Author: Production Team | Pacific Research Labs

info@pacific-research.com PRL is a full-service product development company that specializes in all aspects of production, from design to product fabrication and prototyping. Our experts are here to guide you through the full product development process, including the ideation, design, creation, and management of your product idea.
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5 Key Product Design Phases for Best New Product Development

Illustration of one of the five key product design phases.

We are all product designers on some level. Whether a child dreaming of adding a fun accessory to a favorite toy, or an experienced engineer having a eureka moment, the world of invention is alive and well in all of us. So how do you take an idea that has realistic chances of having an impact and move it from your brain and into a fully functioning product?

The term “design thinking” is commonly used to describe the product design process as one that takes multiple processes and streamlines them into a singularly run process. This provides a seamless flow of tasks and operations from end to end. There are several best-practice product design phases you must understand before you try to convert your vision into a physical product.

1. Build an Understanding of the Intended Product Audience

Illustration of one of the five key product design phases.

No matter how innovative and revolutionary your product idea is, it will fall on deaf ears if it misses the mark with its intended audience. A key task to perform early in the product design process is to learn exactly what the expectations would be surrounding your product and if it would be a good fit for its intended audience. There are a few ways to accomplish this:

  • Purchase marketing research to gauge the product’s market success.
  • Enlist the help of a manufacturing partner that provides end-to-end services.
  • Contact existing customers and solicit their input.

How you go about these tasks will vary and will be dependent on industry and product type. However, the information gained in this phase will be instrumental. It will tell you if you need to rethink the idea, change its audience, or if it is ready to go as is. This reduces risk factors and saves valuable time creating the design and when taking it to production.

2. Use This Information to Define Product Requirements

The information gathered from your intended audience will now be leveraged for the definition of product requirements. Your devised product requirements must include the below specifications to help keep your project on track throughout the design and testing phases:

  • The right team configuration
  • The physical dimensions of the final product
  • Product functions and features
  • Measurable testing and validation goals
  • Tasks to create the appropriate support and user documentation
  • A task runbook that includes accountability and transparency

One aspect that cannot be missed here is the development of cross-team collaboration. As the project advances, so does its complexity. You need to make sure that all of your teams, including your external product development consultants, are communicating and on the same page.

3. Design the Product Based on These Requirements

The first two steps have given you the necessary fundamentals to advance your project to the more advanced phases. At this point, you should be able to confidently hand over the keys to your project to the experienced hand of your CAD design team. This is where the rubber meets the road—it’s where your vision and the information gathered from the customer starts to become reality, for all of its innovations and the revealing of any potential flaws.

As experienced and talented as your CAD design team may be, there may be some elements of the new product that may escape notice. It is here that introducing an external engineering team to your project can start to yield benefits beyond just adding technical expertise. They will see things from a fresh perspective, and be able to quickly identify design efficiency gains or improvements that can be addressed without reinventing the wheel.

4. Create and Test Using Simulation and Rapid Prototypes

The testing phase of product development is important in terms of validation and to further prove your idea and research. There are two primary ways to test a product: through the use of CAD simulation, or using a prototype. Both have their pluses and minuses, but fortunately, these are all complementary. That makes using a combination of both a fantastic solution.

An engineering consultant can inject beneficial guidance here as well while helping to lower the risks of moving into production. In the ideal scenario, your engineering consultant will be able to offer a full array of services, including CAD simulation and rapid prototyping, thus giving a fully supportive product design partner that effortlessly collaborates with your internal product development team.

5. Execute the Right Manufacturing Strategy to Bring the Product to Market

Once testing has been accomplished, and your product is behaving per expectations, the time has come to start to build a manufacturing strategy. Using an engineering partner that has experience in new product launches is a perfect choice. Working as a manufacturing partner as well, they will help you to determine if a short-run or small-scale manufacturing strategy is best for your production scenario.

Your partner will also provide in-depth guidance around the post-production aspects of your project. Tasks such as distribution and support become documented and well-run aspects of the overall product development process. This type of production partner ensures that no stone is left unturned so that you put forth a complete product that is ready for action.

Efficiently Implement These Product Design Phases

The steps for developing a new product can be more than expected at the outset. You need concise documentation to track market research, technical consulting, and testing. A blended team of internal designers and external engineers that seamlessly collaborate lends a high level of expertise that serves your project well. Not only will tasks be kept on track and schedule, but you will at the end have a product that is performing at its highest potential.

The manufacturing consultants at Pacific Research Laboratoriesleverage their extensive experience to promote collaboration across all teams and give you a product that is built to exceed expectations. To learn more about our services, especially our expertise in machining and molding small plastic parts, please visit our contact page or call (206) 408-7603.
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Key Product Development Steps to Give You the Most Marketable Prototype

A prototype being demonstrated as a part of product development steps.

Marketing is the most critical juncture in the lifespan of a fresh product design. It translates the innovations and features it presents to the world from tech-speak to customer-speak, making the voice of your product an effective one. It is also why getting the product development steps you use correct from the start is so important. These steps set the tone for the design and testing process and will be instrumental in driving your product to succeed in the marketplace.

Concept Creation: More Than Just an Idea

A prototype being demonstrated as a part of product development steps.

If you are reading this, it is safe to assume that you already have a product concept in mind. As exciting as you and your project team may be about this idea, the foundation of a successful product is much more than an idea—it is an encouragement of collaboration. The definition and documentation of tasks that will ultimately work together with the idea to drive it towards success. Completing the conceptual foundation of your project can be accomplished in just a few easy steps:

  1. Establish a well-defined process for communication and documentation. Addressing the way in which your project team communicates adds agility to any project. 
  2. Encourage collaboration, which builds team morale and becomes enjoyable when following the defined communication plan. 
  3. Empower staff to make the necessary adjustments to the process will cement the concept and drive it forward.

Goal Setting: What Prototype Would Best Fit Your Vision?

You will now be able to take your well-defined process and documentation structure and apply this to set goals around the prototype. The prototype for your product will provide a valuable service as both a marketing tool and testing platform, which makes choosing the most suitable prototype to represent your design the next step, even ahead of building the actual design itself. Taking this path will serve to shorten design and testing timelines and help to maximize its sales potential.

Addressing the goals and purpose of the prototype provides a clear roadmap that designers, testers, and marketers can use to develop forward-thinking strategies. Some of the items to address include: 

  • The overall functionality of the prototype
  • Whether or not to bring it to life physically
  • The methodology used to produce the prototype

Whether it be a CAD-simulated prototype, or a rapid prototype using 3D printing or CNC machining, your prototype will be assured to drive the success of the final product.

Design: Mixing High-Tech Tools and Old School Thinking

Design can be fickle, especially if the product you are creating is a completely new innovation. But even new products will contain some similarities to existing ones, which can lend a time-saving helping hand. The help offered by reviewing similar products becomes even more potent when the manufacturing partner you anticipate using to produce your creation offers in-house design services, as they may already have design specs on hand to help guide you through the design process.

The recycled tech approach of using pieces from past projects to implement into a new design will be strengthened through the use of modern CAD design tools. These tools allow specs to be quickly adjusted as the product takes shape, offering a real-time glimpse into how every design attribute affects the final design outcome. This reduces re-work after testing and can be utilized to build powerful and informative prototypes for testing and marketing.

Validation: How Your Prototype Will Launch the Product

Creating a prototype based on design specs will be your primary tool for validating its concept and performance. The results of these performance validations will tell you how close the product comes to meeting expectations, and where on the market it will really fall when compared to similar products. The inputs received during this process will provide the information needed to finalize your product’s development.

This helps you to further develop two of the last steps needed prior to releasing the product to the final production stage: 

  • Engineers will use the test results to build a support model, including warranty terms, any spare part requirements, and user manuals to ensure that the product is properly utilized. 
  • Meanwhile, those on the marketing team will be using the prototype for advertising media, in-person or virtual demonstrations, and other marketing collateral to help drive sales and profits upward.

Inclusive Product Development Steps Lead to Successful Products

The ultimate goal in the back of every creator’s mind is how to get the product in front of its target audience. There are several steps that should be executed during the product development process to ensure that the product meets functional expectations while maximizing its sales potential. One last important step is the selection of a manufacturing partner—one that not only can make your product but can also lend a helping hand every step of the way.

The designers and engineers at Pacific Research Laboratories are excited to work with partners whose products will make the impact they desire. We work with our clients to collaborate on design, testing, and final production, and we specialize in machining and molding small plastic parts. To learn more about our services, please visit our contact page or call (206) 408-7603.
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How Custom Manufacturing Solutions Can Get Your Product Into Production Faster

Designers building custom manufacturing solutions.

 

Getting a product quickly from concept to a customer can be accomplished without cutting corners. Using a continuous improvement approach towards documenting everything going on within your project will streamline the steps required to take your product from the drawing board to the production line. Doing so will be particularly important when looking at custom manufacturing solutions, and will be instrumental in selecting a manufacturing partner that checks all of the requirements you are seeking.

Step 1: Build Improvement Cycles Using Kaizen 

Designers building custom manufacturing solutions.

This Japanese term has been applied to manufacturing for several decades and is commonly referred to as The Toyota Way. The approach stresses the importance of small changes that gradually steer a project and keep it on course by standardizing processes. When properly used, it ideally creates a culture of innovation and collaboration, while presenting proactive opportunities for the elimination of waste and project bottlenecks.

Forming the foundation of Kaizen is the PDCA cycle, or Plan, Do, Check, and Act:

  • Plan by identifying goals and mapping a path to achieve them.
  • Do check plan progress via careful implementation monitoring and make required changes quickly.
  • Check the plan by constant evaluation of results so improvements can be identified and made.
  • Act confidently using gathered data to make changes as dictated by the above steps.

The incremental improvements delivered via Kaizen will introduce a highly concise documentation process that will yield consistency and accountability. When applied to your project, you will be better equipped to manage manufacturing partner relationships, including the establishment of cross-team collaboration.

Step 2: Integrate Design Software Into Project Collaboration

Although it is very much understood that designers must talk to the project and testing engineers as well as other designers, doing so too often leads to delays. Design systems, including CAD-based software solutions, must be integrated into all core project design processes, and be able to provide rapid access to design specifications or testing results for heightened status and visibility. But it is worth remembering that this applies to your external partners as well as your internal teams.

The proper alignment of CAD resources and other design solutions to those being recommended by a manufacturing partner will shorten timelines and streamline project documentation. The integrated nature of using design tools in this way encourages collaboration to take place and cuts valuable hours off overall design and testing processes as a result. Performing these integration steps early in the project lets you quickly re-calibrate project tasks to promote fluid agility in the project timeline.

Step 3: Determine Prototype and Testing Methodology at the Start

Accurate testing of product designs must be clearly outlined even before your CAD designers get their hands on the specs. This places an appropriate design objective in front of them that removes many risk factors that can lead to a costly design overhaul. And, the documentation generated from this planning effort can be passed along easily to your manufacturing partner so they can make testing recommendations based on their own experiences.

Agile prototyping options, such as rapid prototyping, will shorten testing times and bring you closer to production at a faster rate. This prototyping feature will offer 3D-printing options that integrate into common CAD design tools or will support CNC machining options as well. And best of all, you can easily add rapid prototyping capabilities simply by choosing a manufacturing partner that offers them as a part of their engagement.

Step 4: Agile Manufacturing Means Fast and Lean Manufacturing

One of the most sought-after benefits of creating documented processes for all of the above steps is the consistency of results. With consistency comes automation options, and with automation, you gain agility. In manufacturing, especially for a new product, agility means that you limit the risk of overproduction by focusing on sales data to drive a product’s rate of production. What this also means is that you need a manufacturing partner that can support short-run and small-scale production runs.

Following this strategy keeps the project running as lean as possible, and opens up your project to different production technologies. Budget and cost planning are trimmed down, as a “just in time” production strategy removes the need to retain storage spaces for unsold items or large volumes of raw materials. The already established documentation and collaboration processes present both you and your partner with a high degree of visibility and the option to change course quickly.

Apply Logic to Custom Manufacturing Solutions

It is no secret that utilizing custom manufacturing solutions can get your product in front of an audience faster and with better quality. But in order to get there, you must first devise a concise plan on how to approach the way the product is designed, tested, and built. A local manufacturing partner will not only help you to produce your vision but will offer its own design and testing services that ensure only a product of the highest quality gets delivered to your waiting clientele.

Building a production strategy will be more effective with a valued manufacturing partner at your disposal. The team at Pacific Research Laboratories is ready to help you finalize your product. They specialize in machining and molding small plastic parts and can manufacture your already-vetted plans into life. To learn more about our services, please visit our contact page or call (206) 408-7603.
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How to Decrease the Product Development Life Cycle Timeline

graphing the product development life cycle

The process of moving an idea from concept to production can seem like forever when racing against the clock. Innovation does not stop, and a competitor can suddenly release a very similar product seemingly overnight. Compressing the product development life cycle will allow you to retain the top position with any release, but without cutting corners or sacrificing quality. There are several steps that must be followed in order to reduce the time it takes to get your idea through product development.

Step 1: Follow a Script in Project Planning and Task Identification

Keeping your project lean and agile from the start is the most practical way to ensure a reduction of your product development life cycle timeline. The most effective way to accomplish this is through the use of a script, or runbook, that outlines every step from start to finish. This will include only the final determinations of what tasks should be worked on using data from research initiatives that look at user needs, financial viability, and typical issues encountered in similar projects.

Using this information, you can develop a project plan that eliminates unhelpful or ineffective items while encouraging an open platform of collaboration. The information you gather during the task identification process will also provide you with precise, data-driven project checkpoints that help to keep the project on track. The effectiveness of this strategy improves, even more, when remediation and communication steps are clearly outlined.

Step 2: Adapt Modern Development Approaches

graphing the product development life cycle

One standard in manufacturing that has been proven to shorten the product development life cycle is the use of computer-aided design (CAD). Utilizing CAD software gives your product development team a modernized element that works to shorten the process in many ways. Building a digital representation of your idea is only the tip of the iceberg, as CAD software tools present you with a management platform that can manage time-consuming design tasks.

Accepting innovative CAD processes and tools for the design of your product opens the doors to some exciting options. Partnering with a design consultant will hasten your development life cycle, as they will have a defined process already in place. Also, a CAD design partner will likely have a design template that can be applied to your product design, further streamlining the design process and eliminating common problem areas that cause delays.

Step 3: Evaluate Your Design and Product Attributes

Delivering your product from the virtual world and into the physical world can introduce problems that contribute to delayed timelines. But using CAD software to build and virtually test your product in a safe, low-cost 3D environment helps you to build a more productive simile of your idea. Presenting your idea in physical form, via the prototype, is a fast way to assess and evaluate any of its attributes, from appearance and tactile responses to a fully functional replica of the final product.

The rapid prototyping strategy is here to do exactly that; it leverages both emerging and traditional manufacturing techniques to create a physical model of your product. All that is needed is a prototyping partner and a digital design, and you will be ready to create your prototype that can range from a simple, rudimentary facsimile of your product and up to a fully functional model that could pass for the final product.

Step 4: Pursue a Limited Launch to Reduce Risk

A common mistake made after the evaluation of a product occurs is to build too many of them too soon. This limits the ability to quickly pull back and to make any course corrections, leading to delays that are costly both in money and time. By sending your evaluated design to a manufacturer that specializes in small-scale manufacturing, you gain a partner that will work with you to rapidly make any required project changes to get things back on track.

A limited launch presents you with a production schedule that is agile and comes with low overhead costs. Also, quality control greatly improves, as more time can be spent inspecting each product as it comes off the line—a very good trait for a newly released item. Finally, limited launch strategies give you scalability, so that you can increase or decrease production as market demands change, thereby preventing you from having a warehouse full of unsold inventory.

Reducing the Product Development Life Cycle Relies on Precise Adjustments

Going with a limited launch allows you to get your product to market—fast. From here, and based on the initial response, you can choose to make subtle design changes, to go into full production, or to determine that your product is best suitable for short-run production scenarios. Your design team will need to regularly review the success and performance of your products, both with external and internal customers.

Conducting these reviews, and making the needed adjustments, can be challenging for many product designers. Developing a partnership with a consultant that has well-rounded industry experience and is known for its ability to provide end-to-end manufacturing services will yield the best results. Possessing deep levels of understanding across the entire product development life cycle, they can introduce additional guidance to reduce your end-to-end production timelines.

The designers and engineers at Pacific Research Laboratories are highly experienced in helping customers reduce product development timelines. When you partner with us for your production needs, we work with you as a partner to ensure that your product is indeed fully ready to meet the public. To learn more about our services, please visit our contact page or call (206) 408-7603.
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3 Stages of Product Development for New Products

employees plot product development on whiteboard

You have an idea—and it’s a good one. Encouraged by the feedback of your initial designs, you dove into marketing research, which revealed a potential demand for this idea. The viability of selling your product, and its potential to be easily produced, means it’s time to bring your project from the dream world and into the realm of possibility. But where to start? What are the specific stages of the product development process that require a high degree of focus over the others?

The most important stages of product development apply to any product and encompass all aspects of the product creation process. Every manufacturing project must go through the same three core stages in order to move from thought to shelf. However, each of these brings along slightly different nuances that must be broken out in further detail to ensure that the product of your dreams will be a success in reality.

Stage 1: Design

employees plot product development on whiteboard

The design stage is arguably the most important of the three stages of product development. It is during this stage that the foundation for what the product can do and deliver will be determined. It is also during this stage that any concept flaws will be brought to light, giving the project team the chance to change or end its further development path. There are a few aspects of the design process that will help you ensure that your product design is airtight:

✔ Design specifications and features are truly innovative and are different enough from similar products to stand apart and above.

✔ The product proves to be useful when CAD-based calculations and simulations enter the mix.

✔ Your product can retain pleasing aesthetics and overall usability within the desired dimensions without sacrificing operability.

Having a perfectly created digital rendering that revolves around these core design principles will accomplish more than pushing your product forward into the next stage. A concisely developed CAD design will save you valuable time in the testing phases of your project and will make getting the specifications of your product to the manufacturer simpler. This shortens the time between concept and production, which is an invaluable asset when trying to take the lead in the marketplace.

Prepare for Success

Designing a successful product starts with having qualified and capable designers in the CAD driver’s seat. Even if you have designers in-house, it is always smart to cover all of your bases by engaging a manufacturing consultant that can provide outside design input. They will likely have experience in projects similar to yours and will become an indispensable tool in your efforts to bring your product to market.

Stage 2: Test

Having a completed and proven design in your pocket allows you to shift your focus onto testing all of your product’s moving pieces. A digital representation of your product is a quick way to simulate many of its functions and to gain feedback on its aesthetics and usability. But digital models cannot demonstrate some real-world applications, nor can they replicate the tactile features of its buttons, switches, or the product itself.

Creating a physical prototype for testing purposes can be accomplished at a far lesser cost than you may have thought possible. 3D printing has changed how modern prototyping works, which means that you could have a physical, functioning representation of your vision in quick order. This allows your project team to put the product through its paces, and to send any defects back to the designers before it reaches the production line.

Prepare for Success

There are some cases in which digital simulations of a design just cannot be used as a substitute for a real, hands-on product experience. Partnering with a manufacturing consultant that can offer your project access to rapid prototyping is a game-changer. In addition to also bringing along design and manufacturing experience, they also bring rich collaboration and cutting-edge methods.

Stage 3: Produce

At some point in the design and testing process, the time will come to determine whether or not your product is ready to be manufactured. At this point of the project, you are likely very confident that the time has arrived. However, there are other considerations in play here besides issuing a “ready or not” status, and unless you take the time to get these aligned to your marketing and distribution plans, you may find yourself failing to meet expectations.

Determining the scale of manufacturing you desire for making your product depends on multiple variables. For example, if you are relatively unknown in your industry, or if your product has the potential to become outdated soon after launch, it would be wise to consider a short production run. Even if you feel that your product has longevity written all over it, taking your time and ramping up production can be the difference between nimble production and a full warehouse of widgets.

Prepare for Success

Taking your product from drawing board to production planning board may, unsurprisingly, come with some bumps in the road. Taking advantage of short-run manufacturing can help to alleviate any anxiety related to the production of your product, especially when you select a manufacturing partner that has built its foundation on helping projects like yours succeed in this way. A partner such as this can offer you cutting-edge short-run production tools that keep the manufacturing of your product slim and nimble.

Align the Stages of Product Development to Your Own Projects

It is not surprising that many projects fail to get their feet off the ground when they stray from these core principles. A great asset to any new product team is the ability to harness the eyes of an outside party that is experienced enough to see what you may be missing. It is also why seeking design and production advice from an experienced expert can have a beneficial impact on your project.

Pacific Research Laboratories designers and engineers are passionate about helping businesses get their new products into the waiting hands of customers. We work with you as a partner, offering a wide range of manufacturing and design services so that we can be your one-stop-shop for product success. To learn more about our services, please visit our contact page or call (206) 408-7603.
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New Product Concept Testing is a Critical Component to Product Development

A fresh idea culminates from hours of brainstorming and is both professionally and intellectually satisfying. With a new concept in hand, the next stage of product development is product concept testing. There is a significant amount of product concept testing to invest in to determine your idea’s viability and how potential customers will receive your products. Several proven steps will help you deliver a dynamic product and engage your target audience.

Understand the Overall Impact of Your Product Concept

The first step toward realizing your concept is to gain an in-depth understanding of the potential impact your product would have on the marketplace. Developing this knowledge will involve basics, such as research and development costs, required time investments into CAD designs and testing, and the marketing investment to bring in initial sales revenue. Additionally, some pointed questions will reveal the realistic trajectory of your product idea:

  • Is this a minor revision to an existing product or a more substantial change in the form of an entirely new concept?
  • What is fueling the new idea? Was it customer requests, an internally communicated idea, or did you notice a substantial gap in a product market?
  • Are the timelines to produce the product in an as-is state realistic?
  • What portions, if not all, of the product development could be outsourced to a design and manufacturing consultant?

These questions will help you identify the places where your idea can quickly gain traction in a precisely targeted marketplace. The answers will help open the door to open-ended conversations with all of your potential project stakeholders: from investors and internal teams to customers and industry experts. This initial stage of inquiry provides a better sense of your product’s progress and whether it stays on target to meet anticipated functionality and sales goals.

Prepare Consistently Design Surveys to Solicit Stakeholder Feedback

new product concept testing is essential to the development cycle

An important factor in new product concept testing is getting helpful and complete feedback from all potential project stakeholders. There are various ways to solicit product concept feedback, including on a single product concept or multiple possible product concepts. You may also ask respondents to compare multiple concepts and select the one they like the most, along with a detailed explanation of why they made that choice.

A crucial aspect often neglected in product surveys is a checklist that rates each idea based on the product’s usability and how competitive its features will be on the market. This checklist should be created in a ranked-choice format, which allows responders to rank the critical areas of the conceptual product in order of effectiveness and importance. Also, checklists garner an increased response rate and will encourage feedback throughout the product development cycle.

Establish a Continuous Cycle of Testing and Feedback

Consistency is a fundamental element of success, and it’s critical to stay consistent in everything done during concept testing. Establishing a well documented and transparent cycle of testing and engineering feedback will provide you with the data you need to keep stakeholders in the loop. In turn, your stakeholders will give valuable input towards the progress the design team is making, allowing them to make necessary changes before committing to a product prototype.

A well-documented testing and feedback procedure will give your design team the tools they need to be proactive in building a better product. You can revise your vision as necessary to meet the expectations of customers. At the same time, designers can utilize powerful CAD drafting tools to continuously adjust and test specifications, ensuring products remain viable and realistic to manufacture. All of this contributes to getting you into the prototyping phase of product design for final testing and feedback.

Using Prototypes to Mold the Final Product

The last and most significant stage of new product concept testing is the accurate production of your design’s physical representation. Prototyping can be an efficient, inexpensive way to translate a digital CAD drawing into a real, physical product that can be interacted with and tested with production-grade material. The prototype phase is the most significant test of your design, confirming it for production or sending it back to the drawing board.

The primary challenge in turning a CAD design into a prototype is finding a manufacturer that can do so without breaking your budget. Finding a U.S.-based manufacturer that specializes in working with custom product development will accelerate your prototype through to the market, with the care and collaboration it requires.

How Can A Consultant Help My New Product Concept Testing?

Collaborating with an experienced short-run manufacturer will keep the momentum going on your new idea. Adding a team of experienced engineers to your product development team will provide the necessary collaboration for a successful product concept testing plan and anticipate market needs and advantages. A proven partner will give you the confidence that the project is meeting benchmarks for both quality and time-to-market.

The designers and engineers at Pacific Research Laboratories are waiting to lend their expertise to your vision and help develop a product concept testing strategy. We collaborate with clients to provide the best product engineering solutions from design to production. To learn more about our services, please visit our contact page or call (206) 408-7603.