Product Design and Development Management (PDDM)

Assessment brief
Words-3100 words

Context – Over the years, product development has been increasingly enabled by digital technologies. Globally spread teams can design and develop solutions around the clock. Social media make it easier to reach out to potential customers to capture and verify their needs. However, for many consumers the boundaries between -tangible- products and the services they experience are increasingly blurred. The Covid-19 pandemic presents additional hurdles for communicating and collaborating with development partners and end-users. Against this backdrop, New Product Introduction (NPI) is even more challenging, complex and risky.

Brief – Imagine that you are the newly appointed Design and Product Development Director of a well-established company that hitherto ‘contract’ manufactures consumer products for global brands. That means that the company has no capability or experience in designing and developing products. The board of directors has decided that the company needs to establish its own brand of products. Your brief is to setup and establish the NPI capability of the company.

a) Many companies use a process model for managing NPI. Discuss how the challenges outlined in the context above, impact on new product introduction. Carefully select and compare two NPI management models, that could be relevant to your company, such as Stage-Gate®, agile, V-model etc. Then present the NPI process model that you have chosen, carefully considering the practical implementation in your company .
(24 marks)

b) Besides a process model, other aspects such as enablers (i.e. tools and techniques) and the people involved are also important for successful NPI. Analyse and present relevant enablers and people aspects that you consider to be important for NPI in your company. Carefully consider their practical implementation in an integrated approach for your company i.e. in relation to phases or stages in NPI process model .
(20 marks)

c) Against the backdrop outlined above, creative ideas and good industrial design remain the keys to happy customers and profitable companies. However, the ‘fuzzy front end’ of the design process is still a black art. This will apply to your company in particular as it is new to design. Explore the challenges of the fuzzy front end and suggest practical ways for your company to overcome these.
(18 marks)

d) The PDDM module has presented different types of innovation i.e. radical innovation. Discuss which type(s) of innovation you consider, as Director of Design and Product Development, to be most relevant for your company. How will you make sure, in practice, that the company will become successful innovators?
(18 marks)

1. Module learning outcomes (numbered) Critically analyse the role of the product design and development process in manufacturing industry.
2. Select and justify appropriate components of product design and development processes and their relationships from concept to customer.
3. Define design management processes and how innovation can be successfully brought to the marketplace to satisfy customers in an effective manner.
4. Design a methodical approach to the management of product development.
5. Differentiate between the important methods, technologies, latest trends, tools and techniques of product design and development and how they can be effectively utilised.

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2. A contents page and if appropriate, an abstract.
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8. High levels of accurate academic referencing.
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