PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT An insightful development roadmap to help engineers and businesspeople successfully bring a product to market
In Product Development: An Engineer’s Guide to Business Considerations, Real-World Product Testing, and Launch, accomplished project manager, engineer, and business strategist David V. Tennant delivers a comprehensive walkthrough of the full scope of product development activities, from initial business considerations to real-world product testing and launch. The book covers key product development considerations like determining the target market, working with a product development team, management challenges, funding, user identification, ergonomics, product design, testing, and launch.
The distinguished author presents the material in the form of practical, hands-on tutorials with case studies featuring large corporations and small- and mid-size firms. He also includes team exercises and question-and-answer features to help early-career and aspiring engineers acquire the interdisciplinary and inter-department coordination skills they’ll require to successfully bring a new product to market.
Readers will learn about the critical roles played by the engineering, marketing, and finance departments, as well as each stage of the product development process. The book also includes:
- Thorough introductions to product development and the role of the marketing group in product development, including corporate strategy, product and business plans, and marketing leadership
- Comprehensive explorations of the role of the engineering group in product development, including functional areas led by engineers and engineering leadership
- Practical discussions of the core team and teamwork in product development, including executives’ roles, the role of the accounting department, and the identification of key stakeholders
- In-depth examinations of how to move forward with product development after project approval
Perfect for early- and mid-career engineers working in product-oriented companies, as well as marketers and other business professionals seeking to understand engineering best practices, Product Development is the ideal reference for use in upper-level undergraduate Product Development courses.
Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments viii
About the Author ix
1 Introduction to Product Development 1
Project Management and Product Development 2
What Is Product Development? 3
How This Book Is Organized 3
2 The Role of Marketing in Product Development 7
Corporate Strategy – Strategic Planning 7
Marketing, Sales, and the Four Ps 10
The 1st P – Product 11
Example of Product Displacement 13
The 2nd P – Promotion 15
The 3rd P – Pricing 16
The 4th P – Placement 17
The Business Case 18
The Roles of Marketing and Engineering in Product Development 19
Marketing Services 21
New Product Development and Market Economics: The Future of Electric Trucks vs Costs and Public Policy 21
3 The Role of the Engineering Group in Product Development 35
Driving Products – the Engineering Perspective 35
Engineering Disciplines 37
The Engineering Process 39
Ergonomics (Human Factors Engineering) 45
Additional Design Considerations – Product Liability 48
Government Oversight – Consumer Protection in the United States 50
Discussion Case 3.1 – Lawsuit over Hot Coffee 52
Design Challenges – Product Misuse 53
Problems with Product Development 55
4 The Core Team and Teamwork in Product Development 61
The Executive’s Role in Product Development 61
Working Within the Strategic Plan 61
Project Management Processes 62
Who Should Be Involved in Product Development? 63
Constraint on Product Development: A Note about Sarbanes-Oxley and Publicly Held Companies 66
Essentials of Teamwork and Communications across Functional Lines 67
Project/Product Communication 68
Budgets, Schedules, and Miscellaneous Small Tasks 70
Leadership in Product Development 73
How Do Leaders Go Wrong? 76
The Roles of Accounting and Finance 77
Decision Points and Net Present Value (NPV) 81
The Bigger Picture 84
Driving Product Development 85
Working in Silos and with Stakeholders 86
Identifying Stakeholders 87
5 Getting Started – Project Approved: Product/Project Management and Engineering 95
Taking the Business Case from Concept to Reality 95
Basic Research 96
Applied Research 97
Project Management in Product Development 98
Why Do Projects Fail? 99
Traditional and Agile Project Management 101
Sample Project Plan – Detailed Table of Contents 103
A True Case Study - Company Dysfunction and a Lack of Project Management 105
Developing and Controlling Scope – Using a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) 107
Developing a Budget and Cash Flows 108
Agile PM 112
The Vision Statement 113
Agile Hybrid in Action – Marketing Natural Gas in the Southeastern United States: Gas South, A True Story 115
Discussion Case 5.1 – A True Story: Product Development Without Project Management 117
6 Product Development for Small Firms and Entrepreneurs 125
Funding for Your Start-Up: A Necessary Ingredient 125
Loans from the Bank and Small Business Administration (SBA) 126
Funding from Venture Capitalists 127
Funding by Issuing Shares of Stock 128
Funding with Angel Investors 128
Other Sources of Business and Financial Assistance 129
Summary on Product Development and Sources of Funding 130
Small Firm Challenges 131
Lack of Structured Planning 132
Marketing Message Not Strong or Clear 133
Legal and Regulatory Obstacles 133
Use of a Product Roadmap 134
Innovation 135
When (Or If) to Patent 137
7 Manufacturing the New Product 147
The State of Manufacturing 150
New Manufacturing Advances 156
8 Engineering Product Design and Testing 163
Managing the Approved Scope and Budget – Why Is This Important? 163
The Project Lifecycle 164
A True Story: Ignoring the Warning Signs 166
Preventing Failure and Surprises: Performing a Risk Review 167
Two Types of Risk Review: Qualitative and Quantitative 168
Design and Status Reviews 171
Modeling – Speeding Product Development 173
Integrating Supply Chain and Manufacturing 174
The Role of Supply Chain in Product Development 176
Proposals, Pricing, Statements of Work (SOWs) 180
New Technologies – Identification and Adaptation 182
Alignment with Business Strategy 185
Using SWOT 186
Gates and Stakeholders 187
9 Successful Product Launch and Post Review 193
Pricing 194
Integrated Marketing 196
Product Development – Post Review 198
10 Summary – Connecting the Dots 205
A Logical Process Flow 206
Index 213
About the Author :
David V. Tennant, PE, PMP, MBA, is Founder of Windward Consulting Group, a firm that provides strategic planning, project rescues, and training to international companies in the power, electric, and manufacturing sectors. He holds engineering degrees from Florida Atlantic University and the Georgia Institute of Technology and is Chair Emeritus of the Atlanta chapter of PMI.
