Success Factors in Product Innovation - Case Study Example

Product Innovation Charter Purpose This charter is the document for product innovation. This provides the process to innovate, design, develop, launch and maintain a new product in the toys industry. This would form the product innovation charter (PIC) for the product development work. Staged Development Process A staged development process is visualised for the PIC. The staged development work will involve describing the process at every stage and the meeting criteria that has to be met by the product before crossing over to the next stage. Every stage will have a 'Gate'. The gate can be passed only if the process would meet the conditions of the gate and pass them. Every gate will have 'gate keepers' who will maintain the system in place; these people will also evaluate the condition of the product at that stage and whether the product meets all the criteria that are needed to pass the gatei. Only if the conditions are met, the gate keepers will allow the product to cross over. There could be more than one gate keeper for every gate. Every one of the gate keepers will be a specialist in the area of concern. For instance, for every gate the list of gate keepers will include the marketing person, a person from the production and customer support in addition to the other design department professionals. This is needed because the marketing person represents the problems in launching the product in the market; at the same time, the production person will let the designer know the problems that are faced at the time of productionii. Each one of them will have their own conditions for the product to pass through. Based on these conditions, the overall process is shown as below: Figure 1: Staged Development Process The gate created at every stage is tuned for the product that has to pass through. Only those products that meet the criteria are allowed to pass through. This will ensure that the products created are up to the expectation and meet the marketing department's original needs. The following sections define every one of the stage in the process of development. Initiation The process of initiation is the commencement of the design concept and the idea creation itself. Normally the ideas come from the marketing department either from the customer or from the marketing people themselves. They meet the needs of the end users and during the process they might get a better solution for the same problem and therefore, these people come up with the original idea creation and initiation of the concept. They are also the people who know whether there is a market for the product under questioniii. They know what are the types of customers that expect this requirement and how do they make use of these products. So they are right judges on the product marketability as well. This would be important reason for the initiation to start from the marketing department. Similarly, the customer support executives and professionals are the other set of people who come in touch with the customers and they are able to come up with new ideas and concepts that could satisfy the customer needs. The process of initiation would comprise of identifying an appropriate market opportunity. This has to include assessing the market for the product and the possible market share that the product might garner in when compared to the other products in the market that meet the needs of the customer. The new product idea and the product technology that will be employed should also be finalised at this stage. This will help in working out the possible options that the developer might have while designing and developing the product. The target user, his specific needs if any should also be identified. The target customer will decide on various other user needs such as operating language, specifications etc. The following marketing characteristics should be considered, ideally: 1. Market and the growth of the market. 2. The customer need the product is expected to meet. 3. Entry barriers 4. Competition and the advantages that the competition enjoys. 5. Profit potential and the contribution that the company might enjoy because of this product. 6. The overall risk factors that will affect the product. In addition to all this, the organisation's capability to meet every one of these needs of the product should also be judged. Whether the company has the strengths in technology, in terms of money and in terms of other such parameters should also be evaluated and then judged. All these factors should be assembled and the following documents are the deliverables at the end of this stage. Since this is about the Toys market Deliverables: 1. Market Potential Document 2. SWOT Analysis of the opportunity. 3. Requirements Document Design Design is done based on the requirements document produced in the previous stage. This input document helps the design team to work out the best design and possibly build a prototype of the system that is required. Rigorous designing methods are established and the same may be adopted in this process as well. This would include incorporating some of the latest design techniques of working together with disparate teams. For instance, the mechanical part of the toy design need to work in sync with the electrical and the electronics design teams. An agile team of a mechanical designer, an electrical designer and an electronics designer is formed every time when a new product is being produced. This would help the design team to work in cohesion and also help in interacting with one another and with the utmost ease to find out better solutions and swifter solutions for any problem that might come up. All designs that are made should ensure that the product rolls out swiftly and should reduce the time to market for any product. It is imperative that the products also are safe and easy to use for kids who might end up using the toy. This brings more people into the designing system and also ensures that all these requirements are met by the team designing the toy. The following are the important deliverables for the design team. 1. General Arrangement Diagram 2. Complete design specifications. This would comprise of all the major components and their individual designs. These specifications have to be complete and should help any production person to produce the required product. Appropriate material choice, choice of components, power source and mechanical design, plastics to be used if any, should all form a part of the design specifications. If any software is also loaded on to the toy, then the design for the software should also be included. This is a comprehensive document for every product that would carry the complete design specifications for the product. Development and Testing The product will then be developed based on the design and an internal testing will be carried out. While the product is being developed, there could be developmental and as-built changes. A document detailing the as-built changes is produced. These change documents will be added on to the complete design documents finally to produce the as-built documentationiv. This would include all the design changes that were done in the product, including mechanical design changes as well as the design changes in the electrical and electronic side as well. After completing the complete proto-type of the equipment or product that has to be delivered, the toy is subjected to testing. The testing will involve extensive usage of the same for what it is made for and what it is not made for too. Since most of the kids who use the toys do not stop with using the same for what it is made for. At the end of the testing a comprehensive test report is generated which will also suggest any specific problems that is faced during the test. If any problems are faced that need rectification, then the product is resubmitted for design changes and changes are made so as to avoid occurrence of such problems. The proto-type is then rebuilt or rectified based on the design changes. This is again subjected to further testing and re-testing to confirm whether the product sticks to the originally conceived ideas and concepts. Once this done, the product passes through to the next stage. The following deliverables are there for the current stage. 1. Change documents 2. As built drawings and documents 3. Test Reports Trial Launch Samples of these products are made and then launched into the market for trial marketing. Trial marketing would subject the product to user testing and user feedback. The testing done at the proto-type level and at the factory might not be in line with the actual usage situation of the product. Whereas, the trials at the user end will be at the actual usage situation and the trials will be utmost fair. Ideally, the trial launch should be marketed with the standard methodology as if it is being sold in the normal run and the customers should be requested to provide feedback. This feedback is clearly documented and the same is taken in as input for any revisions that might be needed. In the course of the trial launch, in addition to the product stability and quality, the market can also be studied in more detail. The response of the market and the feedback from the market on the expected product features can also be noted down. This will help in releasing the product appropriately so that a larger market share could be garnered in. The following documents are delivered at the end of this stage before the product crosses into the next stage. 1. Feedback forms 2. Desired design changes 3. Market capitalisation Report Final Launch and Distribution Based on the feedback during the trial launch and the design changes that were requested by the marketing and the customer support team, the changes are incorporated in the product and then it is again positioned for a complete launch. The complete launch is then planned by ensuring that all the dealers are educated on the product and to support the product. Similarly, the product support team is also educated for maintaining the product. A comprehensive training cycle is done. A user manual, a maintenance manual and a support manual for the customer support personnel are all produced so that the product can be supported by the people. All these will form the deliverables before the final launch and distribution really commences. The product launch should be preceded by the documentation completion and should reach the respective personnel so that their work is not hampered. Life Cycle Management Once the final launch is done, the product life cycle management comes into play. Every product has to be maintained as it is prescribed in the maintenance manual. However, changes in maintenance and requests in the feedback forms from the customers can also be incorporated over a period of time. The life cycle management comprises also of phasing out of the model and introduce a new version as the requirements change. Based on the feedback from the customers the same has to be done and this can be recorded in the life cycle management documentation. In the process of managing the life cycle, the product performance is monitored, failure rates, major issues noted and the major needs of the people are also noted by the customer support personnel as well as by the marketing people. This will help in redesigning the product and re-launching a new version of the product or in bringing out a new product altogether if needed. Conclusion The PIC is an important constituent of any product development scenario that a company might face. Every company will have its own product development process in place. However, the product innovation charter would ensure that proper methodologies are adopted by the company in converting a product idea into a product and also in ensuring that the product reaches its customers with basic qualities in place. It is also important that the company ensures safety and production control of quality in its process rather than by inspection. This is brought about by Product Innovation Charter. References Read More