In business and engineering, new product development (NPD) or simply product development is the complete process of bringing a new product to market. Product development also includes renewing an existing product and introducing a product into a new market. New product development is the realization of a market opportunity by making a product available for purchase. The products developed by a commercial organization provide the means to generate income. A central aspect of NPD is product design. Many technology-intensive organizations exploit technological innovation in a rapidly changing consumer market. A product can be a tangible asset or good or intangible services or user experiences. NPD requires an understanding of customer needs and wants, the competitive environment, and the nature of the market. Cost, time, and quality are the main variables that drive customer needs. Aiming at these three variables, innovative companies develop continuous practices and strategies to better satisfy customer requirements and to increase their own market share by regular development of new products. There are many uncertainties and challenges which companies must face throughout the process.
Overview New product development requires an understanding of customer needs and wants, the competitive environment, and the nature of the market. Cost, time, and quality are the main variables that drive customer needs. Product pricing involves achieving a balance between setting a price that will attract customer interest and achieving an acceptable level of return on the costs and time involved in developing the product.
Process structure The product development process typically consists of several activities that firms employ in the complex process of delivering new products to the market. A process management approach is used to provide a structure. Product development often overlaps much with the engineering design process, particularly if the new product being developed involves application of math and/or science. Every new product will pass through a series of stages/phases, including ideation among other aspects of design, as well as manufacturing and market introduction. In highly complex engineered products (e.g. aircraft, automotive, machinery), the NPD process can be likewise complex regarding management of personnel, milestones, and deliverables. Such projects typically use an integrated product team approach. The process for managing large-scale complex engineering products is much slower (often 10-plus years) than that deployed for many types of consumer goods. The development process is articulated and broken down in many different ways, often including the following phases/stages: PHASE 1. Fuzzy front-end (FFE) is the set of activities employed before the more formal and well-defined requirements specification is completed. Requirements speaks to what the product should do or have, at varying degrees of specificity, in order to meet the perceived market or business need The fuzzy front end (FFE) is the messy "getting started" period of new product engineering development processes. It is also referred to as the "Front End of Innovation", or "Idea Management". It is in the front end where the organization formulates a concept of the product to be developed and decides whether or not to invest resources in the further development of an idea. It is the phase between first consideration of an opportunity and when it is judged ready to enter the structured development process (Kim and Wilemon, 2007; Koen et al., 2001). It includes all activities from the search for new opportunities through the formation of a germ of an idea to the development of a precise concept. The Fuzzy Front End phase ends when an organization approves and begins formal development of the concept. Although the fuzzy front end may not be an expensive part of product development, it can consume 50% of development time (see Chapter 3 of the Smith and Reinertsen reference below), and it is where major commitments are typically made involving time, money, and the product's nature, thus setting the course for the entire project and final end product. Consequently, this phase should be considered as an essential part of development rather than something that happens "before development", and its cycle time should be included in the total development cycle time. Koen et al. (2001) distinguish five different front-end elements (not necessarily in a particular order):
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