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Monday, 13 October 2008
By Professor Allan Anderson, Massey University
 How often have you been asked to calculate the value of your NPD expenditure? So what do most of us do? We revert to the traditional measures of “number of new products launched in the last year” or “profit contribution from products developed over the past years”. Some companies claim that the number of patents lodged or NPD spend as a percentage of revenue are good indicators of NPD performance.
Yet most of these metrics provide only a simplistic and superficial view of overall NPD performance. They fail to focus on the areas of poor performance; they are often backward looking; and are seldom used as a basis for learning and continuous improvement.
Some key rules in setting up NPD metrics:
- Identify those areas that need improvement – use some form of benchmarking.
- Select a manageable set of metrics – probably 6-8, to focus on areas of improvement.
- Cover the range of lagging, real time, leading and learning measures. Examples include: lagging (profits from new products); real time (milestones on time); leading (project returns from NPD; learning (reduction in breakeven time).
- Focus your attention around measuring current NPD performance while learning how to improve future performance.
- Change the metrics as your company changes.
Sunday, 12 October 2008
 We mentioned an event in our last newsletter where Jane Davies, CEO Manchester Science Park, UK delivered a public lecture on "Science Parks - Economic Catalysts for City Growth". If you haven’t heard about this initiative from three key project partners – here it is (courtesy of the Economic Development Group at Auckland City Council)…… Auckland City Council is playing a leading role in fostering a science park and promoting a ‘science precinct’ in the area around the Tamaki campus of the University of Auckland.
The science park is jointly under investigation by Auckland City Council, the Ministry of Economic Development (MED) and the University of Auckland.
It is expected that the science park would attract research organisations and businesses that could benefit from proximity to the research-focused campus. In turn, the science park is the hub which would foster the development of the science or innovation precinct in the wider surrounds.
To be known as the Tamaki Innovation Precinct, the proposed wider area would go through the council’s business precinct planning process – which includes wide consultation. The concept of a science precinct has been found to work adjacent to universities in areas such as Cambridge (UK), Manchester (UK), Kista (Sweden), Turku (Finland) and Raleigh (USA). These parks and precincts take some years to develop but they can grow to sustain large employee numbers, student populations and produce high value-added goods and services. They typically serve as incubators for business innovation.
For more information and to register an interest in the park or precinct development, contact: Trudi Fava Auckland City Council (09) 354 2190 or follow developments on http://www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/council/documents/tamakiprecinct/default.asp
Sunday, 12 October 2008
This project is a series of programmes to improve collaboration, build capacity and capability and increase commercialisation in the digital content sector. Auckland Plus administers the project and is currently appointing an advisory board. The digital content sector is broadly defined to include sectors that utilise digital content such as manufacturing, health, biotech and marine.
For more information see:
Sunday, 12 October 2008
Check out the article in the latest Visions Magazine
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Sunday, 12 October 2008
By David Stokes, New Product Development and Innovation Professional
Over a series of newsletters, I’ll share my “lessons learned” in my previous role: implementing NPD best-practices across Navman (this was prior to Brunswick breaking it up and selling it :( ).
Navman was a classic kiwi success story, starting as a small bunch of engineers based in Peter Maire’s garage, growing into a highly successful company exporting world-class products based on leading-edge technologies around the world. As the company grew, the complexity and rate of change increased significantly – more people involved in developing the products (multi-division / multi-location organisation with over 500 employees), more products/technologies of higher complexity, more competitors and greater risk if a product failed (compare a product recall for a couple of thousand units to recalling hundreds of thousands of units!). Navman simply couldn’t operate in the same way it did as a small organisation.
My role was to make the necessary changes to improve delivery of products to market and ensure the company could continue growing.
The first thing I did was a review of current processes. I found that each business unit was following a different process at different levels of detail that had evolved over time. Those processes weren’t being followed consistently and frequently were simply not being used.
We wanted to have in place ‘best-practices’ that would add significant value to the business. But we didn’t have the time or resources to “re-invent the wheel” so we chose to implement Stage-Gate® process. There was a quite a gap to achieve the goals of Stage-Gate and we couldn’t stop the business while we made all changes required. In fact, we had to make these changes without impacting the ability for the company to continually deliver products to market (check out this video).
One of the first things we needed to do was to gain some consistency. So we put in place a basic Stage-Gate® framework that the project teams could continue to work in, slotting what they were already doing into the appropriate stage. It’s wasn’t perfect, but it was a start in achieving consistency within each of the phases. Don’t underestimate the benefits of using common terminology in stage and gate names and the stage projects really are in the process!
The first key deliverable we standardised was the Project Charter. A lot of time and effort tended to be wasted at the early stages of projects, because there was no clear and common understanding of project scope, requirements and actions. The Project Charter was used to initiate any project thereafter and keep everyone focused.
OK – that’s a start. The next thing I’ll explore is decision making – unless you are making quality decisions based on good information in a timely manner, no process will be fully effective!
Sunday, 12 October 2008
Don’t get sucked into doom and gloom with the current financial crisis - during the toughest times, breakthrough businesses emerge. Here are some examples from our knowledge:
- Scrabble was invented during these years by a jobless US architect
- film as a medium began in earnest: the pioneers of American film like the Three Stooges and Marx Brothers - kept the world laughing
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1930
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Wallace Carothers and DuPont Labs invents neoprene. The "differential analyzer", or analog computer invented by Vannevar Bush at MIT in Boston. Frank Whittle and Dr Hans von Ohain both invent a jet engine. |
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1931
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1932
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The zoom lens and the light meter invented.
Karl Jansky invents the radio telescope.
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1933
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Stereo records invented.
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1934
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Englishmen, Percy Shaw invents cat eyes or roads reflectors. Charles Darrow claims he invented the game Monopoly. |
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1935
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Wallace Carothers and DuPont Labs invents nylon ( polymer 6.6.) Robert Watson-Watt patented radar. |
So what are you waiting for? Get out the no. 8 wire and let’s show the world what fantastic innovative technologies, products and services we can come up with!
Here’s some recent proof that we can do it: Vincent Reid, a kiwi now living in the British town of Stockton, has set up a company to test a prototype sling he has invented to soothe colic. The sling, worn by the parent, is designed to alleviate cramps and calm crying by helping the baby to focus on the parent's face. I’m sure the many exhausted parents out there would have appreciated the value of an invention like this – sleep!
Check out the full article in the Evening Gazette in Middlesbrough.
Sunday, 12 October 2008
 By Elizabeth Coleman, Product Innovation Manager, IAGHave you ever stood in a hotel lobby and been approached with the question “May I help you?” Given the opportunity to improve this experience, what would you suggest?
In the hospitality industry, the Ritz-Carlton hotel has the reputation for developing supreme value in customer experience. Ritz-Carlton staff are motivated to create ongoing, memorable, and unique guest experiences. From their first day on the job, staff are treated as customers, and, having experienced the “Wow” factor themselves, are able to measure their own ability to create the same exceptional feeling for guests.
Taking this a step further, companies are moving to models of service developed through qualitative research. Customer experiences of the product or service are observed and analysed to determine what value they hold. While this interaction often leads to breakthrough ideas in product and service delivery excellence, this model basically treats the customer as passive.
In future, service and product innovation will rely on a more active customer. Experience innovation engages the customer in the design of their experience, capturing and responding to their preferences, creating greater value. In “The Future of Competition: Co-creating Unique Value with Customers”, Prahalad and Ramaswamy [1] present the model of “value co-creation” where value is created jointly by the company and the consumer at points of interaction. Co-creation is the basis for providing unique value for each individual. How does a business move from a model that creates value through the delivery of innovative products to a model of experience innovation and value co-creation? Technology can play a significant role.
For instance, value co-creation can be enhanced through telematics. Telematics provides the technology to change the experience for the customer by responding to how the consumer chooses to interact.. The General Motors OnStar product, now installed in over 5 million top-end vehicles, helps customers to find their parked cars, navigate journeys, be Good Samaritans, make hands-free phone calls, drive safely and arrange assistance at service stations and venues on their journey. See: www.onstar.com. In cyberspace, companies can use the information they collect through the online interaction to directly enhance customer experiences. The option to capture creative ideas has a new design playground here. Threadless ( www.threadless.com) a tee shirt supplier, engages customers in design collaboration. In this online experience, tee shirts can be designed, redesigned, played with and shared as appropriate. For the customer, the design experience becomes part of the product and service delivery. Many businesses have moved beyond the marketing push of banners and Flash ads to interact in social networks like flickr, Youtube, facebook, delicious, Twitter or LinkedIn. Some businesses are successfully engaging directly in communities of common interest, creating blogs to share knowledge and encourage open discussion of their services and products. Southwest Airlines is one, winning awards for its website blog www.blogsouthwest.com and talking about it on Twitter http://twitter.com/SouthwestAir. When companies collaborate in cyberspace and engage customers in the co-creation experience, value increases exponentially. The technology in mirrored 3D worlds provides exciting opportunities for businesses to collaborate and develop value for the masses. For example, a team of Boston entrepreneurs engaged with several large retail companies to design Kinset ( www.kinset.com), a virtual retail megaplex. Kinset gives customers a 3D online shopping experience. In this site the customer interaction defines their future shopping experiences. “Value co-creation” is a future approach to designing competitive products and services - where customers design the experience as they interact with it. To remain competitive, companies must create value for the customer in a way that engages them and responds to their preferences to deliver a personalised experience “in the moment”.
Reference: The Future of Competition: Co-creating Unique Value with Customers, C.K. Prahalad and Venkat Ramaswamy, Harvard Business Press, 2004
Sunday, 12 October 2008
You might have been to or heard that Better By Design recently had their CEO Summit. This year the theme was sustainability. To find out more about this event, checkout their website:
Sunday, 12 October 2008
The Design in Business Awards were recently announced.
The overall winner was luxury shower and tapware manufacturer, Methven.
Congratulations also to highly commended entrants AuCom Electronics and phil&teds; and the first ever recipient of a Design in Business Outstanding Individual Award, Rick Wells.
Sunday, 12 October 2008
By Richard Williams, Director of Product Development, Trimble Navigation Ltd
I was fortunate to be able to extend a recent trip to the US to include the 32nd annual PDMA conference. PDMA hosted the conference at a Disney World resort hotel, which provided excellent facilities, but left you feeling that without young children you were somewhat out of place. Be warned that next year’s conference will be in Disney Land on the other side of the country in Anaheim (Nov 2-4).
As a recent member of PDMA, I wasn’t sure what to expect. So I was pleasantly surprised to find that the conference was highly relevant and valuable, and that many of the issues we face are common across diverse industries. Attendance was probably around a few hundred, so this made it easy to visit all of the 40+ exhibitors and discuss their offerings. The majority seemed to be either selling software or services (or both) to help with various stages of the product development cycle from idea to delivery.
The highlights were excellent plenary presentations from industry leaders, including Helen Greiner from iRobot, Takashi Tanaka and Don Kieffer who talked about Obeya (the big room), and Andrew Lippman from MIT’s Media Lab. Hearing passionate people talk is enjoyable and inspirational. On the final day I attended a workshop on strategies and tools for getting products to market faster. Although the material was fairly high level, the group discussion with eight other attendees and two facilitators was excellent for discovering how others tackle this problem.
Sunday, 12 October 2008
 In the near future, location based applications will be commonplace, with electronic coupons being sent to your mobile phone because you are near a service you have opted-in for, such as a Happy Hour deal for the bar you are walking past.
GeoSmart Maps Ltd wants to bring the future forward to 2009 by establishing the Location Innovation Awards, a competition to encourage people to come up with concepts and applications based on four categories; Social Networking, Proximity-based marketing, LBS Games and widgets for the AA Maps website.
There are prizes for each category and spot prizes from sponsors Geekzone, Tomizone, Sony Ericsson, Vodafone New Zealand and the NZ Automobile Association. The overall winner will also win a trip to San Jose in the USA to attend the Where 2.0 conference in May 2009.
Sunday, 12 October 2008
 Want or need a product development library?
An idea we are kicking around at the moment is to put together a library of books on NPD which our members can access. Is this a good idea?
Let us know. Are there any particular books you think we should include in a library?
Leave a comment by clicking on the Comments link below this blog article.
Sunday, 12 October 2008
 The new TechNZ programme provides funding to help small and large firms build R&D capability, undertake research projects and engage with technical experts. Product development projects that involve R&D, technical stretch and risk, employment of a student, IP advice or contracting external technical experts have potential to attract TechNZ co-investment. Previous products have been replaced by a single streamlined programme. A TechNZ Partner network has been established to deliver this programme into the regions.
For more information and to find your local TechNZ Partner go to: http://www.frst.govt.nz/news/frstnews/oct08#item-6
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