Phases Of New Product Development Research Articles

Big data and machine learning in cost estimation: An automotive case study

This paper presents a case study on the applicability of machine learning and big data technology for product cost estimation, using data on the material cost of passenger cars. The study provides contributions to six research aspects. First, we show which machine learning algorithms are appropriate when dealing with product cost estimation for highly complex products with more than 2000 parts and hundreds of cost drivers. Second, our case study provides a novel approach to increasing the predictive accuracy of cost estimates for subsequent product generations. Third, we show that the accuracy is up to 3.5 times higher when using big data compared to an intermediate size of data. Fourth, machine learning can outperform cost estimates from cost experts during the early stage of new product development, even when dealing with highly complex products. Then, we evaluate the use cases, issues, and benefits of machine learning and big data from the perspective of cost experts. Specifically, the case study shows that machine learning can reliably select the most important cost drivers (fifth aspect) and calculate the average cost of cost drivers over thousands of product configurations (sixth aspect). However, cost experts must be knowledgeable about the product and remain careful when interpreting machine learning outcomes, as they can yield misleading outcomes in some exceptional cases. In conclusion, machine learning and big data empirically proved to be able to generate additional value in many aspects for managing costs during the early phase of new product development.

Consumer Sentiments and Emotions in New Seafood Product Concept Development: A Co-Creation Approach Using Online Discussion Rooms in Croatia, Italy and Spain.

Growing Mediterranean seafood consumption, increasing consumers' awareness of food safety and quality, and changing food lifestyles are leading to the development of new food products. However, the majority of new food products launched on the market are expected to fail within the first year. One of the most effective ways to enhance new product success is by involving consumers during the first phases of New Product Development (NPD), using the so-called co-creation approach. Based on data collected through online discussion rooms, two new seafood product concepts-sardine fillets and sea burgers-were evaluated by a set of potential consumers in three Mediterranean countries-Italy, Spain, and Croatia. Textual information was analyzed by first using the topic modeling technique. Then, for each main topic identified, sentiment scores were calculated, followed by the identification of the main related emotions that were evoked. Overall, consumers seem to positively evaluate both proposed seafood product concepts, and three recurrent positive emotions (trust, anticipation, joy) were identified in relation to the main topics aroused during the discussions. The results of this study will be useful to guide future researchers and actors in this industry in the next development steps of the targeted seafood products in Mediterranean countries.

The relationship between imperfect information and performance speed: The mediation of improvisation in new product development teams

The current research examines the relationship between imperfect information and performance speed in new product development (NPD) settings. We questioned the role of NPD teams' improvisation, possibly emanating from informational imperfections, on performance speed. Diverging from previous research, we treated improvisation as a dynamic team process, consisting of extemporaneous behavioral responses and adaptive operational productions. Among numerous possibilities, NPD teams might ignore the opportunistic potential of improvisation due to informational imperfections, thereby adhering to predetermined plans and/or available routines. Doing so might paralyze team members' understanding of complex task requirements. By contrast, NPD teams might exploit imperfect information by improvising ways to excel at performing, thereby speeding up NPD phases. To test these arguments, we collected data from 194 NPD teams. Ordinary least squares regression-based path analyses revealed support for our hypothesis that improvisation mediates the relationship between imperfect information and performance speed.

Applying a Multiple Convergent Process in Achieving a Successful of New Product Developmen

New Product Development (NPD) is critical for companies to improve their business results. However, few companies can benefit from such a process because it is difficult to determine how and which NPD processes should be designed to develop a leading-edge product. The objective of this study is to find out the appropriate and best approach for implementing an NPD process in a company. The Multiple Convergent Process (MCP) framework model is applied by borrowing the framework model of (Baker & Hart, 2007). The objective of the MCP framework model is to apply a parallel mechanism of NPD phases to work towards the same point or common outcome without delaying the next phase. This study applies a descriptive research method by describing the steps of the MCP model and using literature reviews. Fifty-two publications from 1990 to 2018 were reviewed. Major and related topics such as NPD, innovation, multiple convergent points, idea generation - evaluation - concept and selection, and factors for successful NPD were considered.

Developing firm capabilities to utilise social media for the fuzzy front end of innovation

ABSTRACT Despite the growing importance of using social media to leverage external knowledge for new product development (NPD) in innovation, few studies have examined firm capabilities that underpin this knowledge acquisition route. This paper provides an empirical examination of firm capabilities that leverage external knowledge, utilising social media for the fuzzy-front-end (FFE) phase of the NPD process. With evidence from 27 interviews conducted with executives’ from large fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) firms, a thematic analysis using NVivo 12 is used to develop a conceptual framework capturing the key capabilities for using social media in the FFE. The findings reveal that the utilisation of social media is an ongoing process of experimenting with new technologies within the NPD phase of a firm’s innovation efforts. Hence, the results of the study suggest FMCG firms may consider developing the following capabilities to help effectively acquire external knowledge via social media: use staff specialised in social media for external knowledge identification; dedicate an independent department for social media knowledge acquisition; and encourage an open innovation culture.

Building mutual trust in collaborative green NPD: Evidence from China's digital infrastructure

The increasing green NPD (new product development) efforts in Asian markets gains increasing popularity among academic research and managerial practice. Given the prevailing knowledge about NPD collaboration drawing on traditional Western culture-centric approach, this study sets up a new analytical framework and investigates the dynamic trust-building mechanisms among multiple stakeholders in the collaborative green NPD process in China's national cultural context. Based on qualitative research using a longitudinal case study of China's digital infrastructure, three distinct collaborative green NPD phases including “innovation in peripheral components, incremental innovation in core components and radical innovation in core components” are identified. Besides, summaries of trust measures among suppliers, buying firms, and regulators are presented to open the black box of the antecedences and dynamics to facilitate the understanding of the truly complex nature of trust-building. During the phased collaborative green NPD processes, the role of China's national culture including “high degrees of power distance, low degrees of individualism, low degrees of uncertainty avoidance, high degrees of long-term orientation and high degrees of masculinity” is also discussed.

Design-driven innovation: exploring new product development in the home appliances and furniture industry

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate the phases of new product development within the design-driven innovation (DDI) process, the role of designers and collaborators in the process and how this process relates to some quality principles.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopted a qualitative approach using Gioia methodology. In particular, four Italian manufacturing companies in the home appliances and furniture industry were selected, and data mainly collected through direct interviews were analysed through content analysis.FindingsThe new product development related to DDI includes the following phases: the company brief, the designer research, the concept of the designer, the design, legal protection, prototyping, production and the market launch. Designers play a strategic role in the above phases of DDI, but other actors also cooperate and some quality principles affect positively on the process. This study proposes a model for a DDI process in the home appliances and furniture sector.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough this exploratory study was conducted on only four companies, it advances the DDI research in relation to new product development.Practical implicationsThis study makes recommendations to entrepreneurs and managers on how to innovate successfully and to effectively manage designers and collaborators to ensure competition.Social implicationsThis analysis highlights that design-based innovation contributes to improving the quality of life of consumers.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first qualitative study to examine the phases of new product development in DDI process, the actors involved and relationship to quality principles for the Italian home appliances and furniture sector.

Social Media for New Product Launch: A Study of Social Media Platforms Across the RACE Planning Framework

<span>The world of marketing communication has been transformed completely by the presence of the internet and internet-enabled platforms. Today, the internet and related platform are home to massive amounts of human dialogues. Human interaction has changed drastically because of the presence of a wide variety of web-based platforms and the proliferation of media. Social Media- a Web 2.0 enabled platform has become an integral part of human life. Also, businesses have started actively participating in these platforms as they have found their users spending a substantial amount of time on these platforms. Thus, social media has become a part of digital marketing which involves the use of a wide variety of digital technologies and digital media to connect to the audience. The RACE i.e. the Reach Act Convert Engage digital marketing framework is a popular infographic, introduced to aid marketers to plan and manage the digital marketing related activities in a more organized manner. The present study aims at exploring the usage of social media at the launch or the commercialization phase of new product development. To fulfill this objective the study uses the RACE digital Planning framework. The study also aims at highlighting the most popular alternatives of social media in each category of the RACE Planning framework in the launch phase of NPD.</span>

A data-driven multi-criteria decision-making approach for assessing new product conceptual designs

The surge in competition among companies to acquire a more significant portion of the market as well as respecting customer preferences in high quality and diverse products result in a reduction of product life cycles. Accordingly, companies are under enormous pressure to introduce new high quality and diverse products on time. Assessing new product designs at the primary phases of new product development (NPD) is a necessary and complex activity that can considerably reduce the time and cost of introducing new products to the market. The current methods of evaluating new product conceptual designs, including employing decision-making methods based on subjective opinions of experts, utilizing simulation packages, and following trial-and-error approaches in prototyping, may be inefficient, very time-consuming, and costly. To overcome this issue, this paper develops a quantitative data-driven Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) approach founded on the combination of an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) method and Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS), to assess the new conceptual designs. So that the ANN method is utilized to predict the performance characteristics of new designs based on the related existed data of similar products, and TOPSIS is employed to score and rank different proposed alternatives designs. Finally, a case study of evaluating new product conceptual designs in an automotive research and development company is considered to demonstrate the performance and applicability of the proposed approach.

Assessing Footwear Comfort by Electroencephalography Analysis

Footwear comfort is one of the determinant factors in a buyout decision. The understanding of which brain patterns are involved in the comfort perception of footwear could be an important element to develop the consumer neuroscience field, and could even help during the development phase of new products. The present paper studies the comfort perception through the electroencephalography analysis of the brain signals of ten subjects during walking. For the analysis, different features were extracted from the subject’s biosignals based on power spectral density attributes and temporal and statistical parameters of the data under analysis. The research compared the features when the subjects were wearing a comfortable and a uncomfortable shoe by size on a treadmill. The results indicate that both kind of shoes could be classified with average accuracies of 84,3% and that an influence of parietal, tempo-parietal and in a minor way frontal lobes was detected. Despite the subject’s dependency on the results, the research demonstrates that a common electrode and feature configuration could be applied keeping the results in an average accuracy of 83,7% and that a reduction to a 12 electrode setup maintains the accuracy at a 78,0% value.

A conceptual framework to integrate new product development and supply chain management with organisational business flow in an extended environment

In recent times, academic findings showcased different phases of new product development (NPD) and explained that during this time, different factors influenced supply chain, in which cost plays the most important role as NPD phases used time and cost together. Moreover different findings in research suggested that if the supplier gets involved at initial stages of developing product it actually adds value in a complete extended enterprise. So basically this is a necessity for an enterprise to explore any opportunity that can arise after implementing the framework, which in literature is scarce. The secondary advantage which they can achieve by implementing this framework that industry can check the viability of concurrent engineering in integrated supply chain. Therefore this paper will help industries to explore the initial framework which integrate new product development and supply chain within their domain of either manufacturing or within the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector.

A conceptual framework to integrate new product development and supply chain management with organisational business flow in an extended environment

In recent times, academic findings showcased different phases of new product development (NPD) and explained that during this time, different factors influenced supply chain, in which cost plays the most important role as NPD phases used time and cost together. Moreover different findings in research suggested that if the supplier gets involved at initial stages of developing product it actually adds value in a complete extended enterprise. So basically this is a necessity for an enterprise to explore any opportunity that can arise after implementing the framework, which in literature is scarce. The secondary advantage which they can achieve by implementing this framework that industry can check the viability of concurrent engineering in integrated supply chain. Therefore this paper will help industries to explore the initial framework which integrate new product development and supply chain within their domain of either manufacturing or within the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector.

A case study on FMEA-based improvement for managing new product development risk

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the applicability of the failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) as an effective tool for decreasing failure risk in the early phase of the new product development (NPD), which adds to existing literature on the application of FMEA in NPD.Design/methodology/approachThrough the application of action research (AR) methodology, it was possible to develop a case study examining the use of FMEA to decrease NPD risk in an early phase of NPD execution.FindingsThe importance and immediate gains of identifying NPD failures support FMEA's usefulness for NPD risk decrease. Moreover, its user-friendliness, timeliness and cost advantages facilitate the introduction of FMEA in the early phase of NPD execution.Originality/valueFMEA is a well-known method used in manufacturing companies to identify and correct failures in products, processes and systems. This article explores the lack of practice-oriented evidence on the use of FMEA in the early phase of NPD execution and provides support to its applicability and effectiveness.

Improving new product development innovation effectiveness by using problem solving tools during the conceptual development phase: Integrating Design Thinking and TRIZ

The objective of this research is to improve innovation effectiveness during new product development (NPD) processes in industry by using problem‐solving techniques during the conceptual development phase. The concept phase of physical NPDs is widely recognized in the literature as the time when the target market is identified, alternative product concepts are created and evaluated for further development and testing, also called the “fuzzy front end” or “discovery stage”. Design Thinking (DT) and TRIZ were the chosen problem‐solving techniques to support this stage because of their complementariness. While DT is most recognized as an approach that drives project teams toward the end‐users, TRIZ has its main strength during idea generation and selection processes where it has a robust set of analytical tools to drive NPD teams to a final product concept. After conducting a literature review to understand the strengths and limitations of both techniques, a framework is proposed by integrating them into the conceptual development phase of an industrial NPD process. The proposed framework is then tested and validated after being applied successfully in an NPD process in the automotive industry. The automotive industry is a good example of an incremental type of industry when designing its components for new vehicle models, and is therefore a very appropriate laboratory for validating the proposed framework.

Leveraging social media in new product development: organisational learning processes, mechanisms and evidence from China

PurposeThe main purpose of this paper is to investigate how social media can provide important platforms to facilitate organisational learning and innovation in new product development (NPD) process.Design/methodology/approachUsing a multiple case-study approach, this study assesses qualitative data collected via 56 interviews from 13 world-leading Chinese companies in the high-technology industry.FindingsThe study identified three distinct types of organisational learning mechanisms for firms to extract potential innovation inherent in social media. It further determined various organisational enablers that facilitate the connections between these mechanisms and NPD performance.Research limitations/implicationsThis research contributes to the emerging literature on digital product development and organisational learning. The cases were conducted in the Chinese context, hence, the results may not be fully generalisable to other organisations, industries and countries without appropriate re-contextualisation.Practical implicationsThe empirical evidence showcases the various mechanisms adopted by managers in different NPD phases. It identifies several technological and organisational adaptations that managers can apply to smartly scale their social presence and facilitate NPD.Originality/valueDespite the exponential growth of social media use in identifying and interacting with external stakeholders, managerial practice and academic research have paid little attention to how social media can be leveraged for NPD. The value of this research comes from applying a qualitative method to gain in-depth insights into the mechanisms for leveraging social media to facilitate innovation in NPD.

Design concept evaluation using soft sets based on acceptable and satisfactory levels: an integrated TOPSIS and Shannon entropy

Among several phases of new product development, concept selection is the most crucial activity and it gives perfection to further progress of a product. Customer’s ideas and linguistic requirements are often substantial in concept specifications to assess quantitative criteria, which gives satisfaction for a product to progress in the markets. This work aggregates concept selection on design parameters values by merging acceptable- and satisfactory-level needs of the customers. A promising framework is developed based on soft sets, TOPSIS and the Shannon entropy. Customer’s preferences on incorporating design values are identified based on acceptable- and satisfactory-level needs, and these preferences are weighted through Shannon entropy. By performing AND operation on the soft set of level requirements of one customer with the soft set of requirements of another customer, several weighted tables of soft sets are obtained on the pair of design parameters values. To obtain the best concept on different levels of requirements, TOPSIS is performed which provides several integrated evaluations. An illustration is considered for the demonstration of the method, brings the best concept for two customers which is acceptable for both of the customers, satisfactory for both the customers and vise-versa. Finally, the comparisons are presented with recent major existing methods.

New product development-processes in the fashion industry

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is, first, to examine the design requirements of Islamic fashion in the new product-development process; second, to explore the different practices of new product-development activities from successful and unsuccessful new product lines; and third, to investigate the sequence of the new product-development practice in the fashion industry, specifically the Islamic fashion industry in Indonesia.Design/methodology/approachQuestionnaires were distributed and semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect information regarding the practice of the new product-development activities. The Mann–Whitney U test was performed based on the quality of the new product-development activities of 100 Islamic fashion firms, including five innovative companies that had won several awards in Indonesia. An analysis of the extent to which fashion firms were engaging in new product-development activities provided a more detailed picture of the sequence of those activities.FindingsIslamic norms were adapted during the early design and promotional phases of new product development in Islamic fashion. Various choices of design and colour in Islamic fashion were also perceived as a way of preaching to women to dress more accordingly to the Islamic norm. The new product-development activities that were conducted differently for successful vs unsuccessful new product lines were idea conceptualisation, market analysis, technical and engineering analysis, financial analysis and commercialisation. The commercialisation phase was given the least priority of all the activities. Nevertheless, it contributed to the very first communication to the customers about new product lines.Originality/valueThis study makes an important contribution to the deeper and more detailed research on how Islamic fashion companies perceive Islamic values during new product developments and how they perform new product-development activities between successful and unsuccessful products.

Adaptive Platforms and Flexible Deposition System for Big Area Additive Manufacturing (BAAM)

The interest around the additive manufacturing is increasing, with more and more solutions at both the industrial and desktop levels. As this is still a relatively recent issue for several industrial areas, there is a clear opportunity to explore in order to optimize the systems in the face of the needs of these same industries, and with increasing times, there are increasing factors to take into ac- count in initial phases of new product development. Presently, there is also a growing ecological awareness, with the concern of implementing a logic of waste reduction and implementation of the circular economy in new products with a view to the valuation of new alternative materials. With the development of solutions aimed at the optimization and feasibility of large additive manufacturing systems, the introduction of new alternative materials will be a reality, presenting in this article a solution and methodology for future tests for new materials. Thus, herein is studied a way of responding to both problems, new ecological materials and BAAM system optimization, presented through a hybrid and flexible solution based on the Pin Bed Forming principle applied to Big Area Additive Manufacturing systems.

Environmental assessment in the conceptual design phase of new product development

Many studies have shown the importance of incorporating environmental issues into the process of new product development (NPD). However, a critical review of the literature reveals a lack of tools to evaluate environmental criteria during the initial phases of product design - specifically, the conceptual design phase and concept selection stage. The objective of this manuscript is to present a framework for the environmental evaluation of product concepts based on design for environment (DfE), with an emphasis on tangible products. The framework could enhance the effectiveness of implementing DfE strategies in the conceptual design phase. The framework was based on DfE strategies related to the physical dimension of products and the analytical hierarchy process (AHP). This is one of the very first studies to present a framework for selecting a concept that best meets DfE criteria from a product life cycle perspective and offers the potential to be expanded to multiple manufacturers.

Environmental assessment in the conceptual design phase of new product development

Many studies have shown the importance of incorporating environmental issues into the process of new product development (NPD). However, a critical review of the literature reveals a lack of tools to evaluate environmental criteria during the initial phases of product design - specifically, the conceptual design phase and concept selection stage. The objective of this manuscript is to present a framework for the environmental evaluation of product concepts based on design for environment (DfE), with an emphasis on tangible products. The framework could enhance the effectiveness of implementing DfE strategies in the conceptual design phase. The framework was based on DfE strategies related to the physical dimension of products and the analytical hierarchy process (AHP). This is one of the very first studies to present a framework for selecting a concept that best meets DfE criteria from a product life cycle perspective and offers the potential to be expanded to multiple manufacturers.