DOING THE RIGHT THING - THE EARLY STAGES OF PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

摘要

In a competitive global environment, successful product development requires doing the right thing the first time. The product must be the right product to meet the strategic requirements of the firm. To meet the business objectives it will be necessary to price the product and produce the product at a cost that generates the desires profit margin. At the same time, the product must be the right product to offer high value to the customer. Components of customer value include the utility, the aesthetic properties, and product worth. The product must be priced at a level that the customer will see as good value. The complex process of identifying the right product in the context of profit margin and customer value should precede product design. The paper develops a framework for identifying an initial design concepts based on an application of customer value chain analysis, functional analysis, customer worth, target costing, and the QFD house-of-quality. A brief introduction to these tools is presented here followed by an example.