Assessing the development/production transition

There is evidence that profitability over the product life cycle is strongly dependent on the quality of the development to manufacturing transition, making this period strategically important in the new product development process. A model of the transition is proposed which includes the product alignment factors of market acceptance and company fit, and the organizational capability factors of culture, people, structure, and technology. Transition facilitating and inhibiting components of these factors are discussed. Based on the model and discussion, a transition quality matrix is presented to aid in the prediction of transition difficulties and the development of corrective strategies