Planning Customer-Focused Products

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New Product News reports in Forbes magazine that of the 36,000-plus products that will be introduced this year, 80% will fail. While new products and services fail for many reasons (poor quality, excessive cost, late to market, superior competition, etc.), more than half of these failures can be traced directly to an inability to provide better value for the customer.

ITI's Product Planning process combines prioritized customer requirements, customer perceptions, and technical competitive benchmarking into specific and measurable performance targets. The results are successful innovative new products, shortened development cycles, and a basis for continuous improvement.

Product Target Setting

Typically requirements research (Voice of the Customer, lessons learned, competitive benchmarking, etc.) is first completed. This information is compiled in the form of customer wants/needs then converted into predictable and measurable targets, typically applying Quality Function Deployment (QFD) methods and tools. Targets must be defined based on the customer-focused product planning and therefore always tie product design decisions to the marketplace, Voice of the Customer (VOC) and business goals.

Targets start at the system level and are cascaded into the subsystems and component over the course of development. Derived from subjective wants and needs of end users and other stakeholders, targets are systematically converted to engineering specifications as measurable and predictable customer-focused targets though QFD and other programs.

Quality Function Deployment (QFD)

The QFD House of Quality allows organizations to capture, organize and analyze customer requirements in order to make important product and service decisions.

QFD is a fundamental method used within the New Product Planning process providing a structure for linking the steps, managing the process and data.

QFD allows development teams to:

Identify, understand and measure customer wants/needs while focusing on satisfying key requirements
Quickly determine if a new product or service will be successful
Make informed and intelligent decisions
Systematically transform subjective requirements for satisfying customers, into language and measures that define and assure quality
Assure requirements can be understood at all organizational levels for development and deployment of a product, system, service or process
Apply a proven process through which quality, reliability, value and performance are measured, verified and delivered throughout the product life cycle
Drive these focused client needs and wants from the system level down into the product and supporting production processes --- always allowing path back to the customer-driven decision process

QFD is also used to support a variety of quality and improvement initiatives including: Design for Six Sigma, Strategic Planning, Software Development, Making Key Decisions, and more.

QFD and Cascading the Voice of your Customer (VOC)

Working with You

ITI helps clients:

Capture & analyze Voice of the Customer and Voice of the Business requirements
Prioritize numerous & diverse requirements
Turn vague requirements (such as "easy to use") into specific product/service characteristics
Optimize trade-offs when requirements conflict (such as "light weight yet sturdy")
Translate requirements into specific, measurable, predictable targets
Deliver products/services that provide more value to customers

Voice of the Customer Cascading Process

Allowing key customer requirements to drive product and process decisions, designs, and activities helps ensure new product success.

Voice of the Customer » Specific Metrics

"Easy to operate" » Turning torque < 15 ft-lb
"Quiet when using" » Noise level @ 3' < 70 dB

The ITI advantage lies in our ability to go beyond simply establishing product or service targets. We help apply, measure, and monitor these targets throughout the development process. This enables our clients to deliver innovative "hit" products / services -- developed significantly more efficiently and faster.

Product Cost & Value Planning

ITI helps clients examine the cost to design, build and support products and/or the total end user cost over the product's life. Product cost reduction plans help achieve cost targets while meeting the target value to customers. Value planning also assesses the benefit of product changes in the minds of the end users, relative to competition and product concepts alternatives.

Cost Reduction programs identify very early where waste and spending can be reduced or eliminated. The process begins during product planning and is closely integrated with early concept development activities, where costs are "built-in" to the product. Cost models are integrated into trade-off decisions with performance, quality/reliability, and other target models to optimize designs throughout the development process.

Analysis includes:

Pre-production investments (planning, concept selection, design, prototype manufacturing infrastructure, tooling, automation, outsourcing, new processes, IT infrastructure, etc.)
Production costs (manufacturing procurement materials and resources, assembly, make/buy decisions, transportation)
Post-production costs (warranty, product upgrades, and repairs).

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