ECE520.

427
Class #2
Product Development
and
Product Planning
 Outline: Class #2
Introduction to product design and
development
Product development process
Intermission – get some popcorn
Product planning
Homework assignment #1
 What is Product Design and
Development?
Product development is a set of activities
starting with the perception of a market
opportunity and ending with the sale of a product
Product design is one aspect of the development
process
„ Engineering design specifies how the technical
systems will work
„ Industrial design specifies the aesthetics, ergonomics,
and user interface
Other development activities include marketing
and manufacturing
Success of the product typically depends on the
success of all three development activities
Successful Product Development
Marketing
„ (pre-design) Identification of market opportunities
„ (pre-design) Identification of customer needs
„ (pre-design) Identification of target pricing
„ (post-design) Promotion of product
Design
„ Product quality
„ Product cost (includes development cost)
„ Development time
„ Development capability
Manufacturing
„ Production system
„ Supply chain
 Examples
Good market research and
bad design:
Archos vs. Apple
„ Archos 20GB
Released October 2001
350 g, 1.3” thick
File-based organization
system
Ugly interface
„ iPod 5GB
Released November 2001
184 g, 0.78” thick
ID3-based organization
system
Pretty interface
 Examples
Good design and
marketing and bad
manufacturing
„ Example 1: Wii
„ Example 2: Lenovo
X61 Tablet
 Why Is Good Product
Development Difficult?
Trade-offs
Dynamics
Details
Time pressures
Economics
 Generic Design Process
Phase 1: Phase 2: Phase 3: Phase 4: Phase 5:
Phase 0:
Concept System-Level Detail Testing and Production
Planning
Development Design Design Refinement Ramp-Up

Marketing
Design
Manufacturing
 Generic Design Process
Phase 1: Phase 2: Phase 3: Phase 4: Phase 5:
Phase 0:
Concept System-Level Detail Testing and Production
Planning
Development Design Design Refinement Ramp-Up

Marketing
„ Describe market opportunity
Design
„ Consider existing product platform (if any)
„ Consider new technologies
Manufacturing
„ Identify production and/or corporate constraints
Other
„ Allocate project resources
¾ Mission statement
 Generic Design Process
Phase 1: Phase 2: Phase 3: Phase 4: Phase 5:
Phase 0:
Concept System-Level Detail Testing and Production
Planning
Development Design Design Refinement Ramp-Up

Market opportunity Æ product concept

Marketing
„ Identify customer needs
„ Research competitive landscape
Design
„ Develop concepts
„ Determine feasibility of design concepts
„ Build and test prototypes
Manufacturing
„ Estimate manufacturing costs
Other
„ Investigate IP issues
¾ Product concept and proof-of-concept prototype
 Generic Design Process
Phase 1: Phase 2: Phase 3: Phase 4: Phase 5:
Phase 0:
Concept System-Level Detail Testing and Production
Planning
Development Design Design Refinement Ramp-Up

Product Identify Customer

Planning Needs
Product Specifications
Concept
Generation
Concept
Selection
Concept
Testing
Product Architecture
Industrial Design
Design for Manufacturing
Prototyping
Robust Design
Patents, IP, and Economics
 Generic Design Process
Phase 1: Phase 2: Phase 3: Phase 4: Phase 5:
Phase 0:
Concept System-Level Detail Testing and Production
Planning
Development Design Design Refinement Ramp-Up

Proof-of-concept Æ complete product architecture

Marketing
„ Develop extended product family
„ Develop marketing plan
Design
„ Describe all subsystems and components
„ Develop software and firmware
„ Create prototypes of each subsystem
„ Select geometric layout and create industrial design
„ Choose all parts and tolerances
Manufacturing
„ Identify suppliers
„ Create assembly scheme
„ Define assembly process and obtain tooling
¾ “Control documentation”
 Generic Design Process
Phase 1: Phase 2: Phase 3: Phase 4: Phase 5:
Phase 0:
Concept System-Level Detail Testing and Production
Planning
Development Design Design Refinement Ramp-Up

Control documentation Æ prototypes

Marketing
„ Develop plans for field testing
Design
„ Create alpha and beta prototypes
„ Performance and reliability testing
„ Iterate and refine design
Manufacturing
„ Refine assembly and fabrication schemes
„ Create quality assurance strategy
 Generic Design Process
Phase 1: Phase 2: Phase 3: Phase 4: Phase 5:
Phase 0:
Concept System-Level Detail Testing and Production
Planning
Development Design Design Refinement Ramp-Up

Prototypes Æ products
Marketing
„ Get first-run products to “preferred customers”
Design
„ Evaluate first-run output
„ Relax a little
„ Pray that everything works
Manufacturing
„ Start production
„ Make sure you don’t use lead paint from China
 Isn’t This All Obvious?
Yes and no
„ Taken individually, you could probably think up
most of the product development issues and
tasks covered in this class
„ Taken collectively, it takes experience to
produce a thorough product development
process from start to finish
This class guides the process step-by-step with
“structured methods” for each step
Within each step, some items might be “obvious”,
but combining all of the steps will produce a result
greater than the sum of the parts
Intermission
 ECE520.427
Class #2
Product Development
and
Product Planning
 Product Planning
Phase 1: Phase 2: Phase 3: Phase 4: Phase 5:
Phase 0:
Concept System-Level Detail Testing and Production
Planning
Development Design Design Refinement Ramp-Up

Corporations typically plan products many years

in advance
Product planning ensures that products support
overall business strategy
„ Determine mix of new products vs. upgrades
„ Optimize past experience as leverage into new
products
„ Decide which market segments to target
 Example: Xerox
New Hodaka Legend
Platforms Lakes Project
Product
H-Net Release
Derivatives
L-Net

Improvements 595 6010 392 393

Fundamentally New Astro

1996 1997 1998 1999 2000

Types of product development projects:

„ New product platforms, derivatives of existing
platforms, incremental improvements to existing
products, and fundamentally new products
 Evaluating Projects
Step 1: Identify market opportunities
Step 2: Evaluate opportunities
Four perspectives for evaluation:
„ Competitive strategy
„ Market segmentation
„ Technological trajectories
„ Product platforms
 Competitive Strategy
Defines the company’s approach to
markets and competitors – “reputation”
„ Technology leadership
„ Cost leadership
„ Customer focus
Market Segmentation
Technological Trajectories

today

Time Time
Product Platforms and
Technology Roadmaps
Product Platforms and
Technology Roadmaps
Functional Elements Technologies

Photo- Cylindrical 3-Pitch Belt n-Pitch Belt

receptor Drum Photoreceptor Photoreceptor

Scanner 2D CCD Array Full-Width, Linear Array

Layout w/Optical Reduc. without Optical Reduction

Toner High Low Melting Low Melting Point,

Type Temperature Point Low Emission

Output Monochrome: Paper, Fax, Scan, Color: Paper, Fax, Scan,

Modes Local Network, Internet Local Network, Internet

User Keypad
Interface Touch Screen Touch Screen, Remote PC

Image Automatic Image Quality

Processing 600 dpi 600/1200 dpi 1200 dpi 1800 dpi

Diagnostics On-Board Remote-Dialup Remote

Diagnostics Diagnostics Repair

Document Document Document Document

Centre Centre Centre Centre
220, 230 240, 255, 265 2XX 3XX
Hodaka Lakes Lakes Next
Project Project Extensions Platform

Time
Product Platforms and
Technology Roadmaps
 Product Platforms and
Technology Roadmaps

“In the course of the past several months, it has become clear that the right
path for Palm is to offer a single, consistent user experience around this new
platform design and a single focus for our platform development efforts. To that
end, and after careful deliberation, I have decided to cancel the Foleo mobile
companion product in its current configuration and focus all of our energies on
delivering our next generation platform and the first smartphones that will bring
this platform to market. We will, of course, continue to develop products in
partnership with Microsoft on the Windows Mobile platform, but from our
internal platform development perspective, we will focus on only one.”
– Ed Colligan, CEO of Palm, Inc.
 Product Planning Process
Multiple Projects

Evaluate and Allocate Complete Product

Identify
Prioritize Resources and Pre-Project Development
Opportunities
Projects Portfolio Plan Timing Product Planning Mission Process
of Plan Statements
Projects

1. Identify opportunities
2. Evaluate and prioritize products
3. Allocate resources and plan timing
4. Complete pre-project planning
5. Reflect on the results and the process
¾ Product “Mission Statement”
 Mission Statement
The Mission Statement provides a detailed
definition of the assumptions under which the
product will be developed, including:
„ One-sentence description of the product
(avoid implying a specific product concept)
„ Benefit proposition
„ Key business goals (time, cost, quality)
„ Target market(s)
„ Target price
„ Assumptions and constraints
„ Stakeholders
Intermission
 Outline: Class #2
Introduction to product design and
development
Product development process
Intermission – get more popcorn
Product planning
Homework assignment #1
 Product Development Task #1:
Opportunity Statement
An opportunity statement is a one- or two-
sentence description of a product or market
opportunity
„ Should not imply the use of any particular
technology
„ Should not imply a specific product concept
„ Example:
“Create a simple bedside device that displays internet weather
forecasts so you can see what the weather will be when you wake
up in the morning.”
 Product Development Task #1:
Opportunity Statement
Make a “pitch” in three slides
„ Explain problem, need, or motivation
„ Explain necessary elements in solution
„ Summarize with opportunity statement
 Assignment Schedule
Monday (9/15) – email me your opportunity
statement and your slides
Tuesday (9/16) – be ready to make a short (< 5
minute) presentation with your slides
„ At the end of class, everyone will vote for their
preferred product.
„ We’ll review votes and form teams.
Thursday (9/18) – we’ll announce the product
development teams by in-class and provide
some feedback
Monday (9/22) – each team will email me a team
Mission Statement (HW #2)
 Review: Homework #1
Due (email) by September 15
„ Written opportunity statement
„ Three (3) slides to make pitch
Also due by September 15: take online Jung
typology test and email me the results.
„ Before student presentations and team selection,
we’ll talk about teamwork and group dynamics
„ The results of the online typology test will help us to
customize the discussion to the students in the class
„ Link to test is on course website
How to Identify Opportunities
Potential sources:
„ Think about the frustrations and complaints your friends have
about existing products
„ Think about inefficiencies in your daily routine
„ Read a recent issue of Wired or Popular Science and get
inspired by new technologies
„ Scan the TOC of Proc. IEEE for the past few months to get an
idea of emerging trends
Methods to keep track of opportunities:
„ Keep an “opportunity database” on your computer; text-message
or email yourself when you think of an idea
„ Keep a running list of opportunities on your PDA
„ Write ideas down on a small piece of paper that you keep in your
wallet or purse
 Next Class
In class:
„ Guest lecture on teamwork and group dynamics
„ Student presentations – product pitches
Before class:
„ Read U & E chapters 1, 2 & 3
„ Complete online typology test
„ Submit opportunity statement, slides, and
typology results via email