Acknowledgments viii About the Author ix 1 Introduction to Product Development 1 Project Management and Product Development 2 What Is Product Development? 3 How This Book Is Organized 3 2 The Role of Marketing in Product Development 7 Corporate Strategy – Strategic Planning 7 Marketing, Sales, and the Four Ps 10 The 1st P – Product 11 Example of Product Displacement 13 The 2nd P – Promotion 15 The 3rd P – Pricing 16 The 4th P – Placement 17 The Business Case 18 The Roles of Marketing and Engineering in Product Development 19 Marketing Services 21 New Product Development and Market Economics: The Future of Electric Trucks vs Costs and Public Policy 21 3 The Role of the Engineering Group in Product Development 35 Driving Products – the Engineering Perspective 35 Engineering Disciplines 37 The Engineering Process 39 Ergonomics (Human Factors Engineering) 45 Additional Design Considerations – Product Liability 48 Government Oversight – Consumer Protection in the United States 50 Discussion Case 3.1 – Lawsuit over Hot Coffee 52 Design Challenges – Product Misuse 53 Problems with Product Development 55 4 The Core Team and Teamwork in Product Development 61 The Executive’s Role in Product Development 61 Working Within the Strategic Plan 61 Project Management Processes 62 Who Should Be Involved in Product Development? 63 Constraint on Product Development: A Note about Sarbanes-Oxley and Publicly Held Companies 66 Essentials of Teamwork and Communications across Functional Lines 67 Project/Product Communication 68 Budgets, Schedules, and Miscellaneous Small Tasks 70 Leadership in Product Development 73 How Do Leaders Go Wrong? 76 The Roles of Accounting and Finance 77 Decision Points and Net Present Value (NPV) 81 The Bigger Picture 84 Driving Product Development 85 Working in Silos and with Stakeholders 86 Identifying Stakeholders 87 5 Getting Started – Project Approved: Product/Project Management and Engineering 95 Taking the Business Case from Concept to Reality 95 Basic Research 96 Applied Research 97 Project Management in Product Development 98 Why Do Projects Fail? 99 Traditional and Agile Project Management 101 Sample Project Plan – Detailed Table of Contents 103 A True Case Study - Company Dysfunction and a Lack of Project Management 105 Developing and Controlling Scope – Using a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) 107 Developing a Budget and Cash Flows 108 Agile PM 112 The Vision Statement 113 Agile Hybrid in Action – Marketing Natural Gas in the Southeastern United States: Gas South, A True Story 115 Discussion Case 5.1 – A True Story: Product Development Without Project Management 117 6 Product Development for Small Firms and Entrepreneurs 125 Funding for Your Start-Up: A Necessary Ingredient 125 Loans from the Bank and Small Business Administration (SBA) 126 Funding from Venture Capitalists 127 Funding by Issuing Shares of Stock 128 Funding with Angel Investors 128 Other Sources of Business and Financial Assistance 129 Summary on Product Development and Sources of Funding 130 Small Firm Challenges 131 Lack of Structured Planning 132 Marketing Message Not Strong or Clear 133 Legal and Regulatory Obstacles 133 Use of a Product Roadmap 134 Innovation 135 When (Or If) to Patent 137 7 Manufacturing the New Product 147 The State of Manufacturing 150 New Manufacturing Advances 156 8 Engineering Product Design and Testing 163 Managing the Approved Scope and Budget – Why Is This Important? 163 The Project Lifecycle 164 A True Story: Ignoring the Warning Signs 166 Preventing Failure and Surprises: Performing a Risk Review 167 Two Types of Risk Review: Qualitative and Quantitative 168 Design and Status Reviews 171 Modeling – Speeding Product Development 173 Integrating Supply Chain and Manufacturing 174 The Role of Supply Chain in Product Development 176 Proposals, Pricing, Statements of Work (SOWs) 180 New Technologies – Identification and Adaptation 182 Alignment with Business Strategy 185 Using SWOT 186 Gates and Stakeholders 187 9 Successful Product Launch and Post Review 193 Pricing 194 Integrated Marketing 196 Product Development – Post Review 198 10 Summary – Connecting the Dots 205 A Logical Process Flow 206 Index 213

An insightful development roadmap to help engineers and businesspeople successfully bring a product to market In Product Development: An Engineer’s Guide to Business Considerations, Real-World Product Testing, and Launch, accomplished project manager, engineer, and business strategist David V. Tennant delivers a comprehensive walkthrough of the full scope of product development activities, from initial business considerations to real-world product testing and launch. The book covers key product development considerations like determining the target market, working with a product development team, management challenges, funding, user identification, ergonomics, product design, testing, and launch. The distinguished author presents the material in the form of practical, hands-on tutorials with case studies featuring large corporations and small- and mid-size firms. He also includes team exercises and question-and-answer features to help early-career and aspiring engineers acquire the interdisciplinary and inter-department coordination skills they’ll require to successfully bring a new product to market. Readers will learn about the critical roles played by the engineering, marketing, and finance departments, as well as each stage of the product development process. The book also includes: Thorough introductions to product development and the role of the marketing group in product development, including corporate strategy, product and business plans, and marketing leadershipComprehensive explorations of the role of the engineering group in product development, including functional areas led by engineers and engineering leadershipPractical discussions of the core team and teamwork in product development, including executives’ roles, the role of the accounting department, and the identification of key stakeholdersIn-depth examinations of how to move forward with product development after project approval Perfect for early- and mid-career engineers working in product-oriented companies, as well as marketers and other business professionals seeking to understand engineering best practices, Product Development is the ideal reference for use in upper-level undergraduate Product Development courses.