NEW PRODUCTS

MANAGEMENT
Merle Crawford
Anthony Di Benedetto
10th Edition

McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Chapter 12

Product Protocol

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A Marketing-R&D Conversation
MKTG: We’re going to be needing a solar-powered version of our
standard garage door opener, soon.
R&D: How reliable should it be? Should it be controllable from inside
the house? Should we use new electronics technology? Should it be
separate from the collector system already installed?
MKTG: Well, you’re the technical people, make some
recommendations.
R&D: In other words, you don’t know what you want.
MKTG: Cripes, do we have to tell you everything? What do you do for a
living? How should we know where the collectors should be
located?
R&D: If we go electronic, you’ll say it’s too expensive. If we go electric,
you’ll say we’re living in the 1930s. Wherever we put the collectors
you will say we are wrong. If we guess, you second-guess.
MKTG: OK. Put the collectors on the garage roof.
R&D: That probably can’t be done.

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 Why Have A Protocol?
• Also known as product requirements,
product definition, deliverables, etc.
• Doesn’t it seem obvious and simple?
• Actually is one of the top success factors
distinguishing winning from losing projects.
• Maybe because it involves more than
technical aspects.

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 Purposes of Protocol
• To determine what marketing and R&D groups need to do their
work.
– Think concept life cycle: this is more than a simple concept
statement, yet less than we will have when the first prototype is
available.
– Try to identify the key deliverables at this point.
• To communicate essential to all players and integrate their actions,
directing outcomes consistent with the full screen and financials.
• To set boundaries on development process or cycle time.
• To permit the development process to be managed (i.e., what needs
to be done, when, why, how, by whom, whether).

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Contents of a Product Protocol
• Target market
• Product positioning
• Product attributes (benefits)
• Competitive comparison
• Augmentation dimensions
• Timing
• Marketing requirements
• Financial requirements
• Production requirements
• Regulatory requirements
• Corporate strategy requirements
• Potholes

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 Narrow Version of Protocol: End-
User “I Want” List
This is the “I Want” list for a new lawn leaf blower/vacuum. These
are benefits — how they are achieved is determined during
development.
• Manufacturer stands behind product — two year full warranty.
• Electrically and mechanically safe. Good value and lasts a long
time — top quality component parts, state-of-the-art
manufacturing.
• Makes yard clean-up easier — most powerful blower you can buy.
• Converts from blower to vacuum without tools.
• Electrical cord does not come loose.
• Can be used with existing extension cord.
• Easy to maneuver.
• Clog-free vacuuming.
• Tubes go together and stay together.

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 Protocol Stated as Benefits:
BuiltNY
• Product concept: carrier for two wine bottles.
• Customer benefits:
– Protective, insulating, ergonomic, lightweight,
reusable, inexpensive, flexible (easy to fold)
• Result: neoprene wine bottle carriers
(inexpensive, easy to cut and dye into designer
colors).
• Spinoffs included beer carriers and baby-bottle
carriers.
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A Sample Protocol: Trash Disposal
System
• Must automate trash disposal at factory cost not to exceed $800.
• Clean, ventilated, odor-free, no chance of combustion.
• Must be safe enough to be operated by children; outside storage
safeguards against children and animals.
• Size must be small enough to work as kitchen appliance, to provide
easy access and eliminate need for double handling of trash.
• Simple installation
• Decor adaptable to different user tastes.
• If design requires opening of exterior walls, structural integrity and
insulation against elements must be maintained.
• User-friendly, automatic operation, easy to maintain by technical
servicepeople.

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 Example of Difficulty of Translating
Idea Into Product: Morton Hot Salt
• The Voice of the Customer (VOC) might
suggest this is a great idea.
• But how to translate it into a product? How
spicy? How different from regular chili
powder? Flavored more like cayenne or
chipotle?
• Without specific, precise information, food
engineers are left just to guess.
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 Protocol Within the New Products
Process
End User  Market Contact  New Product Group  R&D Contact  Engineers

Unmet Needs Inventory of Statement of Needs to Benefits to How to Deliver the

And Problems Needs Be Fulfilled by Product Deliver Requested Benefits

Benefit to
Feature
Conversion
(Specs)

Finished Prototype Evaluate Prototype; R&D Delivers Features Delivered;

Product Confirmed Further Development Prototype Lab Assesses
Performance
End User  Market Contact  New Product Group  R&D Contact  Engineers
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 Quality Function Deployment
(QFD)
• A technique designed to insure that customer
needs are focused on throughout the new
product project.
• First step is the House of Quality (HOQ): gathers
desired attributes from customers and translates
them to engineering characteristics.
• Requires inputs from marketing and technical
personnel; encourages communication and
cooperation across the functional areas.

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QFD and Its House of Quality

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 Benefits in QFD Example
• Compatibility
• Print quality
• Ease of use
• Productivity

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 Technologies in QFD Example
• Postscript compatible
• Resolution
• Edge sharpness
• Duplex printing
• Hours training required
• Speed (text)
• Speed (graphics)

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Tradeoffs in QFD Example
• Improving resolution slows down text printing
and really slows down graphics printing.
• Increasing edge sharpness slows down both
text and graphics printing.
• Duplex printing speeds up text and graphics
printing.
• Postscript compatibility improves resolution
and edge sharpness.

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 Moving to Later Stages of
QFD
House of Quality:
Customer Attributes Engineering Characteristics
Converted to:

Parts Deployment:
Engineering Characteristics Parts Characteristics
Converted to:

Process Planning:
Parts Characteristics Process Operations
Converted to:

Production Planning:
Process Operations Production Requirements
Converted
to:and Don Clausing, “The House of Quality,” Harvard Business
Source: Adapted from John R. Hauser
Review, May-June, 1988.
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 QFD Realities
• Substantial cost and time commitment.
• Only mixed results in some applications.
• Requires top management support and
commitment.
• Must be viewed internally as an investment.
• Requires good functional integration.
• May work better if the team members have a
successful track record of working together
before.

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 Improving QFD Efficiency
• Concentrate on only some of the Engineering
Characteristics: the most critical, or the ones
where improvements are easy to accomplish.
• Organize the Engineering Characteristics into
groups, and designate responsibility to
functional areas.
• Do cost-benefit analysis on each Engineering
Characteristic to determine which provide the
greatest benefit relative to cost of improvement.

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