Framework For Product Development Research Articles

Green Design Framework for New Product Development

Green Design Framework for New Product Development

A Framework for successful new product development

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to propose a framework of critical success factors, metrics, and tools and techniques for implementing metrics for each stage of the new product development (NPD) process. Design/methodology/approach: To achieve this objective, a literature review was undertaken to investigate decades of studies on NPD success and how it can be achieved. These studies were scanned for common factors for firms that enjoyed success of new products on the market. Findings: The paper summarizes NPD success factors, suggests metrics that should be used to measure these factors, and proposes tools and techniques to make use of these metrics. This was done for each stage of the NPD process, and brought together in a framework that the authors propose should be followed for complex NPD projects. Research limitations/implications: Several different research directions could provide additional useful information both to firms finding critical success factors (CSF) and measuring product development success as well as to academics performing research in this area. The main research opportunity exists in implementing or testing the proposed framework. Practical implications: The framework can be followed by managers of complex NPD projects to ensure success. Originality/value: While many studies have been conducted on critical success factors for NPD, these studies tend to be fragmented and focus on one or a few phases of the NPD process. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first time a framework that synthesizes these studies into a single framework.

Focus on implementation: a framework for lean product development

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to introduce a step‐by‐step implementation framework for lean product development (LPD), from the marketing research on product development process, product design to the launch of final production.Design/methodology/approachThe research approach taken in this paper is built around the primary industry cases, practical approaches and partial solutions available within the existing literature.FindingsThe most recent improvement of LPD, from the authors' perspective, focuses on tools and implementation for LPD. In this paper, a detailed step‐by‐step implementation is given after the framework is introduced. Led by value and waste analysis in product development, different tools and techniques which can be used to eliminate wastes were discussed briefly, and then the implementation from Doing the Right Thing to Doing the Right Thing for company transition to lean were proposed elaborately.Research limitations/implicationsDue to time and economic environment limitations, the authors have not covered and implemented this approach in all existing different environments to ensure that it is robust.Originality/valueThe approach described here seeks to overcome other frameworks' weaknesses in terms of the realistic aspect and feasibility, and combines more existing best practice from industry, consultancy and academia into a step‐by‐step framework for the achievement of effective LPD.

An integrated fuzzy QFD framework for new product development

An important source of competitive advantage, survival and renewal for firms is the successful new product development (NPD). Quality function deployment (QFD) aims to facilitate the NPD process from product conceptualization to production requirements; however, conventional QFD has its shortcomings. Even though modified QFD models have been proposed in literature, a comprehensive model is necessary. In this paper, factors in each phase of the QFD is prepared first through literature review and interview with domain experts. Fuzzy Delphi method is adopted to select the critical factors, and fuzzy interpretive structural modeling is applied to determine the relationships among the critical factors. The results are then used to construct houses of quality for QFD, which is incorporated by fuzzy analytic network process. A case study of a thin film transistor liquid crystal display firm is carried out to verify the practicality of the proposed framework.

A strategy for achieving innovation through Sheep Cooperative Research Centre research and development

The Sheep Cooperative Research Centre’s role to facilitate the transformation of the Australian sheep industry is complicated by the extensive nature of the industry across some 31 000 small to medium farming enterprises, linking to both sheep meat and wool supply chains. Close integration of the market with research and adoption through a product development focus is enabling a staged product development process while providing the management flexibility needed for development of each product type within target markets. This paper presents the basis of the New Product Development Framework and the adoption strategies used across the Sheep Cooperative Research Centre programs to accelerate utilisation of products developed out of research. These strategies include: communication; training coordination; network engagement and use of key influencers; supply chain engagement and the use of specific adoption research tools.

An integrated framework for new product development using who-when-where-why-what-how (5W1H), theory of inventive problem solving and patent information – a case study

Companies are not expected to compete and survive with their same/similar products in today's dynamic and turbulent market conditions. Therefore, companies are in search of an agile new product development (NPD) approach in order to respond to rapid changes in the market without ignoring innovativeness as well. Beside these considerations, the companies are still calling for a cheap, robust and fast available method which can enhance the whole product development process. The existing NPD capabilities of the companies would be better to be utilised in order to overcome the well-known obstacles. There are a lot of creativity management tools, techniques and sources available without additional charge in order to achieve the above purpose. It should be noted that those tools and techniques are quite similar with special pros and cons of each. In this article, a novel framework is proposed for NPD process that integrates three of those techniques. The proposed framework merges theory of inventive problem solving methodology with a patent alarm system which enables tracking of 'trend changes' in patenting activities. It also introduces a modified idea-generation scheme with who- when- where- why- what- how (5W1H) methodology that helps companies to drive inventions/innovations and inspires ideas that escape from 'ordinary' and 'linear' thinking.

Hybrid client–server architecture and control techniques for collaborative product development using haptic interfaces

In this paper, a collaborative product development and prototyping framework is proposed by using distributed haptic interfaces along with deformable objects modeling. Collaborative Virtual Environment (CVE) is a promising technique for industrial product development and virtual prototyping. Network control problems such as network traffic and network delay in communication have greatly limited collaborative virtual environment applications. The problems become more difficult when high-update-rate haptic interfaces and computation intensive deformable objects modeling are integrated into CVEs for intuitive manipulation and enhanced realism. A hybrid network architecture is proposed to balance the computational burden of haptic rendering and deformable object simulation. Adaptive artificial time compensation is used to reduce the time discrepancy between the server and the client. Interpolation and extrapolation approaches are used to synchronize graphic and haptic data transmitted over the network. The proposed techniques can be used for collaborative product development, virtual assembly, remote product simulation and other collaborative virtual environments where both haptic interfaces and deformable object models are involved.

Development of a collaborative product development framework based on centre-satellite system and service-oriented architecture

To increase competitive advantage for manufacturers, collaboration product development (CPD) has recently become an important issue. Based on the CPD concept, this study focuses on the centre-satellite system (CSS) with five major roles (i.e. centre factory) and their interactions and the technology of web services using service-oriented architecture (SOA) to propose a system framework, entitled the collaborative product development framework for centre satellite system (CPDF-CSS). The CPDF-CSS comprises five modules: CF-MA module, DH-MA module, ODM-MA module, OEM-MA module, and EC-MA module. Next, based on the CPDF-CSS, a generic communication component (GCC) is designed for the interoperability among five modules under heterogeneous contexts. Finally, this study presents a case involving the motorcycle industry for evaluating the implementation of CPDF-CSS. The contributions of this study to the CPD are discussed.

Collaborative customized product development framework

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to introduce a methodological approach to develop customized products which offer true customer value and achieve superior competitive advantage.Design/methodology/approachAn integrated framework is presented where both front‐ and back‐end features of product development activities are illustrated. Detailed explanations of the framework participants are discussed with their specifications and view points that illustrate the value of the framework. This framework communicates between citarasa and do‐it‐yourself‐design configurators at the upstream, and available to promise, agile supply and demand network, advanced planning and scheduling systems in the downstream, in order to visualize the complete production scenarios and to maintain the flow of custom tailored product development.FindingsIt is hoped that the illustrated framework will bridge the gap between manufacturers, and customers in order to produce customer satisfied products that fulfill the business target in terms of earning more revenues.Research limitations/implicationsThis research work is based on a theoretical hypothesis. Although the proposed framework is implemented in a truck manufacturing company, it requires application in more industrial organizations in order to generalize its effectiveness, suitability, and consistency in the manufacturing arena.Originality/valueThis paper outlines the configuration principle, along with different tools and methodologies, which support manufacturing firms in the customization of products in both upstream and downstream activities in a profitable way. These tools or methodologies can help product developers to improve their due‐date promising, exploitation of bottlenecks, and the visualization of their capability to produce the customers' specific products.

Soft‐system knowledge management framework for new product development

PurposeIn today's knowledge economy, a major challenge for the managers is to effectively link the knowledge management (KM) initiatives with the ever‐changing organizational needs. The problem arises due to disjoint strategic alignment between these two, which is mainly due to inappropriate KM framework and adoption of some quick‐fix solutions to achieve business results. Hence, for effective management and utilization of knowledge assets, KM initiative should be dovetailed to link with key organizational goals like new product development (NPD), customer satisfaction and manufacturing excellence. The purpose of this paper is to propose a suitable KM system.Design/methodology/approachThis paper proposes an approach for KM system development to ensure a fit between the organizational needs during NPD and KM initiatives. Soft system methodology (SSM) has been adopted to design this framework.FindingsThis research identified a list of knowledge‐sharing methods, which help in intra‐level or inter‐level knowledge flow. The proposed framework highlights the hierarchal nature and bi‐directional flow of knowledge. Further, this work observed that there are two additional key enablers to effective knowledge management system – competency and infrastructure.Research limitations/implicationsThis work focuses on an auto‐component supplier in India. Therefore, this work is limited by the organizational culture, location, business model and the sector in which this research was done.Originality/valueThis paper suggests that a technical knowledge driven process like NPD has three strategic enablers – technology, people and process. The sustenance of the NPD process is affected by the balance among these enablers. Fundamentally, a comprehensive and integrative framework not only ensures a structured framework but also helps in better adoption due to stakeholders' buy‐in of the process.

The Three-loop Learning Model Appliance in New Product Development

Today's companies are experiencing significant pressures from increased levels of competition, rapidly changing market requirements, higher rates of technical obsolescence, shorter product life-cycles and the heightened importance of meeting the needs of increasingly sophisticated customers. Many companies realize that in order to provide value and win customers they now need to quickly and accurately identify changing customer needs, develop more complex products to satisfy those needs, provide higher levels of customer support and service, and utilize the power of information technology to provide greater functionality and performance. Consequently, greater focus is being placed in having new product development frameworks that achieve an optimized balance of internal execution effectiveness, coupled with an ability to delight customers (Shepherd, Ahmed, 2000). Learning and accumulation of (new) knowledge in an organization always start with the individual. An individual’s personal knowledge has to be transformed into information that other members of the organization can use in their accumulation of knowledge in order to apply it to create (new) values for the organization. Learning and accumulation of new knowledge in an organization always require two transformation processes: one transformation process from data to information and another from information to (new) knowledge. This is so because only information, and not knowledge, can be shared and spread among the members of the organization. This paper emphasizes the importance of learning on new product development and demonstrates that learning is a critical component of such development. Learning in new product development process is cited as being vital in today’s competitive, uncertain and turbulent environments. In this study we present three general learning styles and two main categories of Non-Duetero and Duetero learning, emphasizing their performance in new product development process. It is also given a multi - dimensional learning framework in new product development which is best conceived with nine correlated but distinct elements: information acquisition, information dissemination, information implementation, unlearning, thinking, improvisation, intelligence, sense-making, and memory. Akgun, Lynn and Reilly (2002) affirm, that organizational learning is not just information acquisition or information implementation, it is a combination of many cognitive components. Because fierce market, customer needs and technological environments make learning a standard requirement for organizations competitiveness, they can be successful in their new products only if they learn more quickly than their competitors. The results of scientific literature analysis showed that Duetero learning is more: knowledgeable about the factors that drive successful and failed products; inclined to establish business goals and employ balanced measures when benchmarking new product development. All this suggests that organizational learning should be considered as a critical component in new product development.

Online innovation: the case of open source software development

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to investigate the role of online networking during the innovation process, including its role(s) in communication, cooperation and coordination. The paper neither implicitly assumes that online computer‐based networking is a prerequisite for the innovation process nor denies the possibility that innovation can emerge and successfully survive without it. It merely presupposes that, in cases of innovation where information and communication technologies play a substantial role, non‐proprietarity may offer an interesting alternative to innovations based on proprietary knowledge.Design/methodology/approachThe paper borrows from the theory of communities‐of‐practice, which takes into account social relations, contacts, and the transfer and incorporation of knowledge. Open source innovation is not the exclusive preserve of computer nerds, but also has implications for existing software manufacturers. The paper therefore includes the case of IBM, a company which has successfully integrated this new and more open way of collaboration into its business model.FindingsThe paper concludes that online computer‐based innovation fundamentally challenges current ways of communicating, cooperating and coordinating during the innovation and product development process. Moreover, it challenges the traditional business model in that it forces the actors involved to shift the focus from the innovation itself to the identification of new supporting services higher up the value chain. Last, but not least, it blurs the boundary between development and use, since the developer remains the key user.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper addresses the implications for future research in the area.Practical implicationsThe paper addresses implications for practitioners directly involved in innovation and product development.Originality/valueThis paper develops a conceptual framework for understanding product development based on non‐proprietary knowledge, which cannot be adequately accounted for by traditional corporate innovation theory alone.

An affordable Reverse Engineering framework for innovative rapid product development

Due to rapidly changing and specific needs of customers, product life cycles shorten and the product varieties increase significantly in today's responsive manufacturing environment. Rapid design of new, good quality and innovative products and/or redesign of existing products without detailed design information as well as the needs to reduce product development time become more critical to maintain competitiveness in the market. Reverse Engineering (RE) approach can play promising roles to compress the product development times. This paper proposes a framework for the rapid response product development using RE approach and associated techniques.

Product design and development framework in collaborative engineering environment

Globalisation has created a situation of increased international competition, which puts companies under pressure to compete in the value added to customers. This paper presents an integrated framework for product design and development in distributed and collaborative environments. The proposed system integrates the software tools and resources in the design process to enable geographically dispersed design teams and vendors to collaborate. The early participation of the vendors in the design process is critical to improve quality and reduce development cycle-time. The real-time, automated generation and modification of parametric CAD models are introduced to further assist the system reduce the cycle-time.

Inclusive Design in Apparel Product Development for Working Women With Physical Disabilities

Consumers with physical limitations want apparel products and retail environments that work for them. Inclusive design is a framework for developing products to satisfy multiple consumers, regardless of their physical ability. This qualitative study reports on physical limitations and apparel preferences of working women (n = 9) with a variety of limitations. A prototype for a garment was developed, wear‐tested, and evaluated using inclusive design criteria. Subsequently, manufacturers (n = 6) were interviewed regarding production and distribution within the existing system. Results indicate that (a) the effect of disability on the body supercedes clinical definition for apparel product development, (b) working women with various disabilities have similar apparel needs, (c) inclusive design can be a successful strategy for product development, and (d) current industry perceptions about disability present the greatest barrier to successful implementation. The researchers conclude that further studies should focus on industry “buy‐in” of inclusive design as a framework for product development.

Understanding buyer and seller behaviour for improved payment product development

Every payment professional has tried this at least once: a full segmentation of payment solutions. One often sees arbitrarily chosen dual segmentations based on the properties of the different payment solutions. Examples are online vs offline, prepaid vs postpaid, guaranteed vs non-guaranteed, micro vs macro amount and business vs consumer payments. Such segmentations may provide a clearer view on what the world of payments has to offer, but they fail to provide insight into the key drivers of transactions: the behaviour of buyers and sellers. A better understanding of their behaviour provides the direction for optimising the use of existing payment services, improving existing services and developing new payment services. This paper introduces the concept of ‘transaction contexts’ in order to understand key determinants for the transactional behaviour of buyers and sellers, thus providing an all-encompassing framework for payment product development and management. This framework is applied to some practical examples.

Toward a framework of product development for global markets: a user-value-based approach

This paper discusses product development for global markets from the perspective of creating value for users in different cultural settings. Based on an ethnographic study on the use of and the value assignment to kitchen appliances of 29 urban families in Turkey and the United States, it investigates what constitutes value for users and how user value is shaped by local and cultural context. Four major categories of user value are presented. These include utility value, social significance value, emotional value, and spiritual value. A conceptual framework is proposed to assist designers in global companies in (1) the evaluation of existing products in new local contexts; (2) the planning of local research; and (3) the process of decision-making regarding product localization and standardization.

Special Issue on Collaborative Engineering

Special Issue on Collaborative Engineering

Anthropometric Measurements and Body Motions of Teenagers with Mental Handicap in Hong Kong

Teenagers with mental handicap have great difficulties in the areas of dress appearance and purchasing appropriate well-fitting garments due to their unusual body configurations, overweight and/or numerous congenital defects. The purpose of this research is to investigate the anthropometric measurements and body motions of mentally handicapped teenagers in Hong Kong so as to provide a conceptual framework for product development of their clothing. The results indicated that about one-third of the mentally handicapped teenagers were obese and this could affect their behavioral development as well as level of social acceptance. The anthropometric measurements of the mentally handicapped group also differed markedly from those of the ordinary group. A large range of anthropometric variations was observed within the mentally handicapped group. The disproportionate body dimensions, combined with large range of anthropometric variations, have created problems of ill-fitting garments and poor dress appearance. In this respect, a specific sizing system covering a broad range of sizes with increased waist girth, thigh girth and back width, but shortened arm length and leg length needs to be derived. As the range of motion (ROM) measurements also indicated significant mobility variations amongst the mentally handicapped group, the body motion analysis results need to be taken into account in order to achieve maximum aesthetics and comfort.

Evaluation of design alternatives in collaborative development and production of modular products

In the globally competitive business environment, collaborative product development has become an important strategy for enterprises to reduce risks and enhance their competitiveness. The planning phase becomes more significant and complicated when utilizing external resources to determine a product solution to achieve customer satisfaction and business goals. The decision process for assessing design alternatives depends on the tradeoffs between quality, time, and cost. In this research, we propose a framework for collaborative product development and production of modular products. It aims at linking customer requirements, generating design alternatives, and then evaluating and selecting these choices to determine the optimum solution. They are considered from both design aspects and manufacturing concerns. Product strategy is discussed as the most important factor in the evaluation process. Further, a practical application of a system-on-a-chip product planning process was carried out to demonstrate the completeness and benefit of our proposed framework.