reagents and it burns readily. Then there is Coloured Wax Candle which ensures longer by running life of the candle with no smoke. This Coloured Wax candle is used extensively by most of the manufacturers. Candle Paraffin Wax is also in high demand because it can be used to manufacture different types of candles like Pillar candle, Cotive Candle, Dipped Candle, Container Candle. Paraffin wax is mostly used to prepare the candles because it is a by-product of petroleum and is formed when crude oil is refined into gasoline. Semi Refined Paraffin Waxes are also highly appreciated in the market. It is Odourless, non-toxic in nature. Candle is identified as the solid block of wax that has an embedded wick. People used to ignite this wick to light the candle. It is considered as one of the important and effective substitutes of electricity (McElroy, 2010, p.129). The manufacturing process of candle is quite easy and highly interesting. In addition to this, the manufacturing and distributing process of the candles required low operation cost. This part of the study will deal with the manufacturing process of candles. There are two major components that are required for the manufacturing of the candles. These are wax and wick. Earlier the candles were made of beeswax and tallow. The advanced manufacturing process of the candles was introduced in the year 1853. However, recently the chandler or the candle manufacturers use paraffin wax as the major and only prime components to manufacture a candle. Paraffin is an effective and important product of petroleum refining. In addition to this, five major associated components or tools are required to manufacture a candle, such as Thermometer, melting pot, pour pot, hammer to break the wax and scale to weight the extracted wax. First of all, a candle manufacturer needs to have some pot or material to melt the wax. There are two types of manufacturing methods, such as single boiler and double boiler method. Double boiler method is the safest way to manufacture a candle. Manufacturing process of candles requires temperature candle method. Single boiler method is highly risk associated as this cannot control the temperature control as the flash point of wax can cause accident or result in the manufacturing firm or the factories. The temperature flash point of the wax used to vary due to the quality of wax. Generally for premium quality wax, the flash point used to vary between 290 degrees and 300 degrees (Osterer, 2009, p.427). Looking into these facts, several industry experts always recommend using double boiler method in the manufacturing process of the candles. It is not necessary to buy an expensive wax melter. Wax Molds or wax pots or wax frames and a thermometer are considered as major manufacturing equipments. An effective thermometer is required in order to aware the manufacturer to make effective decision about next strategies in the manufacturing process. It is important for the organization or individual candle manufacturer to control the temperature depending upon the readings of the thermometer. Pour pot or wax pot or wax frame is a necessary item to pour the melted wax into eat. These are known as candle-makers. The industry leaders generally recommend to the manufacturers to buy quality aluminium candle-maker. Several organizations used to sell different types of wax base on the demand of the manufacturers (Goldratt and Cox, 2012, p.28). The next essential thing is required in the manufacturing process of the candles is reliable scale in order to weigh the wax and put into the melter. The shapes of the candles depend upon the inner design of the wax frames. However, the manufacturers used to pour the hot and liquid wax into the designed frame or the melter to melt in. Several organizations used to manufacture different types of wax frames or melter. It helps the manufacturers to develop or manufacture candles of different shapes. Manufacturing of candle does not required high business operating cost or high employee effort. However, lastly, the manufacturers need a hammer to break the solid wax. In different cases, the manufacturers can get separate candles in its solid stage from the melter (Mozes, G., 1983, p.260). Two things need to be maintained in the manufacturing process. These are temperature control and boiling of the paraffin. Figure 4: Wax Frame Now-a-days, people used to take extra care in the boiling stage as this process is high risk associates. Introduction of double boiler helps the manufacturers to maintain health and safety in workplace. However, the manufacturers use paraffin as the wax that is extracted from paraffin is quite flexible. People can create candles of different shapes due to the flexibility of wax. Reference Gillies, G.L. 1996., Global Business Strategy. Mason: Cengage Learning. Goldratt, E., and Cox, J., 2012., The Goal: A progress of Ongoing Improvement. London: Sage, 2012. Print. Grieves, M. 2006., Product Lifecycle Management. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Education Horn, S.S. and Faulkner, D. 2010., Understanding Global Strategy. Mason: Cengage Learning. Jones, G.R. and Mathew, M. 2008., Organizational Theory, Design, And Change. New Delhi: Pearson Education India. Kumar, S. and Krob, W. A. 2006., Managing Product Life Cycle in a Supply Chain: Context: A Prescription Based on Empirical Research. New York: Springer. Macmillan, P. 2013., Competitive Dynamics in the Mobile Phone Industry. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. McElroy, M., 2010., Energy: Perspectives, Problems and Prospects. New York: Oxford University Press. Mozes, G., 1983. Paraffin products. London: Kogan Page. Osterer, H., 2009. Adrian Frutiger. London: Routledge. Read More