Session Summary

Product and Service Design

This session was divided into the following segments:

● Product Development Process
● Designing Service Products

Session Objectives

● Devise a product development process that offers a positive customer experience while
meeting organizational objectives
● Define a cohesive service process that aligns with the overarching corporate strategy

Product Development Process

In all types of industries, a successful supply chain depends on a sound product design and development
process. Each business has a distinctive strategy that best meets its demands; various items within the
same business could call for different strategies.

Planning and ideation, concept development, system-level design, detail design, testing and refinement,
and production ramp-up are the six stages that typically make up the product development process.

• Market opportunities, consumer segments, and a corporate strategy are all defined during the
planning stage.
• The product strategy is improved during the concept development stage.
• System-level design include developing a minimal viable product and a thorough business plan.
• In the detailed design stage, a product mock-up is made, quality assurance procedures are
specified, and the necessary materials are purchased.
• Testing and refinement include putting the product through its paces and, if necessary, changing
the design.
• Creating the product utilizing the intended production system is the last step in the manufacturing
process, which is then progressively followed by the ongoing production stage and the product
launch.

The following figure depicts this six-step process:

 Designing Service Products

Service products differ from manufactured goods in many aspects, chiefly because service providers
provide immaterial goods that cannot be created in advance. Consequently, two considerations must be
made while designing service processes:

• The first is the amount of expertise required of staff to provide consumers with excellent service.
• The time it would take to serve a customer, which is very changeable, comes in second.

The manner in which these issues are handled significantly affects both operating costs and the overall
customer experience.

The question of how the new service differs from those now provided by the company or its rivals is
crucial when creating a new service or making changes to an existing one. Before deciding on the
process-level specifics, you should determine the answers to the following three questions when
building a service product:

• How similar is the client experience across the new and existing services?
• How much are the new and old processes alike?
• Could the new service product be supported financially?

Let's talk about the first query. The new service shouldn't deviate too far from the level of customer
service that your brand is currently known for.
The next question pertains to figuring out the similarities and differences between the new and existing
processes. No matter how useful or high-quality the new service is, it will not be of much use unless the
right procedures are in place for its execution.

Finally, it is important to confirm that the new ideas are financially viable. This is because developing new
services and rolling them out throughout the corporation is an expensive process. Note that new services
aren't usually created with the goal of increasing earnings or diversifying. Creating new services isn't
always necessary for a company to keep its current clients, especially the more valuable ones.

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