New Product development & Manufacturing
Due to geopolitical conditions Raw Materials suddenly become unavailable, outmoded, or become unprofitable to use. Even those with a suite of highly successful products on the market can be caught off guard as customer requirement’s / trends change rapidly. Likewise, entirely new business models and technologies can suddenly change customer demand in unexpected ways. This will help to innovate continuously and develop new products thus, provide customers the delightful experiences, that they desire.
Idea Generation & Research
The new product development or continuous improvement process begins with the new idea generation, robust understanding of the target market, customer needs and requirements, their pain points that they need to solve. To document the requirement the following techniques are followed:
- SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis
- Market research & Scanning
- Focus groups of customers
- Value analysis of existing products
To start the initial feasibility study, the below questions need to answered:
- How will the customer in the target market benefit from the product?
- What unmet need will the product fulfill in the marketplace?
- Why can you fulfill this need where other products fail?
- Have you got the product design expertise and process in place to do this properly?
- Have you got the technical expertise to manufacture the product?
- Does the proposed product fit with your manufacturing and distribution capabilities?
This will entail providing a minimum level of supporting evidence and documentation to share with key decision-makers to make a concrete decision.
Concept development, Product formulation and testing
Once the initial ideas are approved, feasibility studies for the further development begin in stages. Some of the questions were asked to understand further development:
- Who is the target market and who is the decision-maker in the purchasing process?
- What product features must the product incorporate to be a success?
- How much will the customer be willing to pay for the product?
- How much will it cost to produce it inhouse or out processed?
- Can the product be produced and sold at a profit – Margin levels?
- How can the product be produced most cost-effectively?
Evaluation of Competitors sample to chart out the minimum Quality Assurance Plan and the improvement needed for the new product. Developing prototype / Formulation can help to validate the customer and market needs and pricing strategy. Based on the initial formulation feedback, Minimum viable volume (MVV) to be produced and send for test marketing to have customer feedback for various market locations.
Bulk production and Commercialization
Maximum volume production (MVP) needs to be finalised based on the availability of the processing machines. The final stage the new product development process is placing the product in the market. Conduct post-market monitoring to capture refinements/new product ideas