7 Must Do New Product Introduction Tasks For Successful Product Launches

Andrew Amirnovin, our group’s Head of Compliance and Reliability, kicks off 2024 by introducing 7 key elements of the New Product Introduction process that you need to understand as they will help ensure a successful product launch, but will also lead to serious complications and problems if they’re missed.

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Introduction

The 7 key tasks that importers who plan to bring a new product to market this year need to be aware of all appear within the NPI process which is illustrated below:

We’ll discuss some of the most critical tasks in this episode.

1. Document your requirements early during the design and development phase.

This early work is the most important part of the whole new product development process, starting with the concept and basic requirements, early mockups, prototypes, breadboards, etc, which show the manufacturer what the product is meant to do and look like. It will also help to gather materials and components required, dimensions, and document key requirements such as finish, waterproofing, cold resistance, etc. (03:01)

2. Do functionality and reliability testing.

Now that you have outlined your product and its requirements and you’ve given it to the manufacturer, it’s their job to design and create prototypes and functionally test them to make them come to life. This is make or break in the new product introduction process because this is where your dreams come true as it will result in a functioning product. The problem is here that if your manufacturer misses just one step, such as not doing reliability testing, it could derail the entire project by leaving you with a product you produce, ship out to customers, and is returned in large quantities because it proves to break down and be unreliable. The product’s functionality and reliability must be tested in different relevant use case environments to make sure that it reaches your requirements, and the manufacturer must understand both your product and the testing required and also do lab testing for reliability and compliance in specialist labs where needed. The tested product must be ready for pre-production, and you will aim to have found and ironed out any issues, as well as validated that the product functions as required and is reliable. (06:36)

3. Compliance testing and pilot run before pre-production.

As we come towards the end of the NPI process, before pre-production starts we need to make sure that product testing and validation for functionality and reliability are completed and our specifications are finalized and locked in. At this point, we do compliance testing, as we test the same products that will be mass-produced and shipped out to customers.

In the pre-production stage, before we go into mass production, it is important to do a pilot run. Large volumes of, say, 100 to 500,000 pieces or more, will require multiple production lines to be set up. Set up one initial line as your pilot line, and use this to test your processes and overall production readiness. It will include timing each process, writing work instructions, etc. You should also have planned how many testing, pick and place, etc, machines are required and where on the line, so the run will help you to calibrate these and check that they’re in the right positions. After any bugs found have been ironed out in the pilot, you can duplicate the successful production line into as many as required for your volumes. (10:19)

4. Do final reliability testing.

Before the design is locked in final reliability testing needs to be done on what should be a pretty final prototype (if it’s very final you could even do compliance testing, too), as this will validate that the product reaches your reliability requirements and is within specification and is functional in the expected use cases. (13:54)

5. Lock the BOM.

When your design is locked in, the Bill Of Materials also needs to be locked (except for second-sourced parts which can still be sourced pending the parts and suppliers being approved). Locking it prevents the purchasing team from finding and giving the production team new parts which look the same and are perhaps just cheaper but have not been tested to confirm and validate that their performance, quality, and reliability reach your expectations. If a tolerance is just slightly out, the part may work, but then could fail later which would be disastrous if it is used in mass production as then you have potentially thousands of defective products on your hands. (15:20)

6. Validate tooling and manufacturing.

Tools such as injection molds need to be tested and validated with clearly defined processes for the teams, and then once manufacturing is set up, we know that they are ready to handle the mass production and won’t cause any unforeseen problems.

Where manufacturing is concerned, we need to validate everything to make sure that there will not be any issues that can cause production to be stopped. These can be human error (which can be avoided through training, pilot runs, mistake-proofing, process improvement, etc), late shipments of parts and materials from suppliers, delayed designs, customer issues, etc. The project managers are critical for validating manufacturing, as they make sure that all stakeholders are ready for the production date which will require a lot of cross-department communication, as well as making sure that suppliers and customers are ready for the start date.

The production line will likely use different machines so these need to be set up correctly, calibrated, loaded with parts, etc. KPIs and tracking for quality, yields, IQC, OQC, AQL, and other manufacturing performance will also be set up so you can keep tabs on where you are in comparison to where you need to be when mass production does begin. (17:16)

7. Focus on shipping in the post-production period.

The product will be shipped, so do shipping testing like ISTA-2A testing on the packaged products to ensure they can withstand the vibrations and environmental conditions they’ll go through while in transit. This provides a final safety net against returned DOA products or those that break down simply because they were damaged during shipping when everything else about their design, development, and production went perfectly. (20:26)

Why it pays for importers to be knowledgeable about the NPI phases, even if you work with a manufacturer who does development & manufacturing.

You may be relying on a manufacturer in China or elsewhere in Asia to handle your NPI and manufacturing, but if you do not know what they are doing, how can you have any understanding of where your project is at and have any control over it? Therefore, having a foundation of knowledge about NPI is a must for importers. (21:13)

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