Abstract :
The product development process should be a virtuous cycle of activity but, due to its inherent instability, engineering teams frequently fail to meet their potential. A detailed quantitative and qualitative analysis of the current situation provides a great deal of insight into the problem areas and the size of the potential improvements that is achieved. The overall improvement programme may be fairly complex, but is often found to require two strategically important elements to help kick-start a virtuous cycle of activity once again, these being the implementation of a focused campaign to improve the quality of a new and high profile product, combined with the establishment of a design studio to ensure the smooth and trouble free implementation of a product that has yet to be launched.
