8.4.3 Product development programme

In improving the whole product development programme, a new innovation/new product strategy needs to be formulated and a plan to achieve it developed. This is a much more fundamental change to the company's product development. It is important not to set the achievement levels so high that the company and the individuals cannot achieve them in a reasonable time with the present or agreed expanded assets. Goals need to be reasonably flexible, to allow for adjustment as the new programme proceeds and for any environmental or internal company changes. Programmes are often organised for 3-5 years, but future predictions up to 10 years should be made. There is a need for constant monitoring of the programme benchmarks, and making changes when necessary. The product development programme is a dynamic organisation and must allow controlled (but not wild) changes. The corrective improvement plan needs to monitor/ check/review the impact of the product development programme changes on the outcomes and the critical product development success factors.

Learning from the projects is important and their benchmark data need to be incorporated into the product development programme so that continuous improvement of the efficiency and effectiveness of the programme can occur. The natural tendency in a company is to go forward into the next project without reviewing the product development programme to see what can be improved. The knowledge must be absorbed into the company through the product development programme. Organisational and individual learning are the outcome of benchmarking projects and the knowledge learnt must not be lost. Learning from product development projects is one of the most difficult things that a company can do.

There are two objectives in programme improvement: to be better at designing new products and processes, and continually to build and improve the company's procedures, processes, leadership skills, techniques and methods in order to do things faster, more efficiently and with higher quality (Clark and Wheelwright, 1993). Building the development capability is also another important objective.