Bringing a new product to market typically starts with an idea and will follow through a product development process to reach the stage of being put into full production and sold to consumers. There are a few different stages to the development process and each needs to be considered carefully to ensure that a product that reaches the market has the best chance of success.
Initial Stages of New Product Development Process
The early stages of the new product development process basically involve fully understanding the brief for the product. This generally means meeting with a client or manager to discuss their concept for the product and what they are looking to achieve. It is important to completely understand the brief as this helps to set the project in the right direction. The initial stages of the product development process will also involve market research. This is used to identify whether there is a viable market for the product and to undertake initial study into the requirements for the product in terms of appearance, materials and likely cost of production. The outcome of the early stages of the product development process should identify the likely success of the product.
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Design Development Stages
The design stages of the product development process look to turn the initial vision for a product into reality. Most designs these days use the latest Computer Aided Design (CAD) software. This makes it simple to prepare a design and more importantly easy to amend the design as it progresses. Generally industrial designers will liaise with others during this stage. Feedback needs to be gained from the client on any requirements or changes they may have, engineers on the practicalities of manufacturing the product, and cost estimators in terms of finding the most affordable production costs. The information received is fed into the product development process to refine the design and ensure a product can be manufactured in a cost effective and sensible manner. The design development stages can also include the manufacture of a prototype. Doing this allows the product to be tested by consumers and the feedback from this used to further refine the design.
Manufacturing Stage
The final stage of the product development process is manufacturing. Designers should have an input into the early stages of this to ensure that the design they have created can be easily and affordably manufactured. Some final refinement of the design and appearance of an item may be required at this stage of the product development process to suit the manufacturing process.
Types of Product Development Firm
A product development firm can take a few different forms and while the product development process generally follows a similar path, most companies will have their own ideas for this. Firms that industrial designers can look to work for and learn the product development process include specialist industrial design firms that offer their services to companies in the business of making products. However, many large manufacturing businesses and corporations will have their own industrial design division to provide them with in-house expertise. This provides a few options for those interested in pursuing a career in the profession.
Many companies thrive on bringing new products to market and industrial designers are tasked with ensuring that these meet the needs of the client in terms of profitability and the needs of the consumer in terms of function and usability. This is done through a product development process that takes an idea and turns it into reality to bring new products to the consumer in an effective manner.
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