Taking the Waste Out of Product Development

We have supported the medical industry for nearly 40 years, both in product development and production of precision sheet metal products. These include sterilization cases and trays, pharmaceutical trays, medical furniture, patient handling products, and cabinetry. Manufacturing has progressed in many ways over that period, from blanket orders, manual operations, and batch-and-queue processing to just-in-time deliveries, highly automated processes, and one piece flow and other Lean methods of removing waste from manufacturing processes. There’s also been a prevalent push toward a faster, more efficient product development process. Product development is costly. Whether you are taking your product idea to market or developing a customer’s concept into a marketable product, the time required to complete the development cycle is a significant factor in the financial success of the project.

Speed, from concept to finished product, is a key performance indicator in evaluating the effectiveness of product development efforts. Some reasons to focus on speed are very clear. If it’s a sound product idea, speed means a shorter path to product launch and positive cash flow. It means maximizing your return on investment on design expenditures, and it means pleasing your customer by meeting project milestones. Other reasons for speed and efficiency in the development process are not so clear but may be equally important. Not every concept is a winner. It’s easy for you or your customer to fall in love with a product idea, but then find the end user is not so enamored. If this is the case, you want to learn that quickly. In some instances, this can lead to a pivot, an adjustment in the course to incorporate newfound information and alter the design objectives. In other cases, it may mean pulling the plug on an entire project. If that’s the outcome, you want to take that step as soon as you establish your idea isn’t viable. In other words, you want to fail faster.

The same discipline and efficiencies derived from good Lean practices on the shop floor can be readily applied to product development. Just like in manufacturing processes, the ultimate goal of Lean in product development is to eliminate waste at every level. While every project is a little different and may require alterations of the basic approach, our experience is that these concepts, in some form, are the basis for successful product development projects.

Design Criteria
An essential first step in any product development project is to establish a clear definition of product requirements. If this product is being developed for a customer, this means close collaboration with the customer’s project team to clearly establish the requirements for the product. This can include cost, functionality, aesthetic requirements, weight limitations, successful sterilization of medical instruments, and any number of other factors. These requirements should be thoroughly fleshed out, so both parties are in complete agreement. If this is an internal project—developing a product to take to market yourself—the same step is required and likely involves working with sales and marketing personnel. The effort put into a clear product definition is an important step in eliminating the waste of overprocessing (waste due to unclear specifications). The design team gets underway with a clear picture of what the product should do and avoids the waste associated with a trial and error path to a marketable product.

Another benefit of clearly-defined design criteria is the avoidance of scope creep. If possible, get a written agreement to the criteria from the customer, whether the customer is external or internal. Doing so provides a point of reference if the customer decides they want to add features or functionality later on in the project. An agreed-upon design criteria document provides the basis for additional cost or adjusted milestone dates in those instances.

Daily Layered Accountability
Right from the Lean playbook, daily layered accountability (DLA) describes a very effective accountability tool we use for keeping the design and development process on task and schedule. This methodology is well-suited for product development initiatives. The core of DLA is defining the key performance indicators and objectives (along with the supporting metrics) that result in a successful project. Every objective is clearly stated and posted on the DLA whiteboard. Milestone dates are posted as well. The product development team meets daily to review progress toward each goal. If a milestone is missed or a functionality test is failed, the team immediately assesses the root cause of the failure and the corrective action needed to get things back on track. The beauty of this approach is that failures don’t get hidden in the background to surface weeks later and rob the project of valuable momentum. Rather, they are brought to light immediately, and the process forces them to be resolved. Every member of the development team contributes and is accountable for their part of the project. One of the “7 Wastes of Lean Manufacturing” is addressed in DLA—waiting (idle time that occurs when independent operations are not in sync).

Minimum Viable Product
It’s important to gain information from prospective users as early as possible in the development process. An effective way of doing this is to build an MVP, a minimum viable product. This is a low-fidelity prototype that demonstrates the concept and has most, if not all, of the desired features and functionality of the finished product, but isn’t “finished out.” If the product is simple in the way of functionality, an MVP made of crude materials may get the job done. While duct tape and baling wire should probably be avoided, cardboard or wood mock-ups can be made quickly and can convey a product idea effectively. 3D printing is an excellent means of producing a more refined MVP if the product size and functionality are conducive to doing so. There’s no better way of evaluating functionality and structural integrity, however, than making the real thing.

When sourcing a prototype, find a supplier that specializes in prototypes. Look for a company with personnel and equipment dedicated to prototyping, or else you’ll be at the mercy of shared resources and squeezing into a hole in a production schedule—neither of which is conducive to speed.

The objective of the MVP is to build a working model to verify the product satisfies your design criteria and to gain critical feedback from buyers or users of the product to find out whether they value (and will pay for) the features and functionality you’ve built into it. By building this MVP quickly, you can gain critical information about the viability of the product while your investment is small. If the feedback is favorable, you can proceed to finish out the product. If not, the feedback will provide guidance to either pivot (i.e., alter your design criteria, reduce the cost, etc.) or abandon the project altogether. Whichever applies, the key is to gain this knowledge as quickly as possible.

The process of developing new products for yourself or a customer offers excellent rewards and involves many pitfalls. It is not an exact science, but the process can be refined with each iteration. Waste is the enemy. As with other elements of Lean manufacturing, learning where and when to invest your energy results in savings of time and money. Applying your resources effectively and keeping them on track improves the return on investment of design and engineering expenditures. In every facet of the process, speed wins! 

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To VP Ron Estes, it is “rocket science.” With an aeronautical engineering degree from Purdue University, Ron was a structural engineer for McDonnell Douglass Astronautics before joining Allied Signal Corporation as a senior reliability engineer. There, he was charged with examining the reliability of equipment, human resources, and processes for manufacturing facilities around the globe. As vice president of operations, a position he assumed in 1982, Estes applies the same quality assurance and efficiency principles to insure the effective operations here at Estes Design and Manufacturing.