The importance of a New Product Development process

A couple of recent conversations have re-enforced in my mind the need for a good, disciplined New Product Development (NPD) process for any company and for high-variety and mass customization manufacturers in particular. The danger of being used to variety and variability and having flexibility is that it is easy to say yes to just about anything. High-variety and mass customization do not absolve you from the need to understand what your competencies are, who your market is, and where your profitability arises.

The statistics regarding the benefits of a structured NPD program are quite dramatic. For instance, companies that use a disciplined NPD approach:

• are two and one-half times more likely to launch a successful product,
• will capture two times the market share, and
• will generate two times the profit.

(from the Product Development and Management Association, http://www.pdma.org/, Best Practices Study)

A job shop may say that they don't have a "product," just capabilities or services that they sell to their customers. In reality both those services and the types of parts they produce on a regular basis are products within a NPD definition. The decision to add a new service or take an order for a new type of part should be just as carefully considered as the development and marketing of a product product by a mass-production manufacturer.

This is a link to a white paper on my website that may be useful to any manufacturer looking at implementing or improving an NPD program.

New Product Development - A Cornerstone of Competitive Strategy

Additional materials are available upon request.

High-Variety Manufacturing Professional Community

I'm pleased to announce the launch of a professional community for High-Variety Manufacturing, http://highvarietymfg.ning.com/. I'm also pleased to say that I'm acting as site administrator.


This site is directed at all people involved in high-variety manufacturing, whether in operations, sales & marketing, product development and management, or any other job role. It is also directed at all flavors of high-variety manufacturing: job shop, HMLV, mass customization, contract, mixed model, etc.


I would like to invite all interested parties to join this community. It will become what its members want it to be. I hope that it becomes a true resource center for sharing and support for this challenging environment.



So please join, take part in discussions, join SIGs and other groups, post content, and interact with other members. If you have any questions or problems joining, feel free to contact me through this blog.