The Significance
From ideation to full scale manufacturing and order fulfillment, the process of accomplishing this follows a natural progression that if not planned for, will progress, but be wrought with pitfalls and excessive development monies.
The Effect
Alternatively, working from a New Product Development phase gate model, a prescribed sequence that fits the needs of your company will offer a roadmap and milestones cross functional teams can use to measure progress, KPI’s and success.
Key areas to be considered, discussed and serviced:
Definition and application of a typical NPI phase gate construct:
- Product Concept and Business Case Justification – This phase lays the foundation for the project by establishing the product concept and high-level business case
- Program Planning and Product Specification Creation – This phase creates the product specifications, preliminary manufacturing & supply chain models, sales & marketing go to market plans and establishes product business metrics (e.g. sell pricing, COGS and gross margins)
- Design Development and Build – Building upon the product specifications, prototypes are produced, integrated product testing is done, Manufacturing has developed its production scalability plans, Supply Chain has developed the go to market model and supporting cross functional teams (Sales, Marketing, Customer Service, Manufacturing and Product Design) start executing their operational plans
- Product & System Validation Testing – Rigorous product testing is conducted. Designs modified, product reliability is validated and final cross functional team go to market operational plans are agreed to
- Product Release and Full Commercial Deployment – If all has been executed well, your product is launched with confidence that product features and performance meet customer expectations and you are meeting revenue and COGS targets.
- Product End-of-Life Planning – Reaching this phase with a prescribed plan to service customers with spares, after market services and supporting inventory plans delivers superb customer support and effective cash management
In execution, under each phase there needs to be a detailed breakdown of required cross-functional team members, each member’s expected deliverables, team inter-dependencies, management responsibilities, and a means to track and approve progress.
Every company is unique in terms of its management personalities, levels of experience, and philosophies. Similarly, each product has its own unique technical and supply chain challenges. However, every company will step through a version of the phase gate process, either by proactively managing the process, or reactively being managed by the process.
Developing the unique phase-gate process and manufacturing ramp-up plan reflecting your company’s style, go-to-market timeline, cost objectives, and supply chain profile is a service I provide. From small questions on how this works, why it’s needed, and how it fits within your larger company structure, to developing a comprehensive phase gate process you can implement constitutes the full range of services I provide.
