Make your new product introductions more successful with cloud PLM

New product development describes the complex process of bringing a new product to market. Managing the many steps involved in this process is critical to getting your product out the door on time and on budget.

New product introduction is vital as it drives business growth, fosters innovation, and keeps companies competitive. By efficiently launching new products, businesses can tap into new markets, meet customer needs, and stay ahead of industry trends. Successful new product introduction can lead to increased market share, revenue growth, and brand enhancement.

NPI (New Product Introduction) and NPD (New Product Development) are key processes in bringing a product to market. NPD involves designing, creating, and refining a product, while NPI focuses on preparing the product for launch. Essentially, NPD is the ideation, design, and creation phase, and NPI is the marketing, sales, and customer feedback phase. Both are crucial for successful product lifecycle management.

In manufacturing, NPI stands for New Product Introduction. It refers to the complete process of bringing a new product or product update to the market. This includes stages like design, prototype creation, testing, production, and market launch. The goal of NPI in manufacturing is to introduce new products efficiently and rapidly in response to market demands, while ensuring quality, cost-effectiveness, and timely delivery.

Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) software, like Autodesk’s Fusion Manage, is a strategic approach to managing products all the way from concept to retirement. It aids in new product introductions by providing a centralized system for managing all product-related information, facilitating real-time collaboration, and enhancing decision-making processes. By offering tools for project management, quality control, change management, and supplier collaboration, PLM helps ensure that all teams involved in the product introduction process are aligned and working efficiently. Through this, PLM software can help organizations reduce time to market, improve product quality, and ultimately achieve more successful product launches and better business outcomes.

PLM software streamlines the product development process by providing a centralized system for all product data and processes. It enables efficient communication and collaboration among teams, ensures everyone is working on the most recent version of a product, and facilitates easy tracking and managing of changes. Using PLM software to manage new product introduction processes keeps product development projects organized by managing stakeholders from various departments. Automated processes and notifications help everyone involved in new product introductions stay aligned on tasks and deliverables needed to define, develop, and launch a new product. Including external collaborators such as suppliers, partners, and contract manufacturers.

Product lifecycle management software can offer a wide range of features that assist in new product introductions. Notably, PLM includes collaborative design review capabilities, allowing teams to work together seamlessly on product designs, ensuring everyone is working on the most recent version, thereby minimizing errors. Change management features streamline the process of implementing changes, ensuring they are efficiently tracked and managed. Supplier collaboration capabilities enhance communication with suppliers, thus ensuring a smooth supply chain process. Quality management features aid in maintaining high product quality standards, while project management capabilities facilitate the planning and execution of product introduction projects. These key features collectively streamline the entire product introduction process.

Yes, PLM software provides powerful reporting and analytics tools that help create progress status reports on new product introduction activities. It offers real-time visibility into the product development process, enabling teams to track progress, identify bottlenecks, and take action when needed. With the ability to generate detailed, customizable reports that can also be exported and shared, users can keep stakeholders informed about the status of new product introductions. These reports can cover various aspects such as design status, change orders, quality issues, and supplier performance. By providing these insights, PLM software enables better decision-making, efficient resource allocation, and ultimately, more successful and timely product launches. 

While Excel spreadsheets can be useful for managing basic data, they can become cumbersome and prone to errors when used for complex tasks like new product introductions. PLM is specifically designed to manage all aspects of a product's lifecycle. Using spreadsheets creates disparate silos of information and can’t be referenced when needed. PLM provides a centralized system, ensuring all teams have access to the most up-to-date and accurate information, which reduces errors and inconsistencies. With capabilities for real-time collaboration, change management, supplier collaboration, and reporting, PLM streamlines the NPI process. Unlike spreadsheets, PLM offers scalability, security, and the ability to integrate with other systems, making it a more efficient and reliable solution for NPI management. 

PLM software, particularly Autodesk Fusion Manage, incorporates phase gate milestones into its new product introduction management processes. These milestones serve as checkpoints throughout the product development process, allowing teams to assess progress, identify potential issues early, and make necessary adjustments before moving to the next phase. With phase gate milestones, PLM provides a systematic approach to managing new product development, ensuring that each phase of the product's lifecycle is completed accurately and on time. This systematic approach, coupled with the collaborative and real-time nature of PLM processes, greatly reduces the risk of missed deadlines and unexpected problems, thereby minimizing the chances of product launch delays. 

PLM software plays a crucial role in facilitating collaboration between different teams during new product introductions. It provides a system where all teams can view, share, and update product information in real-time, ensuring everyone is working from the most up-to-date data. When a PLM system includes collaborative design review capabilities, teams can also work more efficiently together on product designs. PLM processes for project management help organizations coordinate tasks across teams, helping to make sure everyone knows their responsibilities and deadlines. Additionally, when a PLM system can integrate with other strategic business systems like ERP and CRM, more information can flow smoothly across different departments, further enhancing collaboration and efficiency.

PLM software plays a crucial role in managing the lifecycle of a product by providing a structured approach to managing all aspects of a product's lifecycle, from initial concept to retirement. It allows for better planning and forecasting, leading to more successful product introductions. It also helps in identifying potential issues early on, reducing risks and costs associated with product launches. PLM helps streamline the process, reducing the time-to-market, and improving product quality. With PLM, new product introductions become more efficient and organized as it facilitates better collaboration, manages changes effectively, and reduces the risk of errors. It provides comprehensive visibility into the product development process, enabling teams to make informed decisions. PLM is instrumental in driving innovation, enhancing productivity, and providing a competitive advantage in the market.

PLM software reduces time-to-market by streamlining and automating processes, enabling faster decision-making, and ensuring all teams are working in sync. This reduces delays and accelerates the overall product development process. PLM software helps organizations manage and share product-related information in a centralized system, such as design data, bill of materials, and change orders. This allows for better collaboration among different teams involved in product development, reducing time spent on communication and data search. PLM software improves change management, preventing costly rework and delays. It also supports early error detection and resolution, which prevents late-stage design changes that can significantly delay product launches. PLM software accelerates the entire product development cycle, facilitating quicker market entry.

PLM software significantly impacts cost management during new product introductions by providing structure for resource allocation and process optimization. It allows teams to monitor and control costs in real-time by providing visibility into all stages of the product development cycle. By facilitating early error detection and enabling effective change management, PLM helps prevent costly design revisions and reworks. It also supports better collaboration across teams, reducing unnecessary redundancies and inefficiencies that can inflate costs. By improving accountability, PLM can also help organizations avoid budget overruns. PLM offers a comprehensive toolset for cost control that can ensure more profitable product launches. 

PLM software ensures quality control by standardizing processes, tracking changes, and maintaining an audit trail of all activities. It provides a centralized system for managing product-related information, enabling consistency and accuracy in design and manufacturing processes. PLM software supports early error detection and resolution, preventing quality issues from escalating into later stages of product development. It also facilitates effective change management, ensuring that modifications are accurately implemented and tracked. Additionally, PLM software promotes collaboration among teams, leading to better decision-making and problem-solving. It also supports compliance with industry standards and regulations, further ensuring product quality. By enforcing standard procedures and maintaining traceability of the product lifecycle, PLM can help with adherence to quality standards for high-quality products.