Business Strategy
A couple of weeks ago I shared some big picture questions to ask when launching a new product. While a lot of the big picture questions (like, how much do we expect to make from this product, why are we launching something new in the first place, etc.) are VP or C-level questions, a successful [...]
With the rising emergence of automation in the manufacturing world, brought on by increasing global competition and reinforced by events like Foxconn’s plan to integrate over 1 million robots into its assembly lines, it’s easy to forget that the vast majority of our electronic products are still largely assembled by hand. One Foxconn plant in [...]
New product launches are exciting but stressful! Launch haphazardly and you will find yourself on board a sinking ship. Launch strategically and you can accelerate your time to market, minimize your overall investment and maximize your profits—and with lower risk! Because a new product introduction can make or break a company, our partner Product Realization [...]
Although a solid change management process is absolutely necessary, it’s easy to fall into an overly complicated, unnecessary or misunderstood engineering change request (ECR) process—especially if your process lacks purpose. In some cases, by the time you craft the ECR, add in the appropriate documentation, talk it over with the product engineer and send the [...]
When you’re starting up, it can be difficult to know which business tools are essential to success and which can be put off until you have more capital and better market security. But there’s one place where you can’t afford to cut corners—establishing a fail-safe method to manage your product data. Navigating a product launch [...]
Choosing a part numbering scheme is one of the more important decisions you make as you move toward production. Once you commit to a part numbering scheme, you are married to it for a long time to come, so you need to be 100% sure it is nimble enough to evolve and scale right along [...]
Now that I’ve given you a high level analysis of the pros and cons of intelligent and non-intelligent part numbering, I can tell you how I really feel. While well intentioned, intelligent numbering schemes can be a tricky rabbit hole—hostile to growth for a variety of reasons. A good part numbering scheme is nimble. It [...]
Your part numbering scheme is ultimately adopted by every team with a stake in product development—from design and engineering to operations and manufacturing—so it’s no surprise that choosing the right scheme is a point of debate for many companies. Most manufacturing circles today still hold on to the belief that intelligent part numbering schemes are [...]
Imagine where you want your business to be in five years. Can you get to that place if you’re still managing your BOM revisions and changes in Excel? For most manufacturers, the answer is no. Excel is a shortsighted business tool—not well equipped to manage change and collaboration with internal teams, let alone a global [...]
As product life-cycles continue to shrink, price pressures increase and the supply chain becomes more globally dispersed than ever before, it’s surprising how few manufacturers are prepared to manage the chaos. For example, if you’re still using Excel to manage your product data, you’ve probably noticed that managing change and collaboration with a global supply [...]
