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Concurrent Engineering Blog

How to Overcome Your Product Development Hurdles

Posted by Emma Rudeck on 08-Nov-2013 13:02:00

product development hurdleDesigning and creating innovative products is hard. Not only are customers more discerning now, but also market pressures and competition are tougher than ever before. It means that even successful companies are having to re-evaluate processes and best practice to gain that edge. 

What are the main product development challenges that companies are facing?

Many companies are facing similar challenges as they strive to improve their product development processes. In fact, when it comes to mid-sized manufacturers, the main product development hurdles typically are:

  1. Design reuse – finding more effective methods to reuse and repurpose existing designs
  2. Quality – maintaining high levels of product quality, without having to increase costs or time to market
  3. Design team collaboration – enabling teams working on designs to work together more efficiently and introduce effective version control for all design work

What is the effect of failing to meet these challenges?

Not facing up to these product development hurdles can become a serious problem. As your competitors develop and refine their processes, you run the risk of getting left behind.

So, what does this mean in practice? It means that, compared to best in class companies:

  • 49% of businesses are less efficient in product development processes
  • 41% are less likely to react quickly to product issues
  • 45% are less likely to track and manage product development successfully
[This data all comes from the Aberdeen Report- “How effective Collaboration Tools and Practices Help SMBs”]

What can be done to face these product development hurdles?

These challenges don’t have to be insurmountable. With the right processes and systems in place, it’s possible to overcome these product development hurdles and become a best in class company yourself. By implementing Product Lifecycle Management and effective BOM Management, it will enable you to become a best in class company. It means you are able to:

  • Reduce the time it takes to release a product to manufacturing by 13%
  • 15% quicker at bringing a new product to market
  • Many companies are facing similar challenges as they strive to improve their product development processes
[This data all comes from the Aberdeen Report- “Growing Product Complexity in SMBs: A Guide to BOM Management”]

With a competitive advantage like the, it’s easy to see why manufacturers are eager to benefit.

Want to find out more about the ROI of Product Lifecycle Management? Download our free guide here:

ROI of PLM