Chap2: Product Planning

From the book of Karl T. Ulrich and Steven D. Eppinger

 Product Design and Development

Chapter objectives
Xeroxs competitive strategy is to exploit
technological innovation in a rapidly changing
market. Pursuing this strategy requires
-The ability to choose the right set of
development projects and
-Define the scope of these projects in such a way
that the projects are complementary.

Concept System-Level Detail Testing and Production

Planning Development Design Design Refinement Ramp-Up

Mission Concept System Spec Critical Design Production

Approval Review Review Review Approval

Product planning is an activity that considers the portfolio of projects that an organization
might pursue and determines what subset of these projects will be pursued over what time
period.

This chapter explains how an organization can choose the set of potential projects it might
pursue and then launching each project with a focused mission.
 Product Design and Development

The Product Planning Process

The product plan is regularly updated to reflect changes in the competitive environment,
changes in technology, and information on the success of existing products. Product plans are
developed with the companys goals, capabilities, constraints, and competitive environment in
mind. Product planning decisions generally involve the senior management of the organization
and may take place only annually or a few times each year. Some organizations have a director
of planning who manages this process.
Four Types of Product Development Projects
New product platforms: A major development effort to create a new family of products
based on a new, common platform that would address familiar markets and product categories.

Derivatives of existing product platforms: These projects extend an existing product platform
to better address familiar markets with one or more new products

Incremental improvements to existing products: Adding or modifying some features of

existing products in order to keep the product line current and competitive.

Fundamentally new products: Radically different product or production technologies that

address new and unfamiliar markets. It involve more risk; however, the long-term success of
the enterprise may depend on what is learned through these important projects.
 Product Design and Development

The Process
The planning activities focus on a portfolio of opportunities and potential projects and are
sometimes referred to as portfolio management, aggregate product planning, product line
planning, or product management

Iterative steps in the product planning process

1. Identify opportunities. 2. Evaluate and prioritize projects. 3. Allocate resources and plan
timing. 4. Complete pre-project planning. 5. Reflect on the results and the process.

Mission statement for the team:

What market segments should be
considered?
What new technologies (if any) should be
incorporated into the new product?
What are the manufacturing and service
goals and constraints?
What are the financial targets for the
project?
 Product Design and Development

The Five-Step Process

Step 1: Identify Opportunities

The planning process begins with the identification of product development opportunities. Such
opportunities may involve any of the four types of projects defined above.
Chapter 3, Opportunity Identification, provides a process for generating, recognizing, and
evaluating opportunities.

This opportunity statement eventually became the Lakes

project:
Develop a new black and white (B&W), digital, networkable,
document center platform for the office market, including
scanning, storage, fax, distribution, and printing capabilities.
 Product Design and Development

Step 2: Evaluate and Prioritize Projects

The opportunity funnel can collect hundreds or even thousands of opportunities during
a year. Some of these opportunities do not make sense in the context of the firms other
activities, and in most cases, there are simply too many opportunities for the firm to
pursue at once. The second step in the product planning process is therefore to select
the most promising projects to pursue.

Four basic perspectives are useful in evaluating and prioritizing opportunities for new
products in existing product categories:
-Competitive strategy,
-Market segmentation,
-Technological trajectories,
-Product platforms.
 Product Design and Development

Competitive Strategy
An organizations competitive strategy defines a basic approach to markets and products
with respect to competitors. Several strategies are possible, such as:
Technology leadership Cost leadership Customer focus Imitative

Market Segmentation
By mapping competitors products and the firms own products onto segments, the firm
can assess which product opportunities best address weaknesses in its own product line
and which exploit weaknesses in the offerings of competitors.
65 ppm 65 ppm
network
$23k $31k
55 ppm 60 ppm
Department Lakes network
$20k
Project
$35k Lakes
40 ppm
Extensions
$16k

25 ppm 35 ppm 40 ppm

$10k $15k $20k
Legend
Xerox
Workgroup product
30 ppm 40 ppm
network competitor
$10k $20k product

Hodaka Project potential

20 ppm 25 ppm 30 ppm competitor
$8k $9k $10k
Personal
20 ppm
$7k

1997 1998 1999 2000 Year of

Release
 Product Design and Development

Technological Trajectories
In technology-intensive businesses, a key product planning decision is when to adopt a new
basic technology in a product line.
Technology S-curves are a conceptual tool to help think about such decisions. The technology S-
curve displays the performance of the products in a product category over time, usually with
respect to a single performance variable such as resolution, speed, or reliability.
 Product Design and Development

Product Platform Planning

The product platform is the set of assets shared across a set of products. Components and
subassemblies are often the most important of these assets. An effective platform can allow a
variety of derivative products to be created more rapidly
 Product Design and Development

Decisions about product platforms are very closely related to the technology development
efforts of the firm and to decisions about which technologies to employ in new products.
Functional Elements Technologies

Photo- Cylindrical 3-Pitch Belt n-Pitch Belt

receptor Drum Photoreceptor Photoreceptor
One technique for coordinating Scanner 2D CCD Array Full-Width, Linear Array
technology development with Layout w/Optical Reduc. without Optical Reduction
product planning is the technology Toner High Low Melting Low Melting Point,
roadmap. Type Temperature Point Low Emission

Output Monochrome: Paper, Fax, Scan, Color: Paper, Fax, Scan,

A technology roadmap is a way to Modes Local Network, Internet Local Network, Internet
represent the expected availability User Keypad Touch Screen Touch Screen, Remote PC
and future use of various Interface
technologies relevant to the Image Automatic Image Quality
product being considered. This Processing 600 dpi 600/1200 dpi 1200 dpi 1800 dpi

method has been used by On-Board Remote-Dialup Remote

Diagnostics
Motorola, Philips, Xerox, and other Diagnostics Diagnostics Repair
leaders in fast-moving high- Document Document Document Document
technology industries Centre Centre Centre Centre
220, 230 240, 255, 265 2XX 3XX
Hodaka Lakes Lakes Next
Project Project Extensions Platform

Time
 Product Design and Development
Evaluating Fundamentally New Product Opportunities
The firm faces many opportunities in either new markets or fundamentally new technologies.
While investing scarce resources in the development of products using new technologies or for
new markets is quite risky, some such investments are necessary to periodically rejuvenate the
product portfolio (Christensen, 1997).

Balancing the Portfolio

There are many methods to help managers manage an organizations portfolio of development
projects. Several of these methods involve mapping the portfolio along useful dimensions so
that managers may consider the strategic implications of their planning decisions. One
particularly useful mapping, plots the portfolio of projects along two specific dimensions: the
extent to which the project involves a change in the product line and the extent to which the
project involves a change in production processes.
 Product Design and Development

Extent of Production Process Changes

Research and New Next Single Tuning and No
Technology Core Generation Department Incremental Process
Development Process Process Upgrade Changes Change
New Breakthrough
Core Development
Product Projects
Extent of Product Changes

Platform
Next Development
Generation Projects
Product
Lakes
Project
Addition
to Product
Family Derivative
Product
Minor Development
Product
Enhancement

Current
No
Product Product/Process
Change Support
 Product Design and Development

Step 3: Allocate Resources and Plan Timing

It is likely that the firm cannot afford to invest in every product development opportunity in
its desired balanced portfolio of projects. As timing and resource allocation are determined
for the most promising projects,
Resource Allocation
Estimating the resources required for each of the projects in the plan by month, quarter,
or year forces the organization to face the realities of finite resources. In most cases, the
primary resource to be managed is the effort of the development staff, usually
expressed in person-hours or person-months. Other critical resources may also require
careful planning, such as model shop facilities, rapid prototyping equipment, pilot
production lines, testing facilities, and so on. Estimates of required resources in each
period can be compared with available resources to compute an overall capacity
utilization ratio (demand/capacity) as well as utilizations by resource types.
 Product Design and Development

Aggregate Resource Planning

 Product Design and Development

Project Timing

Determining the timing and sequence of projects, sometimes called pipeline management, must
consider a number of factors, including: Timing of product introductions: Generally the
sooner a product is brought to market the better. However, launching a product before it is of
adequate quality can damage the reputation of the firm. Technology readiness: The
robustness of the underlying technologies plays a critical role in the planning process. A proven,
robust technology can be integrated into products much more quickly and reliably. Market
readiness: The sequence of product introductions determines whether early adopters buy the
low-end product and may trade up or whether they buy the high-end product offered at a high
initial price. Releasing improvements too quickly can frustrate customers who want to keep up;
on the other hand, releasing new products too slowly risks lagging behind competitors.
Competition: The anticipated release of competing products may accelerate the timing of
development projects.

The Product Plan

The set of projects approved by the planning process, sequenced in time, becomes the
product plan
 Product Design and Development

Step 4: Complete Pre-Project Planning

Once the project has been approved, but before substantial resources are applied, a pre-
project planning activity takes place. This activity involves a small, cross-functional team of
people, often known as the core team. The Lakes core team consisted of approximately 30
people representing a wide range of technical expertise, marketing, manufacturing, and
service functions. At this point, the earlier opportunity statement may be rewritten as a
product vision statement. The Lakes concept team began with the following product vision
statement:
Develop a networked, mid-range, digital platform for imaging, marking, and finishing.
 Product Design and Development
Mission Statements
The mission statement may include some or all of the following information: Brief (one-
sentence) description of the product: This description identifies the basic function of the
product but avoids implying a specific product concept. It may, in fact, be the product vision
statement. Benefit proposition: This element of the mission statement articulates the critical
few reasons a customer would buy the product. To some extent this is a hypothesis, which will
be validated during the concept development process. Key business goals: In addition to the
project goals that support the corporate strategy, these goals generally include goals for time,
cost, and quality (e.g., timing of the product introduction, desired financial performance, market
share targets). Target market(s) for the product: There may be several target markets for the
product. This part of the mission statement identifies the primary market as well as any
secondary markets that should be considered in the development effort. Assumptions and
constraints that guide the development effort: Assumptions must be made carefully; although
they restrict the range of possible product concepts, they help to maintain a manageable project
scope. Information may be attached to the mission statement to document decisions about
assumptions and constraints. Stakeholders: One way to ensure that many of the subtle
development issues are addressed is to explicitly list all of the products stakeholders, that is, all
of the groups of people who are affected by the products success or failure. The stakeholder
list begins with the end user (the ultimate external customer) and the external customer who
makes the buying decision about the product. Stakeholders also include the customers of the
product who reside within the firm, such as the sales force, the service organization, and the
production departments. The list of stakeholders serves as a reminder for the team to consider
the needs of everyone who will be influenced by the product.
 Product Design and Development

Lakes Project Mission Statement

Product Description
Networkable, digital machine with copy, print, fax, and scan functions
Key Business Goals
Support Xerox strategy of leadership in digital office equipment
Serve as platform for all future B&W digital products and solutions
Capture 50% of digital product sales in primary market
Environmentally friendly
First product introduction 4thQ 1997
Primary Market
Office departments, mid-volume (40-65 ppm, above 42,000 avg. copies/mo.)
Secondary Markets
Quick-print market
Small satellite operations
Assumptions and Constraints
New product platform
Digital imaging technology
Compatible with CentreWare software
Input devices manufactured in Canada
Output devices manufactured in Brazil
Image processing engine manufactured in both USA and Europe
Stakeholders
Purchasers and Users
Manufacturing Operations
Service Operations
Distributors and Resellers
 Product Design and Development

Step 5: Reflect on the Results and the Process

In this final step of the planning and strategy process, the team should ask seto assess the
quality of both the process and the results. Some suggested questions are: Is the opportunity
funnel collecting an exciting and diverse set of product opportunities?
Does the product plan support the competitive strategy of the firm?
Does the product plan address the most important current opportunities
Are the total resources allocated to product development sufficient to pursue the competitive
strategy?
Have creative ways of leveraging finite resources been considered product platforms, joint
ventures, and partnerships with suppliers?
Does the core team accept the challenges of the resulting mission statement?
Are the elements of the mission statement consistent?
Are the assumptions listed in the mission statement really necessar overconstrained? Will the
development team have the freedom to desible product?
How can the product planning process be improved?