How to Manufacture a Product
We have seen companies–big and small–introduce new products or fresh models of existing products in trade fairs year after year, from smartphones to laptops to virtual reality headsets and automobiles. What most people often do not realize is the rigorous process these products went through before they come to life. Behind the success of a product is the implementation of new product introduction.
What is a new product introduction?
New product introduction is used by contract manufacturing companies when getting started with a new product. A new product introduction process consists of various undertakings in stages, from the concept creation up to the manufacturing of the final product. The final product could be new or an iteration of an existing product and tangible (smartphones, laptops, etc.) or intangible (software as a service, product as a service, etc.).
New production introduction is often used interchangeably with new product development (NPD). Both NPI and NPD are part of the process of materializing a product or service from conceptualization to market. Most notably, the pre-release aspects are referred to as new product development, while the release to manufacturing and market aspects are referred to as new product introduction.
There are no exact same sets of steps as to how an NPI process should go as it all depends from organization to organization. But one thing is for sure to make the entire NPI process hit the mark is the cooperation and active support of the key decision-makers in an organization.
Why is it necessary to implement an NPI?
An organization that develops and implements a solid NPI process positions itself closer to the success of a product. One obvious advantage is cost reduction; every decision in the product development process affects the cost be it brought by repeated revisions, validation testing, and design changes.
Cutting down the frequency of revisions, validation testing, and design changes could mean more time to market the product or an early generation of revenue. An NPI process also helps determine whether a product concept is marketable and/or saleable.
If a purchasing company enters an agreement with any contract manufacturing companies, both camps work hand in hand to make the final product happen. For new products, an NPI is in a way an investment on the contract manufacturing companies since profit has yet to be made. Through the NPI process, the success/failure of a product is anticipated.
Of course, there are other factors necessary to bring out the success potential of a product, such as timing and cost. We will dwell more on that in later sections of this article.
In this chapter, we will walk you through the general phases of a new product introduction process, including the requirements, tools, and documents necessary.
2.1 Conceptualization
All production starts with conceptualization where you lay the groundwork for all subsequent processes. At this stage, ideas for a product are born, whether the product is a totally new one or an iteration of an existing product.
Conceptualization highly depends on research to ensure that the product concept is marketable and/or saleable. Market research is hyper-critical for a product to become profitable.
What is it for? Who would use it? Is there a demand for it? How will it solve a problem? Is there an existing product of similar kind? How will yours be different?
Your research should answer all these basic questions about your product concept before moving forward with the next steps.
2.1.1 Product Concept Design
A product design concept presents a potential product’s requirements with a full description of the features and functions, taking into account the voice of the consumer (VOC). All information gathered will be converted to design specifications, which will be incorporated into one or more design concepts. A project charter shall be made hereafter.
2.1.2 Project Charter
A project charter may include background information, objectives, scope, key deliverables and dates, budget, stakeholders and sponsors, potential risks, concerns, and assumptions, among others.
2.1.3 Business Case
An initial business case identifies the market or customer and the competition. Within the business case are benefit costs analysis (BCA), cost sensitivity analysis, cost risk analysis, and cost contingency analysis. A business case also contains clear definitions of success and failure, which you can refer to in the following stages of the project.
2.1.4 Feasibility Study
Through a feasibility study, the management is able to assess the project’s potential for success. Here the project team evaluates the product design concepts and decides on the design that best meets the predetermined requirements. This stage may include a boundary diagram, preliminary design concept, process flow diagram, and bill of material (BOM), among others.
Once all these are fulfilled, the project team or the management can decide whether or not the project or proposed product design should push through, be redesigned, or forgo altogether.
2.2 Product Design and Development
The product design and development stage is where you use the outputs from the conceptualization and research phase. Here you will improve and/or advance the product design features and specifications, including dimensions and materials. An extensive review of the chosen product design helps in assessing its robustness, customer suitability, and performance requirements.
In addition, the production process needs to be reviewed as well, including the equipment, space requirements, preliminary process mapping, and location. Where necessary, you will tap other business units to help in supplier selection, material forecasting, and other operational concerns.
In the product design and development stage, you should be able to create outputs like:
3D models of the design
Concept drawings
Detailed bill of materials
Design failure mode and effects analysis (DFMEA)
Design verification plan and report (DVP&R)
Design for manufacturing/assembly (DFM/A)
Manufacturing preliminary footprint
Safety/regulatory audit reports
Preliminary engineering design freeze
A bill of materials, also known as product structure, is a list of raw materials, assemblies, components, parts, and the quantities of each necessary to manufacture an end product.
It serves as a reference between manufacturing partners (contract manufacturing companies and their customers) or units in a single manufacturing plant. Often, it comes with a production order for reservations of in-stock components or requisitions of out-of-stock components.
Design for manufacturing is a technique used to simplify, optimize, and refine a product design. Through this process, the manufacturing team is able to assess how easy or difficult it is to manufacture the design.
It is an important process to anticipate issues and know how to avoid them early on, thus reducing the overall production cost. DFM may include the selection and review of raw materials, dimensional requirements, and packaging.
During the stage review, the project team sets forth an updated information about the design, project timeline, risk assessments, and an updated business plan or report of financial status. From here, the management team determines whether they should proceed to the next stage or test plan further.
2.3 Prototyping
The prototyping stage is where you produce and test a batch of product samples commonly known as a prototype. A prototype is used to review the actual product design, find and resolve defects or problems, and/or implement necessary design changes. Through prototyping, the manufacturing team would be certain that the specifications are real and the product is working.
Once the first batch of prototypes is tested, the manufacturer will then proceed to the second build called design verification, which is intended to be close to the final production unit. Oftentimes, 3D printed plastic and other low volume mechanicals are used in design verification to mimic the look and feel of the end product before spending on tooling.
Product validation is the final build in the new product introduction process. In essence, product validation is a dry run of full-scale production where labels, shipping boxes, etc. are included in the analysis and testing.
In the prototyping stage, you should be able to have outputs like:
Packaging standard
Product level drawings
Prototype builds
Fixture or tooling creation and build
Process work instructions
Process flow or mapping
DVP&R
Process failure modes and effects analysis (PFMEA)
Review of supplier production part approval process (PPAP) submissions.
During the stage review, the project team should review the outputs with the management team. If approved, the process proceeds to the final stage of the new product introduction process.
2.4 Full-Scale Production
As soon as product validation gets the green signal, full-scale production commences where the final prototype of the end product is being mass-produced.
If you are working with a contract manufacturer, it usually starts with a request for an assembly package, which may include the following:
A detailed BOM
Product requirements document
Assembly instructions
Approved part vendors, schematics, printed circuit board (PCB) files
3D models or CAD drawings
Sales forecast
These are necessary for the contract manufacturer to estimate the cost of product manufacturing as well as a requisition for unavailable components.
The product manufacturing phase is fine-tuned and validated through the prototypes and capability studies. Additionally, process documentation and quality controls are developed and implemented at this point.
Full-scale production may include the development of manuals, price list, catalog and quote tool, process work instructions and standard work, approval of supplier PPAP submissions, internal training of associates, external training of sales, dealers, etc., production control plans, process capability studies or statistical process control, packaging evaluations, and final safety/regulatory review.
These are just the fundamentals on how to manufacture a product. Keep them in mind as we move towards the more actionable aspects on how to manufacture a product.
But before that, we will walk you through the advantages and disadvantages of in-house manufacturing and outsource manufacturing in the following chapter.
How to Manufacture a Product
