Product Development & Innovation Management
Innovation management includes all activities from the idea to the successful positioning of products or services on the market. Hereby the transition between innovation management and product development is fluid. Under innovation management, we understand the early phase from the idea to the finished concept. It also covers the requirements of customers and stakeholders over the entire product life cycle.
Product development is integrated in innovation management and includes all design activities from the perspective of design, engineering, electrical engineering and software development. Likewise, it is the task of a phase in the product development process to ensure the manufacturability of the design with suitable production processes.
We specialized in innovation processes, product development, Design for Six Sigma (DFSS), technology management and systematic innovation. Depending on your wishes and needs, we will assist you in analyzing your previous approaches, assist you in designing the relevant innovation and development processes, or assist you as an external project manager / moderator in concrete development projects. As absolute method experts, we also gladly assist you in the beneficial application of modern innovation and development methods.
Innovation processes
We not only assist you in designing efficient and effective innovation processes (modern stage-gate processes), but also accompany specific development projects by taking over the planning especially from the point of view of the targeted use of methods.
We accompany you in every single phase of the innovation process with our methodical knowledge. From the definition of search fields, idea generation, evaluation and selection of the best concepts to the design of the design elements and the production process.
We coach project managers, moderate important workshops and help with the correct application of development methods. If necessary, we also take over the project management.
Our goal is that your company successfully places products on the market that meet the needs of its customers.
Methods of product development
We train methods of product development that help you to understand the customer’s requirements and to develop customer-oriented products (e.g. QFD, VOC), to avoid mistakes from the start (e.g. FMEA, DRBFM), to better understand products (DoE) or ensure cost-effective manufacturability (e.g. DFMA).
Design for Six Sigma (DFSS)
Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) is a product development approach that helps developers develop competitive products and processes. The aim of the method is to make products and processes error-free right from the start.
User Experience (UX) and Design Thinking
User Experience (UX) is a holistic approach to achieve a user-centric design of products and services. The needs of the users and their context of use are in the foreground and are considered in development. In this way, innovative and intuitively usable products can be successfully designed.
Systematic Innovation
Systematic Innovation (SI) offers a systematic approach to innovate, predict, and find shortcuts to innovation. Not only purely technical aspects are considered, but also socio-cultural factors such as the future behavior of society are included. Systematic innovation is particularly suitable where past efforts and traditional problem-solving methods have failed to provide satisfactory results.
As experts, we support you in the correct application of methods such as Law of System Completeness, the theory of contradictory problem solving TRIZ or analysis of relevant technical and sociocultural trends.
We teach you methods that will help you to find innovative ideas and overcome old ways of thinking. Using concrete case studies, we will show you how to identify and analyze relevant technical and socio-cultural trends and how to use them for tomorrow’s success today.
Value Management
In order to ensure sustainable value enhancement of products, services and processes, Value Management offers a proven approach with its operational methodology of value analysis (but also other procedures such as functional analysis). At the heart of every business decision is the generated customer value compared to the necessary effort. We support you in identifying potential value added projects and assist you with their implementation. For a long-term, successful application, we train and coach you in the methodology.
Project management
As systems become more and more complex, a structured approach is needed to plan, control, and complete projects. We support you in the implementation of project management according to international standards such as PMI.
