While Toyota has got some bad press recently and the other makers are benefiting from it, I bet those other car makers are shaking in their shoes as they could easily be in the same position.

When you think about, the environment that a car operates in is pretty extreme: temperature, vibration, dirt (and that include all the crap that the kids seem get over the interior of the car!). For those of you who don’t develop products for that type of environment, can you imagine how long your product would last? And cars these days are expected to last a long time, like 15 to 20 years!

If something goes wrong with a car, it may result in bad quality ratings, car recalls to fix a problems, or worse, someone gets injured or killed. It doesn’t take much – I understand that one the issues that Toyota has had was that the car mat was sliding forward and jamming the accelerator - a car mat! You wouldn't think that something as mundane as a car mat could kill someone!

Given my love for cars, I had always dreamed that the ultimate job would be to work for a car maker. But a past work colleague of mine had worked for a car maker and he assured me that working for a car maker wasn’t all it's cracked up to be. He gave me an example of making a minor change to a taillight - when such a change occurs, it requires a committee to be brought together to review the change. The committee would include for example: electrical (the change might impact the electrical system), overall design (does the design change effect the overall appearance of the car), lighting (incase it impacts the visibility of the lights), aerodynamics,……. the list goes on. You might think that this is over the top, but remember, a problem with a floor mat killed people!

You wonder sometime why automotive technology seems to lag behind other forms of technologies such as consumer electronics. But you have to realize, if your computer crashes, it's not going to kill you and often to fix it, all you need to do is upgrade the software (and in a lot of cases, it is done automatically). Whereas if something in your car fails, you could be injured, or again, killed. And if there is something that needs to be fixed, the car will need to be taken back to the dealership for the problem to be repaired, which is very public and costs a lot of money for a car maker. But then again, cars do already have a lot of computer and software controlling many of the operations of the car, so maybe all that is needed in the future is a software upgrade. In fact, I think that it has been identified that with the Prius, it is a software fault that is stopping the brakes working. But I think that it will be some time before you will be able to connect your car to the internet and download a fix!

Toyota has been praise many times for its leading technology in hybrid cars. But maybe it's this that has got it in trouble. New technologies are new and therefore have not had the many years of testing in a real-world environment. So maybe further testing should have been done. But how much?

What do you think?

Cheers
David

One of the keynote speakers at the PDMA conference in Los Angeles last November was Guy Kawasaki. Guy is a founding partner and entrepreneur-in-residence at Garage Technology Ventures and has an extensive resume in Silicon Valley start-ups. And what an amazing speaker – or should I say entertainer? I am usually put off by this type of presentation, most of which keep you spell-bound at the time but searching for memorable moments afterwards. Guy’s approach to product development was refreshingly down to earth – especially after listening to a line up of academic research papers. I’d just like to share Guy’s 10 points for PD success. These are:

1) Make meaning – ensure your product has real benefits for your customer
2) Make mantra – do away with the 100 word mission statement, keep its simple, keep it meaningful, keep it memorable. Above all, make it your own.
3) Get going – think differently, be willing to polarise people and find a few sole mates.
4) Define a business model – be specific and keep it simple.
5) Weave a mat – milestones, assumptions and tasks.
6) Niche thyself – find a feature that isn’t currently be offered or a segment of the market that isn’t being catered for.
7) Hire infected people – don’t hire in your own image and don’t be afraid to hire better than yourself.
8) Lower the barriers to adoption – don’t ask people to do something you wouldn’t do yourself. Embrace your evangelists – those people who will spread the word on your product like no other marketing campaign.
9) Seed the clouds – “let a hundred flowers blossom” – foster creativity. Encourage trial and error. Identify and support the influencers.
10) Don’t let the bozos grind you down – never accept never. Remember these famous sayings:

“I think there is a world market for maybe 5 computers”. Thomas Watson, Chairman IBM 1943
“This telephone has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communications. The device is inherently of no value to us”. Western Union internal memio1876
“There is no reason why anyone would want a computer in their home”. Ken Olsen, Founder, Digital Equipment Corp. 1977.

A complete set of Guy’s slides, titled The Art of the Start can be found at http://guykawasaki.typepad.com/051306TIE.pdf

Guy Kawasaki has written a number of books. If you want to have a look at one, I suggest Reality Check ( ISBN 978-1-59184-223-1).

The PG Garage has been created by ecentre, the business development company at Massey University, to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship in post graduate students. The ecentre has invited students to base themselves in the ‘garage’ during part of their research project. A comfortable suite in the ecentre has been set aside with sponsorship from The Tindall Foundation and the David Levene Charitable Trust. So far ten students have taken up the opportunity with projects ranging from wearable robotic devices to intranet search engines. The students are encouraged to participate in ecentre events and rub shoulders with successful entrepreneurs in a commercial environment. At least one student is now developing his own new venture based on his research project. For more information contact Sabrina@ecentre.org.nz

For some time we have talked about establishing a chapter of PDMA-NZ in Christchurch. We did hold a first meeting around 18 months ago but very little has happened since then.

I will be in Christchurch on 5 March and have arranged a meeting with a few people who have expressed an interest in PDMA-NZ. This meeting will be held at 3pm on the CPIT campus. If you would like to get a little more involved in PDMA-NZ you are most welcome to attend this meeting. Just contact Allan Anderson on 06 3505283 or A.M.Anderson@massey.ac.nz

The PDMA Handbook of New Product Development defines Radical Innovation as “…a new product, generally containing new technologies, that significantly changes behaviours and consumption patterns in the marketplace.” During the PDMA conference last year I had several discussions with people regarding the level and type of product innovation in New Zealand. A recurring theme from these discussions was the surprise at the number of radical product innovations that have come out of a small country like New Zealand. From Richard Pearse, purported to be the first man to fly, to Ernest Ruthford, the Hamilton Jet, Gallaghers electric fence, Fisher and Paykell’s smart drive, Fonterra’s milk powers – the list goes on and on.

A particularly interesting radical product innovation I came across recently is a system to better enable blind people to navigate around unfamiliar places. See http://www.povidi.com/. A short excerpt from this website:

“Povidi is proud to announce the SoundPost Orientation System, a simple affordable solution that allows for the first time, a blind citizen to cross up to 30 metres of open space. Straight across the car-park out front to the entrance, across the foyer to the information counter, or maybe the ability to identify a specific building along the street, the possibilities are endless and the benefits speak for themselves.”

I have been asked by PDMA’s Vision magazine to write a short article on radical innovation in New Zealand. Over the next couple of months, a small team at Massey University will be looking at case studies of radical innovation in New Zealand in an attempt to uncover if we are more inclined to radical innovation than many other countries and, if so, what are the key drivers. Perhaps it’s our small size, our willingness to chat with everyone and anyone, our lack of financial resources or that inate ability to make something out of very little.

If you have any thoughts on this topic – case studies, comments for and against my theory, please send me an email A.M.Anderson@massey.ac.nz

Enterprise North Shore is planning to run a workshop in April for companies interested in learning more about innovation in a business context. In collaboration with Ideas Accelerator, an Auckland company that helps companies measure and improve innovation, Enterprise North Shore will present a case study of a local organisation that has benefited from implementing changes to enhance innovation. Research has shown that many companies aspire to be more innovative but are not sure how to do it.

To register your interest in the short workshop email Team@ens.org.nz

5th IEEE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MANAGEMENT OF INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Planned to be held in Singapore from 2 to 5 June, 2010.

ICMIT2010 is the 5th International Conference on Management of Innovation and Technology, first initiated by the IEEE Engineering Management Society Singapore Chapter in 2000. ICMIT2010 intends to bring together scholars, industrialists, and entrepreneurs interested in improving their research and development, and business applications in innovation and technology management across a global network of diverse platforms.

More details:http://www.icmit2010.org

ICIEMT 2010 : "International Conference on Innovation, Engineering Management and Technology"

Tokyo, Japan, May 26-28, 2010

More details: http://www.waset.org/conferences/2010/tokyo/iciemt/

17TH INTERNATIONAL PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE “THE INNOVATION IN CRISIS TIME”
MURCIA, SPAIN, JUNE 13-15, 2010

More details: http://www.eiasm.org/frontoffice/event_announcement.asp?event_id=625

34th Annual Global Conference on Product Innovation Management:
Navigating the New Realities for Commercial Success: Discover. Develop. Deliver.
Presented by the Product Development and Management Association
October 16-20, 2010 - Rosen Shingle Creek - Orlando, FL, USA

More details: http://www.pdma.org/view_webpage.cfm?pk_webpage=827

The 3rd International Multi-Conference on Engineering and Technological Innovation: IMETI 2010

June 29-July 2, 2010 ~ Orlando, Florida, USA

More details: www.2010iiisconferences.org/imeti 

Executives from US multi-national Procter & Gamble are in New Zealand this week looking for more innovative Kiwi companies to collaborate with.

Proctor & Gamble runs a global innovation programme, Connect and Develop, with external companies.

Jeff Weedman, head of external business development, says the company has a "voracious appetite" for bringing new products and technologies to consumers.

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