What would you change about your NPD Processes? is a question asked by companies throughout the world? Ironically, most organisations identify the same 4 issues with their NPD Processes…

1. Turnaround time – getting the right products to market by using methods of greater accountability to identify the bottlenecks and placing better approval processes in place for faster more effective turnaround times.
2. Use a better system to ensure the right products make it to Market – Have systems in place to reduce “knee jerk” reactions to launching unplanned projects due to poor sales elsewhere
3. Greater Transparency with the R&D Team – Communicating to a team about the priority of the NPD process in terms of profitability and strategic relevance so projects that will contribute 10 times more can be given the priority properly
4. Greater visibility of any changes to the project throughout the NPD Team including pricing, forecast and launch dates.

There is clearly no doubt that Innovation is key to surviving a very competitive and often cutthroat world of new products. Innovation is now firmly on the corporate agenda as the key to survival and growth. With increasing competitive pressures, fragmented markets and relentless trends towards the commoditization of products and services the best solution is the creation of a highly effective and efficient innovation program.

Companies known to have higher levels of innovation capabilities have done a much better job at leveraging the investments made in their new product and business innovation. This is known as “Innovation Maturity”.

Implementing an effective innovation program will translate into:

1. Increased success rates for new products (almost half the new product innovation projects fail to deliver against their project objectives.)
2. Reduce time to market
3. Increase the proportion of projects delivered within budget
4. Shift portfolio balance away from incremental product development
5. Increase the proportion of “new to company” and “new to market” products
6. Reduce the total number of development projects
7. Increase the average value of each project
8. Increase sales and margins

There are 3 key drivers of innovation success which have been identified by the world’s number innovation scholar, Dr Robert Cooper and whom Prodex closely aligns its methodologies to;

STRATEGY – PROCESS – RESOURCES.

These 3 drivers work in parallel with implementing effective organisational change and focusing on;

PEOPLE – PROCESS – TECHNOLOGY.

Companies who focus on these 3 dimensions realise a 30% to 70% increase in the productivity of their innovation investments.

Integrating these two frameworks forms the basis of the Product Innovation Maturity Model (PIM) which places 4 key drivers on the innovation performance axis (Technology, Resource, Process and Strategy) and the 4 phases on innovation maturity (Elementary, Effective, Advanced and Enhanced) on the other.

The PIM defines provides a framework for the realisation of increased profitability through New Product Innovation. This model helps companies effectively communicate the interdependence between the strategy process, resource and technology. It provides a systematic framework for the progression toward an enhanced, world-class Product Innovation capability.

Interested in understanding more about New Product Development?

Contact Prodex Systems Senior Innovation Consultant and Managing Director, Gerard Ryan [email protected]