The term Product Development is referred to the process of bringing new products to the market. The process includes design, creation and marketing of the product.

Product Development Process

The steps for the product development process are as follows:

1. Getting the Perfect Idea- The first step for developing a product is getting the perfect idea. Ideas can be gained from marketing analysis, competitor moves, employees, salespersons etc.
2. Screening the Idea- The purpose of idea screening is to eliminate the weak ideas before giving resources to them. The area of concern in this step  are- industry sales, market trends, expected or current competitive pressure, technical feasibility of the product and profitability of the product after manufacturing and deliver it to the customer.
3. Requirement Definition- This phase deals with the requirements that are needed to develop the product. Requirement definition is one of the important phases because the next phases are dependent on requirement definition. The better the definition, the easier is to complete the process without time and money. The areas of concern of this phase are the real buyers, customer’s specification, cost of the product etc.
4. Concept Development- Developing the concept means dealing with marketing and engineering analysis. The issues that are dealt in this phase are- essential product features, benefits that can be gained from the product, cost effectiveness of the product, consumer’s reaction and many more.
5. Business Analysis- This phase deals with the business environment like estimating the selling price based on customer feedback and competition, estimating sales volume and estimating “break even point” and profitability.
6. Prototyping- Prototyping means creating a small scale working sample of the product. Prototypes can be either mock-ups or fabricated. Prototyping has the following advantages:

¡  Helps to understand any misunderstanding between the customer and the developer.

¡  Helps to identify missing customer requirements.

¡  Advance testing of the product.

1. Testing- Testing includes beta testing and market testing. Testing is done on the prototype model. Testing is done to check if the product responds in the desired way or not. Adjustments can be made where necessary during testing.
2. Implementation- Implementation means putting the product into practical use. The tasks carried out in this phase are-

¡  Initiating new program.

¡  Managing and controlling the quality of the product.

¡  Publishing technical communications for example, data sheets.

¡  Product review and monitoring.

1. Production- Product is concerned with the following:

¡  Launching the product.

¡  Marketing the product through advertisements and other promotions.

¡  Acquiring the critical path.

1. New Product Pricing- Value analysis, cost of the product, alternative competitive technologies, forecast of profit, revenue etc. are all the factors that are dealt in this phase.

Companies’ Point of View to the Product Development

There are many companies that extend their services to support the product development professionals. Product Development Management Association (PDMA) and Product Development Institute (PDI) are such organizations. Organizations see the product development as the first step towards generalizing and commercializing new products.