Creating project plans to focus product development
The long-term compettteness of any manufacturing company depends ultmately on the success of
its product detelopment capabilitess New product detelopment holds hope for improting market
positon and fnancial performance, creatng new industry standards and new niche markets, and
eten renewing the organizatons
In most organizatons, management directs all its atenton to inditidual projects, it micromanages
project detelopments But no single project defnes a company’s future or its market growth oter
tme; the ’’set’’ of projects doess oompanies need to detote more atenton to managing the set and
mix of projectss In partcular, they should focus on how resources are allocated between projectss
To create a plan, management categorizes projects based on the amount of resources they consume
and on how they will contribute to the company’s product lines Then, by mapping the project types,
management can see where gaps exist in the detelopment strategy and make more informed
decisions about what types of projects to add and when to add thems
How to Map Projects
Defning projects by type protides useful informaton about how resources should be allocateds The
two dimensions most useful for classifying are the degree of change in the product and the degree of
change in the manufacturing processs The greater the change along either dimension, the more
resources are neededs
Project can be ditided in fte categories:
1s Deritatte – range from cost-reduced tersions of existng products to add-ons or
enhancements for an existng producton process
2s Breakthrough – intolte signifcant changes to existng products and processes
3s Platform – are in the middle of the spectrum which makes them hard to defne
4s Research and detelopment – the creaton of the know-how and know-why of new materials
and technologies that etentually translate into commercial detelopment
5s Alliances and partnerships – can be formed to pursue any type of project
The long-term compettteness of any manufacturing company depends ultmately on the success of
its product detelopment capabilitess New product detelopment holds hope for improting market
positon and fnancial performance, creatng new industry standards and new niche markets, and
eten renewing the organizatons
In most organizatons, management directs all its atenton to inditidual projects, it micromanages
project detelopments But no single project defnes a company’s future or its market growth oter
tme; the ’’set’’ of projects doess oompanies need to detote more atenton to managing the set and
mix of projectss In partcular, they should focus on how resources are allocated between projectss
To create a plan, management categorizes projects based on the amount of resources they consume
and on how they will contribute to the company’s product lines Then, by mapping the project types,
management can see where gaps exist in the detelopment strategy and make more informed
decisions about what types of projects to add and when to add thems
How to Map Projects
Defning projects by type protides useful informaton about how resources should be allocateds The
two dimensions most useful for classifying are the degree of change in the product and the degree of
change in the manufacturing processs The greater the change along either dimension, the more
resources are neededs
Project can be ditided in fte categories:
1s Deritatte – range from cost-reduced tersions of existng products to add-ons or
enhancements for an existng producton process
2s Breakthrough – intolte signifcant changes to existng products and processes
3s Platform – are in the middle of the spectrum which makes them hard to defne
4s Research and detelopment – the creaton of the know-how and know-why of new materials
and technologies that etentually translate into commercial detelopment
5s Alliances and partnerships – can be formed to pursue any type of project
