DRM Associates offers an extensive range of workshops to provide practical training on new product development; best practices; design optimization; and the various methods and tools to plan, manage and support product development. These workshops are primarily held onsite at your location and often are customized to your products, process and business environment.
Best Practices of New Product Development Workshop
This three- or five-day workshop is based on our framework of 270 best practices for product development that we have maintained over the last 25+ years. These best practices address the dimensions of organization, process, design optimization, and technology tools.
Design for Manufacturability/Assembly Workshop
This three-day workshop includes many examples to illustrate DFM/A principles and exercises to develop practical DFM/A skills analyzing a design for manufacturability.
Design for Serviceability/Maintainability Workshop
This three-day, practical, hands-on workshop covers the principles of design for serviceability and maintainability illustrating these principles with numerous examples and exercises to reinforce understanding of principles.
Design to Cost Workshop
This three- to four-day workshop addresses how to establish a target price and cost and then achieve the cost target during requirements definition, concept development, assembly & part design, and process design.
Lean Product Development Workshop
This two- to three-day workshop addresses the principles and practices of lean product development which is focused on reducing waste, work-in-process, and cycle time for product development.
Mistake-Proofing by Design Workshop
This two-day workshop describes the principles of mistake-proofing or poka-yoke and the proactive approach of addressing mistake-proofing during development versus installing mistake-proofing devices and approaches on the factory floor after the product has been put into production.
Quality Function Deployment (QFD) Workshop
This is three-day, hands-on workshop teaches the QFD approach to product planning and requirements definition through a series of exercises beginning with capturing and organizing the voice of the customer.
Target Costing Workshop
This is a three-day workshop for management and development personnel responsible for establishing and using a target costing process and managing the achievement of a target cost.
Voice of the Customer Workshop
This two- to three-day, hands-on workshop uses exercises to develop skills in using various methods VOC methods, discusses when they should be used, and leads participants through the process of planning how to capture the VOC.
3P – Production Preparation Process Workshop
The 3P workshop builds upon lean manufacturing and lean product development practices to define an optimal product concept and optimal production/assembly process. It can be structured in several ways. The basic workshop is a two-day event. This training emulates the real workshop environment and motivates participants to be as creative and as proactive as possible by utilizing a simple process example that is worked through almost as if it were an actual event. The learning style is based on 75% learning by doing and 25% through classroom style presentation and discussion. An extended four-day version is focused on working with a team to apply 3P to an actual project. An alternative four-day workshop program can integrate Design for Manufacturability/Assembly training with 3P.
Advanced Product Quality Planning Workshop
This is a two- or three-day workshop covering the various principles, practices and processes to support Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP). It includes many examples and hands-on exercises to illustrate the process and practices and can incorporate your company’s products and processes to apply these practices to. The workshop is intended for design engineers, manufacturing engineers, quality engineers, reliability engineers, procurement, program managers and product managers.
Assessing and Improving Product Development Workshop
This one-half-day workshop covers the methodology for benchmarking best practices to assess and improve an organization’s product development environment using DRM Associates proven Product Development Assessment (PDA) methodology and/or the Product Development Best Practices and Assessment (PDBPA) software or IPPD Program Assessment (IPPDPA) software.
Certified Product Manager® Workshop
The objective of the Certified Product Manager Workshop is to provide the training and knowledge to achieve certification as a “Certified Product Manager” through the Association of International Product Marketing and Management (AIPMM). The workshop includes the certification exam on the final day. The five-day Workshop focuses on the entire product lifecycle – product inception through launch through obsolescence/refresh. The Workshop provide valuable training in addition to exam preparation.
Concept Development Workshop
This three-day, workshop addresses the process for determining customer needs and requirements (voice of the customer), developing a product specification, creating concept alternatives, and evaluating and selecting a preferred concept approach.
Controlling the Development Process with Gate Reviews Workshop
This one day workshop covers the process and elements of an effective gate review process. A series of exercises are used to get the participants to define the gate review process for your organization including the participants, timing, gate review inputs, gate review decisions, and gate review ground rules.
Design for Six Sigma Workshop
This three-day workshop covers the principles of design for six sigma following the IDOV (identify, design, optimize and validate) framework. It covers the various principles, tools and methodologies related to each phase of the IDOV framework with examples and exercises to develop an understanding of the DFSS approach.
Design of Experiments Workshop
This practical, two-day workshop serves as a broad introduction to designed experiments including fractional factorial (screening experiments) and response surface studies. It further teaches you to perform one type of designed experiment called a screening experiment. A screening experiment is a systematic approach to identifying the key input parameters of a process or product that affect the output performance. You will become proficient at designing, analyzing and interpreting screening experiments by working three real-life problems.
Engineering Project Planning and Leadership
Engineers involved in product development face many difficult challenges above and beyond solving technical problems. Engineering projects require skills such as leadership, planning, estimating, scheduling, collaboration and communication skills. All individual contributors need these skills, and for those who lead projects and teams of any size – these skills are critical. This two-day workshop educates project leaders and individual contributors about the fundamentals and some advanced project leadership and planning topics and enables them to complete projects more successfully.
Essential Interpersonal Skills for Technical Professionals
This one-day workshop addresses the essential interpersonal and business skills needed by technical professional focusing the most important competencies that apply to most technical jobs. Participants engage in exercises and leave with tools that help them continuously develop these competencies.
Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) Workshop
This one-day hands-on workshop teaches the process of Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA). The workshop uses a series of exercises to walk-through the process. It can be oriented to either a Design FMEA or a Process FMEA.
High-Impact Product Marketing and Management Workshop
This workshop is three- to five-days in duration and can be customized to the markets and products of the organization. In addition, the workshop can be focused more on the product management function or the product marketing function. The workshop includes exercises and case studies to enhance the learning experience.
Integrated Product & Process Development Workshop
This three- to five- day workshop covers the concepts and best practices on IPPD. It is intended for government contractors, government acquisition organizations, and program offices. The workshop covers program planning with IPPD; integrated product teams; integration of subcontractor, contractor and customer; requirements definition, an IPPD-oriented development process, design automation technology, and implementing IPPD practices. The workshop includes exercises to reinforce the concepts presented. This workshop is oriented towards customers, program management, product development professionals, and functional managers.
Leadership Skills for Engineers and Technical Professionals
This one-day workshop teaches skills needed to lead projects, drive innovation, and influence others in an engineering role or similar technical role. Participants learn the differences between leadership and management and how to develop specific leadership skills that are important to all engineers and technical professionals. Participants engage in exercises that assess their individual leadership abilities and provide guidance for further skill development.
Lean Design Workshop
This three- to five-day workshop teaches how to develop a product design that maximizes the customer’s value proposition, thereby meeting customer needs with a minimum of waste. It begins with the principles of lean and how they apply to a product’s design. It covers understanding the voice of the customer to how to most cost effectively address the customer’s needs with the product’s design. The principles covered in this workshop are illustrated with numerous examples and reinforced through a series of exercises.
Managing Product Development Workshop
The one- to two-day workshop presents an integrated approach to managing product development covering project management, process management, pipeline management and portfolio management. It is intended for process improvement team members, project managers, team leaders, functional managers, and executive management.
Managing the Product Lifecycle to Maximize Profitability Workshop
In vigorously competitive markets characterized by compressed product life spans, increased competition, and profit pressure, you need to understand how to assess the performance of your current product or service within the context of established business plans and marketing programs, and how to revise your strategies and tactics to sustain the product. This two- to three-day workshop is intended for product managers, marketing personnel, project managers and other development personnel to address how to monitor the marketplace and competition, plan your product, analyze profitability, launch your product, extend its life and finally, phase-out your product at the end of its life.
Optimizing Time to Market and Efficiency
This one- to three-day workshop focuses on key aspects of the product development cycle where significant time to market and efficiency improvement opportunities exist in most organizations. Participants learn how to assess and balance tradeoffs that affect both time to market and efficiency. Topics can include how to improve project performance through the product proposal and definition phase, how to increase innovative contributions, and an overview or in-depth analysis of technology roadmapping can be presented. Other topics might be included depending on specific needs.
Portfolio Management Workshop
This two-day workshop is intended to teach participants the principles, practices and methods of portfolio management. A second objective is to define the portfolio management process, practices and responsibilities within your company. It is intended for executive management, product managers, engineering management, marketing management, and portfolio analysts responsible for or supporting portfolio management. The workshop includes a series of discussions and planning steps to define the portfolio management process, practices and methods to be used within your organization.
Product Development Team/Integrated Product Team Workshop
This is a one-day program that describes how to effectively form and operate product development teams (PDT) or integrated product teams (IPT) teams. The workshop is oriented towards management to provide an understanding of the organizational environment that leads to effective teams. It covers PDT/IPT composition and organization, roles and responsibilities, PDT/IPT management, issue resolution, and the critical success factors for effective PDT’s or IPT’s.
Product Management Workshop
This hands-on workshop covers “best practices” in product management to improve your efficiency and effectiveness as a product manager. It covers the typical roles and responsibilities of product management as well as key organizational interfaces. The workshop is highly interactive and includes numerous exercises that reinforce the key points. The workshop can be structured as a three-day workshop or as a five-day product manager certification workshop that includes the exam to become a “Certified Product Manager®” through AIPMM.
Project Management Fundamentals for Product Development Workshop
This two-day workshop teaches fundamentals of project management in a practical, discussion-based forum. The scope includes both the process of project management as well as the skills needed to be an effective project manager. The final step in the workshop is to develop an action plan to improve the project management process and skills of the participants.
R&D Performance Measurement and KPI Systems
This two-day workshop provides a comprehensive investigation of proven methods for measuring and improving R&D performance considering the broad range of factors (Key Performance Indicators or KPI’s) that affect the R&D function. Details related to the most relevant performance indicators and metrics are explored in depth. The primary objective of this course is to help participants apply the “right” measurement systems and take appropriate actions to improve results.
Requirements Definition Workshop
This two-day workshop is intended to develop the practical skills to determine customer needs and derive product requirements and critical to quality characteristics. It is intended for product managers, project managers, design engineers and marketing personnel responsible for developing a product definition or product requirements document. The workshop uses a series of exercises with a real product to develop a practical understanding of the requirements definition process.
Reliability Engineering in New Product Development Workshop
This three-day, hands-on workshop is based the development & deployment of reliability programs in various industries such as semiconductor equipment and automotive. It is applicable for new product development as well as reliability improvement efforts in any industry. This workshop is a combination of learning through examples and then extensive practice by the students for deeper learning. It would be beneficial for participants to have some exposure/experience with basic statistics.
Robust Tolerance Analysis Workshop
This two-day workshop teaches you a practical approach for selecting targets and tolerances for both products and processes in order to improve quality, reduce costs and reduce variation. Many real world examples are worked in class including the design of a pump and the setting of a process window for a heat seal machine. The course provides practical strategies and tools for dealing with real-world complexities.
Systematic Innovation with TRIZ Workshop
This four-day workshop is prepares participants to successfully use TRIZ, the theory of inventive problem solving. The TRIZ system has been developed over the past 80 years, where design contradictions are identified and then uses strategies based inventions from the the world’s patent databases to generate ideas to overcome these design contradictions. The goal of TRIZ is to generate elegant solutions to the toughest design contradictions, i.e., solutions that are simple and inexpensive without compromising important requirements. The class will be relevant to anyone involved in NPD, at any level, any kind of product and in any industry. This class is a combination of learning through examples and then extensive practice by the students. The material is based on books, co-authored by David Troness, known as “TRIZ Power Tools”.
Team Building Workshop
This two-day workshop is structured with short presentations on each topic and includes extensive team exercises and interactive learning experiences. It provides team members and team leaders with specific skills to work together effectively as part of a product development team/integrated product team.
Team Launch Workshop
This two-day workshop is designed for new or existing teams responsible for product development. Its objective is to improve team dynamics; accelerate the stages of growth toward a high performing team; and develop an understanding of the team’s responsibilities, plans and team interfaces with the rest of the extended enterprise. The workshop combines teambuilding exercises (meeting skills, communication skills, personality styles) and planning exercises focused at the details of the team function (roles and relationships, team inputs/outputs, team charter, team deliverables and schedules). Pre-workshop preparation is required to support workshop exercises.
Tear-Down Analysis Workshop
This four- to five-day workshop acquaints participants with tear-down analysis to compare competitor products with the company’s products. The teardown process is intended to gain insights into cost, manufacturability, and processes used relative to value considering functions, features and levels of performance. Creativity and idea evaluation are a part of all workshops. While the workshop includes formalized training, most of workshop involves hands-on tear-down analysis. The workshop concludes with a formal report-out of results and proposed projects resulting from the analysis.
User Experience (UX) and UX Design Workshop
Understanding user experience (UX) and the UX design process can differentiate a company from its competitors. This one- to two-day workshop will cover the importance of a user-centered design process and the benefit of incorporating UX activities at every stage of a project. It includes hands-on exercises to practice some of the UX techniques.
Value Management – SAVE Certified Module 1
The objective of this five-day workshop is to acquaint participants with the methodology of Value Management (VM) and its decision-making process. Workshop participants should also expect to develop proposals ready for implementation on any projects approved for the workshop. This Module I course teaches VM in a hands-on, project-based manner. During the workshop, participants will engage in “real-time” decision-making using VM tools, to ensure quality and value while reducing the cost of their projects. Participants will apply the VM methodology and decision-making skills to an actual project to gain practical experience using what they learn. Since this seminar is approved by SAVE International, individuals planning to become Associate or Certified Value Specialists need to attend. Upon completion, each participant will be awarded a certificate and those wishing to take the SAVE AVS exam may do so, providing advance notice is given.
For further information, contact Kenneth Crow at DRM Associates
Email: k.crow@npd-solutions.com