I’m sure many of you will appreciate, that bringing a new product to the marketplace is quite a challenging process, with a number of obstacles to deal with along the way. These unknown elements which hit during the new product development (NPD) process is what prevents a large proportion of products ever being manufactured.
Turning a vision into a reality sounds easy doesn’t it? With a business case sewn up and your idea pitched to investors, then comes the really hard part. At the market research stage, scoping out an actual need and target market for your product, customer feedback can sometimes be difficult to attain, especially if it relates to a completely new innovation, with potential clients occasionally unable to articulate their unknown desires, or providing a list of too many needs, wants and must haves.
At an early stage in the development cycle a Freedom to Operate (FTO) analysis will be undertaken to investigate as to whether there is a possible patent infringement. In cases where there is a problem, a change to a product’s design may have to be instigated. Another pathway to a resolution might be to pursue a licensing or patent agreement with a competitor.
Any delays in the project management calendar will inevitably impact on the whole NPD process, putting the entire project in jeopardy. The biggest factor of course is the additional financial burden, but also any hold ups could provide an opportunity for another product to swoop in and enter the market first, thus stealing your thunder. Getting the timing right, to bring any product into the manufacturing stage, is fundamental to its success or risk the entire project running aground.
The conceptual designs which are passed onto a design engineer to produce a detailed CAD design and associated data, is the fine tuning, or sink or swim stage. Once a prototype has been built, its functionality can be tested to see if it meets the initial technical requirements. It is at this stage when products can be redesigned, adapted and materials altered, for example, but scaling development costs during this time can sometimes lead to a product getting pulled from manufacture and beached entirely.
Sanstec Design has worked on a huge number of design projects over the last 20 years, encompassing medical devices, garden/DIY tools, military equipment, industrial printing, commercial signage, bespoke electro-mechanical systems, automotive styling and access platforms, to name but a few. Despite it not always being plain sailing, we are still amazed at the shear volume of products that are successful and do make it through a number of tempestuous storms, to you, the end client.
