|
|
Successful products are ones that meet customer needs, are innovative and
that offer value. Sounds simple! How do you make that happen? DRM
Associates, a leading consulting organization specializing in product
development, can help with the following six-step approach:
- Product strategy must be established that provides a framework
for properly selecting markets and product ideas. Customers and potential
customers are then identified. We would work with the executive team to
assess markets, competition, competitive strengths, and product lines.
We would map company position against competitors in various dimensions
to provide insights and help develop strategy.
- Portfolio management
& product screening process evaluates product concepts and marketplace needs against
the product strategy objectives, profitability, risk, etc. We would help
establish a portfolio management process, evaluation criteria, and a feasibility assessment
process. For product ideas that meet screening criteria, we would help
organize and conduct preliminary feasibility studies.
- Team & project organization are needed to initiate a project.
We can help with this and provide team-building training as required.
- Customer needs data collection uses a variety of methods to
gather the "voice of the customer". Depending upon the nature
of the product and the markets, these methods include: focus groups, customer
meetings, surveys and market research, and product support feedback systems.
We would help establish these systems and processes. We would help identify
required data and areas of investigation and would develop interview or
discussion guides as required. We would participate in and facilitate meetings
and focus groups as required.
- Quality function deployment (QFD) training would be provided if development
personnel lacked an understanding of this useful methodology. We believe
QFD is an important tool to develop an understanding of customer needs
among the product development team members and deploy the "voice of
the customer" in a structured manner throughout the development process
(see Customer Focused Development with QFD).
We would conduct two- or three-day workshop which provides hands-on training
using a series of exercises to develop practical skills in applying QFD.
- QFD facilitation is
then provided to help guide development personnel through the process of
product planning using QFD. Depending on the complexity of the product
and the amount of data that was available, we would facilitate an
initial QFD planning session that is typically several days in length.
If data was lacking, we would assign tasks to obtain the needed
information and schedule subsequent meetings as required. The QFD
facilitation would be divided into planning phases that would occur over
the course of the development cycle: 1.) product and subsystem planning
and concept selection; 2.) assembly and part deployment; 3.) process
planning; and 4.) process control and quality control planning.
We can assist with any one of these five steps to help your organization
bring a customer focus into the product development process, improve customer
value, better integrate the development process, and improve team communication
and understanding.
For further information, please contact:
Kenneth Crow
DRM Associates
2613 Via Olivera
Palos Verdes , CA 90274-2809, USA
Telephone: (310) 377-5569
Fax: (310) 377-1315
Email: kcrow@aol.com
|