Page 87 - Design for Six Sigma a Roadmap for Product Development

62 Chapter Three

2. Creativity and uniqueness: If we create a first-of-its-kind product
and nobody else can provide the similar product, we will command
the market price.
3. Quality, reliability, and robustness: If our product has consistent,
repeatable performance under various usage conditions and can
last a long time, our product will be very successful. Quality, relia-
bility, and robustness can be measured before the launch of the
product by product testing or even product performance simulation
analysis.

Product development lead time. Most companies consider their product
development lead time to be exceptionally important for determining
the performance of their product development activities. Product
development lead time is particularly important because this metric
determines the speed with which new products can be introduced into
the marketplace. Companies that have high speed in product develop-
ment can introduce new products more often and adapt more quickly
to changes in customer tastes. This ultimately translates to a larger
market share for the company. Lead time is usually measured in
months, and it can range from fractions of a month to tens of months,
depending on the complexity and skill of a company’s product
development.

Efficiency. In attempting to reduce product development lead times,
however, few companies can afford to ignore the efficiency of
their product development. In product development, efficiency is the
cost of workforce and other resources required for the product
development.

Life-cycle cost. Life-cycle costs for a product may include development
costs, production costs, sales and distribution costs, service, support,
and warrantee costs, and disposal costs. Some companies even include
the costs due to pollution during the production and use of the product
as part of the holistic analysis of the life-cycle cost. Product develop-
ment has a particular vested interest in keeping the life-cycle cost for
any product as low as possible.
On a longer time scale, product value, product development lead
time, efficiency, and life-cycle costs will contribute a great deal to the
level of customer satisfaction, market share, and revenues that the
company will have. These will in turn translate to profitability and
influence the organization’s long-term business viability.