The WNY PDMA hosts a wide variety of events throughout the year. Here are some of the presentations that have been given by Leaders in New Product and Service Development.
Date
Presentation Overview
4/17/08
Summary
Leaders are Readers Series: "The Innovator's Solution: Creating and Sustaining Successful Growth" by Clayton Christensen and Michael E. Raynor Facilitated by: Mary Anne Shew, Chief Inspiration Officer, Business Vitality, LLC
At best, one company in ten is able to sustain profitable growth. Yet capital markets demand that all companies seek it relentlessly and mercilessly punish those who fail. Why is consistent, persistent growth so difficult to achieve? Surprisingly, it’s not for lack of great ideas or capable managers, nor is it because customers are too fickle or innovation too unpredictable. In this book, Christensen and Raynor say innovation fails because organizations unwittingly strip the disruptive potential from new ideas before they ever see the light of day. The authors argue that innovation can be a predictable process that delivers sustainable, profitable growth.
"Made in America – The Eureka! Winning Ways System for Invention and Growth" by John Steele, Project Manager, High Tech Rochester Inc.
Eureka! Winning Ways is the brainchild of Doug Hall and his Eureka! Ranch, which has created and researched more business-building ideas than any team on Earth for industrial, B2B and consumer companies.
Taking their experience with such well-known clients as Walt Disney, Nike, and Procter & Gamble, Doug has collaborated with High Tech Rochester and the NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership to create Eureka! Winning Ways especially for small to medium-sized manufacturers looking to accelerate their growth.
Eureka! Winning Ways is the only program of its kind that has been customized and refined specifically for U.S. smaller manufacturers, and is making a dramatic difference in how some companies are growing by applying problem-solving principles to the problems of growth. The process is based on established adult learning patterns and relies on focused stimuli and diversity of experience to create unexpected and novel results.
John’s talk defined the Eureka! process and reviewed the components on which it is based. Some specific examples of its underlying principles were covered, on which we expect to promote an “inventing” bias in America’s manufacturing base. John has already successfully worked with several of the many companies in this region for which this process is especially suitable.
Leaders are Readers Series: "The Myths of Innovation" by Scott Berkun Facilitated by: Mary Anne Shew, Chief Inspiration Officer, Business Vitality, LLC
The question of where ideas come from is on the mind of anyone visiting a research lab, an artist’s workshop, or an inventor’s studio. Berkun takes a careful look at innovation history, including the software and Internet ages, to reveal how ideas truly become successful innovations—truths you can apply to today’s challenges. Using dozens of examples from the history of technology, business and the arts, you’ll learn how to convert the knowledge you have into ideas that can change the world.
"Lean, Integrated Product and Process Development" by Brent Wahba, President, Strategy Science Inc.
Small to mid-sized companies have a significant competitive advantage - they are not burdened with the bureaucracy and silos that plague many larger organizations. Unfortunately, many of these groups cannot leverage this advantage because they do not have sufficient development resources to create, validate, and implement the right products and services for the market. To be more successful, smaller development teams need an even stronger focus on utilizing a Lean, Integrated Product and Process Development methodology that:
Defines and manages the entire product development value stream from setting strategy and identifying customer needs to post-production launch feedback
Improves focus on delivering the attributes that customers are most interested in and are willing to pay for
Utilizes lean product development techniques to reduce lead-time, waste, and risk for better organizational throughput
Creates standardized work that is applicable to both large and small projects
Improves organizational creativity and learning
This presentation provides an outline of what an Integrated Product and Process Development methodology contains, gives examples of the tools and applications, and defines a roadmap of how to create and implement your own system.
Leaders are Readers Series: "Open Business Models: How to Thrive in the New Innovation Landscape" by Henry Chesbrough Facilitated by: Mary Anne Shew, Chief Inspiration Officer, Business Vitality, LLC
In his previous book (discussed in WNYPDMA’s 2007 book review series), Chesbrough demonstrated that business leaders must adopt a new, open model of innovation. In this book he takes readers to the next step—explaining how to make money in an open innovation landscape. He shows that companies have to manage intellectual property differently to innovate openly. He also provides a diagnostic instrument for assessing your company’s current business model and explains how to overcome common barriers to creating a more open model.
2/6/08
"Plant Tour of New Scale Technologies, Maker of Squiggle Motors"
With very few parts and no gears, New Scale Technology's patented piezoelectric SQUIGGLE motors are smaller, more precise, less expensive and more efficient than conventional electromagnetic motors. SQUIGGLE motors also operate reliably in extreme environments such as vacuum, cryogenic temperatures and high magnetic fields. The SQUIGGLE motor consists of piezoelectric ceramics that create ultrasonic vibrations in threaded nut, causing a mating screw to rotate and translate with precise linear motion and high force in a very small space. A key market is 'focus and zoom' optics in mobile phone cameras -- an emerging market for one billion tiny motors per year. Additional SQUIGGLE motor application fields include: biotechnology and nanotechnology research, microfluidics, medical devices including miniature drug pumps and endoscopes, optics and imaging, lasers, cryogenic instruments, electronic locks, intelligent fasteners, automotive components, smart clothing, and bar code scanners. See www.newscaletech.com
"Organizing for Radical Innovation: An Exploratory Study of the Structural Aspects of RI Management Systems in Large Established Firms" by Dr. Richard DeMartino, Associate Professor, RIT and Dr. Gina O'Connor, Associate Professor, RPI
To escape the intense competition of today's global economy, large established organizations seek growth options beyond conventional new product development that leads to incremental changes in current product lines. Radical innovation (RI) is one such pathway, which results in organically driven growth through the creation of whole new lines of business that bring new to the world performance features to the market and may result in the creation of entirely new markets. Yet success is elusive, as many have experienced and scholars have documented. This presentation reports results of a three-year, longitudinal study of 12 large established firms that have declared a strategic intent to evolve their RI capabilities.
Leaders are Readers Series: "Achieve Brand Integrity: Ten Truths You Must Know to Enhance Employee Performance and Increase Company Profits " by Gregg Lederman Facilitated by: Mary Anne Shew, Chief Inspiration Officer, Business Vitality, LLC
Do employees in your company consistently think, speak and behave in ways that strengthen the work culture and customer experience? Do they really buy in to the company brand? Achieve Brand Integrity reveals actionable insights gained from many years of working with executives of leading organizations who have built profitable work cultures where employees are truly focused on living and doing the brand.
Nurturing Innovation: Vital for Company Growth" by Robert Rosenfeld, CEO and Founder, Idea Connection Systems
Bob presented an overview of the timeless yet "hidden" human principles that underlie an organization's ability to sustain innovation year in and year out. These principles have been drawn from his work with small successful start-up companies that have been able to sustain innovation over time as well as large organizations that have maintained their cutting edge in the marketplace. It draws on organizations, large and small, that have struggled to make innovation happen. He will also talk about ways to maintain that innovative entrepreneurial edge while growing a small company into a much larger organization.
Leaders are Readers Series: "Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything" by Don Tapscott, Anthony D. Williams Facilitated by: Mary Anne Shew, Chief Inspiration Officer, Business Vitality, LLC
Today, encyclopedias, jetliners, operating systems, mutual funds, and many other items are being created by teams numbering in the thousands or even millions. While some leaders fear the heaving growth of these massive online communities, Wikinomics proves this fear is folly. Smart firms can harness collective capability and genius to spur innovation, growth, and success.
Leaders are Readers Series: "Blue Ocean Strategy" by W.Chan Kim & Renee Mauborgne Facilitated by: Mary Anne Shew, Chief Inspiration Officer, Business Vitality, LLC
Companies that don’t innovate die. This is one certainty your company faces in this complex world. But how should your company innovate? Rather than relying entirely on internal ideas to advance the business, open innovation leverages internal and external sources of ideas. In the preface, the author proposes that “we need to be innovative in the area of innovation itself.” He defines innovation as invention implemented and taken to market.
Beyond innovation is disruptive innovation, which actually changes social practices—the way we live, work, and learn. Chesbrough states that a successful innovation often demands an innovative business model at least as much as it requires an innovative product offering. These are hard lessons for almost every aspect of a company—research, finance, operations—to learn, but critical. This book shows how open innovation can unlock true value in your company’s ideas and technologies.
Leaders are Readers Series: "Open Innovation" by Henry Chesbrough Facilitated by: Mary Anne Shew, Chief Inspiration Officer, Business Vitality, LLC
The "Product Commercialization Diamond" developed by Robert G. Cooper is becoming the framework for contemporary product development best practices. The "points" of the diamond are strategy, resources, process, and culture. Product portfolio management is a critical part of the resource "point" of the diamond. Portfolio management is tightly linked to the firm's high level technology and product strategy and is the foundation for the firm's resource deployment process. This presentation built on traditional portfolio management theory and modifed these theories so that they could be applied simply and directly to the prioritization of product investments. Examples of successful and unsuccessful portfolio management efforts were discussed.
Today’s news making innovations come from: new media (i.e. YouTube,) new approaches to technology (i.e. Nintendo Wii,) and new perspectives on existing issues (i.e. Al Gore’s, “An Inconvenient Truth.”)
A Rochester innovation – Xerox – embodied these changes with the introduction of the first copier (a new type of media and a new way of making copies.) More recently, the company developed new perspectives on existing issues that allowed it to have what Money magazine called "the greatest turnaround story of the post-crash era."
Come hear from the people directly involved in these innovations, both past and present, and learn about the “Theory of Solving Inventive Problems” to help you inject innovation into your own products and business..
Dr. Stephen P. Hoover, VP & Center Manager, Xerox Research Center Webster
"At its most recent Annual Meeting, the PDMA selected Xerox Corporation to receive its prestigious Outstanding Corporate Innovator award. Dr. Hoover reviewed Xerox's recent history including what Money magazine called "the great turnaround story of the post-crash era." This turn around was driven, in no small measure by a relentless focus on innovation. By the end of 2005, 95% of the company's products were new. Key to the renaissance has been focusing on four principles that form the bedrock of Xerox's culture of innovation. 1. Intense customer focus 2. Create and leverage the world's best new technologies 3. Use a disciplined process 4. Embrace and manage risk Dr. Hoover explains how these principles are operationalized at Xerox and how they have driven results."
Dr. Stephen P. Hoover is vice president and manager of the Xerox Research Center Webster (XRCW) located in Webster, New York. The Webster center is part of the Xerox Innovation Group and is the largest of Xerox’s four global research centers. Scientists in the center are responsible for research and advanced technology development for digital printing and multi-function devices as well as digital workflow, imaging, document printing, services and solutions.
"The Birth of the Xerox 914 – The World’s First Plain Paper Copier: Looking Back with Horace Becker”
Horace Becker, Vice President of Engineering (Retired), Xerox Corporation
"Horace is often called the “father” of the 914, but he is quick to say “Neither the father nor the mother, I was the midwife.” Horace will recount the challenges of delivering innovative solutions for a revolutionary product that had never before been on the market. The development journey begins with Horace’s employment by Haloid in a house on Hollenbeck Street where he led a small team charged with turning the xerographic invention into a producible product. His “travels” included many technical and marketing innovations and the courage to take risks to get it to market before Haloid ran out of money. The full story of the 914, including Horace’s role in its development, is documented in "Copies in Seconds" by David Owen (Simon & Schuster)"
Horace served with the U.S. Army Air Force on B 26 bombers in World War II and then attended Drexel University where he earned a Bachelors Degree in Mechanical Engineering. After graduation he had jobs at two other printing-related firms, the second one as Chief Engineer at the Davidson Printing Press Division of Mergenthaler Linotype Corporation. Then he took a chance and moved to Rochester in 1958 to work for a fledgling company called Haloid. His career spanned 30 years at Haloid/Xerox and culminated with 16 years as a corporate officer and a member of the Fuji-Xerox Board of Directors. In 1991 he was elected to the Office Machine “Hall of Fame.”
"An Introduction To Triz: Taking The Mystery Out Of Innovation”
Jack Hipple, Principal, Innovation-TRIZ
"“TRIZ” is a Russian acronym for “Theory of Solving Inventive Problems” and is a left brained approach to innovation and creativity that can dramatically increase the effectiveness of our new product development efforts and reduce the cost of improving our existing products. It is based on analyzing the global patent literature and extracting the principles used in the world’s most inventive patents and product designs and generalizing them in such a way that they can be used in any situation, not just their original context. These principles can be used to design better products and forecast product evolution, using science rather than psychology.
This talk will overview the history and basis for TRIZ and its underlying principles in preparation for the afternoon workshop where TRIZ principles will be applied to a real situation."
John Osterhout is the Director of Corporate Marketing for Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, headquartered in San Jose, California. In this role, John manages the Marketing Communications activities. He also is responsible for Hitachi GST’s worldwide disk drive retail business in partnership with Sales, Supply Chain Management, Finance, Marketing, Product Strategy and the Business Units.
"Managing New Product Development Portfolios” Guest Speaker: Bob Boehner, Visiting Professor and Distinguished Lecturer, Rochester Institute of Technology
The "Product Commercialization Diamond" developed by Robert G. Cooper is becoming the framework for contemporary product development best practices. The "points" of the diamond are strategy, resources, process, and culture. Product portfolio management is a critical part of the resource "point" of the diamond. Portfolio management is tightly linked to the firm's high level technology and product strategy and is the foundation for the firm's resource deployment process. This presentation built on traditional portfolio management theory and modifed these theories so that they could be applied simply and directly to the prioritization of product investments. Examples of successful and unsuccessful portfolio management efforts were discussed.
Guest Speakers: Jennifer Perotti, Ph.D, Patricia Wall, Xerox Corporation
Xerox was an early pioneer in the use of ethnographic techniques to drive innovation in a corporate setting. Ethnographers at Xerox use observations and in-situ interviews, as well as other qualitative techniques, to develop an in-depth understanding of our customers' work practices. Studies are often conducted in collaboration with technologists and business professionals within the company. Results of these studies are used guide the development of products and services, as well as to inspire new technology innovations. In this talk, an overview of what ethnography is provided and case studies used to demonstrate how it has been applied in development and research contexts at Xerox.
"Selecting Winning Product Ideas in Mature Manufacturing Companies" Susan Burek. Mark Amico,Zhenze Hu
Winning at new products is the key for continued corporate success and a factor that is particularly important for mature companies in technology-driven industries. Susan will present a project from her RIT Masters in Product Development that tested Dr. Robert Cooper’s idea-screening tool against the needs to mature companies in technology-driven industries.
In testing Dr Cooper’s model against 21 projects from Kodak, Xerox and Bausch & Lomb, unique factors were identified which led to an enhanced model to address:
Leaders are Readers Series: "Good to Great" by Jim Collins Facilitated by: Mary Anne Shew, Chief Inspiration Officer, Business Vitality, LLC
"Good is the enemy of great."
And with that statement, Jim Collins’ popular book sets off to illuminate what sets great organizations apart not just from clearly bad ones but from those who are good. The book discusses "companies that made the leap from good results to great results and sustained those results for at least fifteen years." For those interested in the details of how the companies were selected—both the great and the ones against which they were compared—and the research, appendices and notes chapters at the end provide substantial reading.
"Lean and Innovation: Can the Co-Exist? How the Application of Lean is Changing the Way Companies Perform New Product Development" Mark Adkins, Turnkey Marketing
Developing new products is critical to corporate survival and growth, represents a significant investment of resources, and must be done strategically. This presentation will discuss the two requirements for new product development success:
What products should be developed to delight customers and defeat the competition?
How should great product ideas be brought to the market quickly and efficiently?
This seminar describes how four key Lean tools—Value Streams, Waste Elimination, Flow, and Continuous Improvement—can reduce risk and speed new product development. Join with other product developers to learn how lean thinking and lean tools influence how companies develop new products.
Leaders are Readers Series: "The World is Flat" by Thomas Friedman Facilitated by: Mary Anne Shew, Chief Inspiration Officer, Business Vitality, LLC
Okay, so is there anything NEW to learn from this book that has taken the business world and Rochester by storm? You betcha! From Amazon.com: "What Friedman means by "flat" is "connected": the lowering of trade and political barriers and the exponential technical advances of the digital revolution that have made it possible to do business, or almost anything else, instantaneously with billions of other people across the planet. This in itself should not be news to anyone.
"But the news that Friedman has to deliver is that just when we stopped paying attention to these developments--when the dot-com bust turned interest away from the business and technology pages and when 9/11 and the Iraq War turned all eyes toward the center East--is when they actually began to accelerate." The group discussed the book from the product perspective and explored its implications on product development.
Leaders are Readers Series: "Innovator's Dilemma" by Clayton Christensen Facilitated by: Mary Anne Shew, Chief Inspiration Officer, Business Vitality, LLC
Why do great companies fail to bring great products and services to market? From Amazon.com: "At the heart of The Innovator's Dilemma is how a successful company with established products keeps from being pushed aside by newer, cheaper products that will, over time, get better and become a serious threat. Christensen writes that even the best-managed companies, in spite of their attention to customers and continual investment in new technology, are susceptible to failure no matter what the industry, be it hard drives or consumer retailing." The group discussed the book from the product perspective and explored its implications on product development.
An opportunity provided to network and make new contacts with product and service development professionals from other companies throughout the region. Attendees mingled with the WNY board and heard about the exciting events planned for the 2006 - 2007 season!
The fierce competition in the market place has become global, not just local. Dollars are short, resources are scattered, vertical integration is no longer an option. What is a company to do? Co-development is not a new phenomenon; outsourcing noncore activities has been around for quite some time. What is new is the move to identifying and working with strategic partners to develop new products, building on the strengths of both parties to produce a winning outcome. However, open innovation comes with its own issues and rules. How do you identify new partners, build relationships, license or outsource technology? What should you be concerned about with this change in your value chain? How do you manage the issues in a global relationship?
Collaborating with other companies, whether they are business partners or customers to develop new products can be challenging, especially when the collaboration is international. At this conference you will learn what it takes to have a successful result and a smooth journey to that outcome. Three top speakers will present their findings, pass on their wisdom, and help us break down the barriers to becoming successful in the area of co-development.
"Global Co-Development - Do You Have What it Takes?”
John Osterhout, Director of Marketing, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies
"Developing new products and nurturing them through their product life cycle is challenging in and of itself. The difficultly is greatly magnified when managing product and business development with international partners. The speaker will share with the audience his experiences and insights, garnered from over twenty years of interaction with business partners in the Americas, Asia, and Europe. He will explore the motivation behind international collaboration, along with the process, pitfalls, and potential payoff."
John Osterhout is the Director of Corporate Marketing for Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, headquartered in San Jose, California. In this role, John manages the Marketing Communications activities. He also is responsible for Hitachi GST’s worldwide disk drive retail business in partnership with Sales, Supply Chain Management, Finance, Marketing, Product Strategy and the Business Units.
Building a Sustainable Alliance Capability – Achieving Global Co-Development Success
Christian Gabel, Ph.D., Principal, PRTM
Co-development involves working interactively with development partners regardless of location or affiliation. It involves co-managing the development process and co-producing development content. But operationally, alliances are difficult to make work. Based on a recent co-development research study, insight into how companies approach open innovation and successfully partner in new product development will be shared, including best practices in forming and managing co-development alliances.
Chris is a Principal in PRTM’s Life Sciences group, leading the Strategic Partnering and Alliance Management Innovation practice. He has over twelve years of experience in the development and implementation of innovative strategies and processes in drug discovery, development and marketing for global clients in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. His global activities have focused on leading projects and delivering results in the areas of open innovation, strategic partnering and alliance management as well as new product launch and marketing strategy development for co-developed and co-commercialized products.
"Global Design Collaboration: A Practitioners View"
David Parsons, Director, Industrial Design Human Interface Group, Xerox Corporation
Xerox has a rich history of quality human centered design, global product development, extended enterprise, and sales. Global customers not only require highly capable products at a fair price, but they also expect increasing high level of usability, design quality, and global user experience consistency. A group overview, best practices, pitfalls to avoid, and examples will be shared illustrating how the company's Industrial Design Human Interface Group has effectively learned to leverage the benefits and address the challenges of global design co-development.
David Parsons is Director of the Industrial Design Human Interface Group at Xerox Corporation based in Rochester, New York. He has 19 years of Global product development and design management experience working with geographically dispersed partners in the United States, Asia, and Europe. David's organization is responsible for ensuring that Xerox's wide range of hardware and software systems products are engaging, easy to use, and presented in a coherent manner consistent with brand expectations.
Product Liability - Mitigating the Risk: How to Design, Manufacture and Defend with that in Mind Beryl Nusbaum, Partner, Woods Oviatt Gilman LLP
Product liability is often not considered until it is too late. Mr. Nusbaum shared his experience on how to design and manufacture to avoid product liability issues. In the event that litigation does occur, he described best practices for a good defense.
Panel Discussion: Avoiding Pitfalls in Matrixed Product Development Organizations
A panel of experts from local manufacturing and service companies explored product development challenges in matrixed organizations. Panelists briefly introduced themselves and their company, then the moderator Steve Beyer posed questions to the panel for discussion. Topics included a wide variety of topics ranging from best practices to co-location.
Panelists: Cumar Sreekumar, VP of Engineering, NexPress Solutions Steven Beauchamp, VP of Product Management, Paychex, Inc. Steve Beck, Director of Project Solutions, LeChase Construction Torsten M. Rhode, Director of Engineering, Sentry Group
"Formalized Product Development and Planning as a Tool for Growth" Samuel J. Villanti, President and CEO, Ultimate Technology Corporation
Faced with the challenge of providing solutions based on frequently changing PC-based architectures and increasing competition from Asian manufacturers, UTC implemented formalized product development and planning processes as one of its core components to fuel growth. Mr Villanti will share how the company transformed ad-hoc product development practices by implementing product roadmaps and a structured, cross-functional, product development process. Real world examples will be shared to demonstrate the benefits UTC derived from this important strategic shift.
Ultimate Technology Corporation (UTC) designs, manufactures, integrates and services Point of Sale (POS) hardware solutions for retailers throughout North America. Founded in 1988, UTC has grown to be one of the nations leading providers of POS hardware solutions with well over 250,000 installations
"Persistence Pays and Timing is Everything - Lessons Learned from a Software Start-up" Nancy Weyl, MD, MPH, PhD, Logical Images, Inc.
Despite the best-laid plans of mice, men and product developers, the challenge of successful product development is often daunting and unpredictable, even after the best team of experts and resources have been assembled.
Dr. Nancy Weyl will share lessons learned from the development of VisualDx, an interactive medical image database that helps front-line healthcare workers and professionals quickly and accurately diagnose and appropriately treat common and unusual diseases. She will describe how her company was able to turn barriers into opportunities.
PDMA of WNY Annual Conference:Managing Co-Development
Doing it all is rarely possible as businesses pare down to their core competencies. Collaborating with other businesses and universities to deliver innovative products and complete solutions for customers is becoming the status quo although not for the faint of heart. When done right, truly collaborative product development or co-development benefits both consumers and developers. It enables companies to quickly arrive at more complete solutions at lower costs while continuing to focus on their core competencies. Yet many companies are dissatisfied with their ability to co-develop - that is, to develop effective links between suppliers, partners and customers across geographic, corporate, IP and cultural boundaries. This year's conference helped to bring some order to the chaos. It featured leaders in the field who spoke about their experiences and shared their knowledge. It was a great opportunity to learn, question, and grow.
Keynote Address: The Underpinnings of a Successful Co-Development Partnership Marv Patterson, President, Innovation Resultants International
Establishing effective co-development relationships requires a capable new-product portfolio business process and, in particular, a perceptive R&D strategy. This talk outlined a useful portfolio planning and management framework, and described how the insightful strategic perspective that it provided contributed to the formation of fruitful and competitive strategic alliances with co-development partners. Examples of both successful and disastrous partnerships were discussed. Finally, principles and techniques that have proven useful in establishing successful partnerships were offered.
"Adapting the Product Development Strategy to a Changing Business Model" Ron Auble, Collaboration Manager, Engineering Technology Center, Eastman Kodak Company
Eastman Kodak Company initiated a project in 2003 to improve the way it develops products with external partners. This presentation shared experiences encountered to date in the effort to move a historically vertical company towards a future state in which co-development partnerships play a key role.
"Mind Your Own Business ... All of it" Danene Jaffe, VP Global Consumer Development, Sunbeam Products, Inc.
This isn’t a warning to watch your manners or even a suggestion that you shouldn’t get involved and share your opinion – quite the opposite. This is a reminder that you must always be thinking about all aspects of the business opportunity. Whether you are a provider of a specialized service or the one that is hiring those services, the key to successful collaborative partnerships will be found in knowing your strengths and weaknesses and sharing your requirements openly with partners that compliment your core competencies.
Panel: Intellectual Property and Product Development
Intellectual Property development, management, and strategy plays an increasingly prominent role in product development. Collaboration and co-development with universities, private sector companies, and independent services providers complicates the landscape. Litigation risks, commercial concerns, and contractual balancing necessary to accomplish successful relationships and product launches make for a dynamic field within the product development process in the collaborative world. A panel of legal, technology, and contract professionals participated in a lively discussion and Q&A.
Panel Participants: Tom FitzGerald, Attorney at Law Katherine McGuire, Sr. Patent Counsel, Bausch & Lomb Marjorie Hunter, Director, Office of Technology Transfer, U of R Medical Center Stanley Gordon, Attorney at Law Lisa Smith, Commodity Manager, SGA Worldwide Purchasing, Eastman Kodak Company
"Partnering with the Academic Community - It's an Important Business Ingredient" Clyde Heppner, Senior Manager, Product Design and Usability, Sprint PCS
Sprint has actively sought and entered partnerships with the academic community. These partnerships, unlike traditional client supplier relationships, are based on creating mutual benefit to each organization in a lasting way rather than simply extracting monetary gains. The more a partner learns about the other the greater the realized benefit. Hence, future value from a partnership can be greater than its present value. As with any relationship there are sensitivities along with the benefits. This presentation takes a case study approach and contrasts sensitivities such as intellectual property, publication rights, and culture against the resulting benefits of increased efficiencies and comprehensive solutions.
"Challenges and Triumphs: Pitney Bowes' Co-Development of the Digital Mailing Series" Joel Maybruch, Director, New Product Development, Global Mailing Systems, Pitney Bowes Inc.
Imagine every possible challenge and headache one could have before and during the product development process, and we had it! Pitney Bowes had to redo the entire mail finishing product line driven by changing postal regulations - going from a 1st generation digital meter to full blown digital meters. Unlike most companies, the United States Post Office has to approve the security algorithms for funds management and basic machine operation before Pitney Bowes can commercialize the product.Come and hear how Pitney Bowes triumphed over changing postal regulations, lawsuits, manufacturing and competitive cost pressure, problems with suppliers and more.
"Management Practices that Drive Success: How to Embrace Radical Innovation in a Mature Business" Gina O'Connor, Assistant Professor, Lally School of Management and Technology, RPI and Research Director of the Radical Innovation Research Project, Phase II
Recent history of US based companies assures us that the overriding focus on cost cutting as a means to increased profits is nearing its limits. Firms have turned toward the search for new paths to growth and renewal. Incremental innovation cannot provide the opportunities for step out growth. Radical, or breakthrough innovation is increasingly important in today's techno-competitive environment. Dr. O'Connor reports on the Radical Innovation Research Program, which has been ongoing since 1995 at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Lally School of Management and Technology. The research program's objective is to understand the management practices associated with radical innovation in large established firms, how they differ from those associated with incremental innovation, and how firms are addressing the need to build a radical innovation capability rather than rely solely on single projects driven by strong, maverick individuals. The current research is based primarily on a study of twelve firms who have a declared strategic intent to build a radical innovation capability. These include 3M, Air Products and Chemicals, Albany International, Corning, Dupont, GE, IBM, Johnson and Johnson Consumer Products, Kodak, MeadWestvaco, Sealed Air and Shell Chemicals.
"Technology Substitution in the Consumer Photography Industry: Context and Consequences" Terrence W. Faulkner, Former Vice-President Eastman Kodak Company
The substitution of digital for silver halide technology is well under way. This technology substitution will have profound consequences for those companies that were established leaders in the photography business. In order to understand the events that are unfolding it is necessary to first distinguish between disruptive and sustaining technology substitutions. Then a review of the historical development of consumer photography will provide a context for judging which form of substitution is now occurring. This will provide a basis for considering the impact on the photography industry.
"Value Analysis and FAST Diagrams" Tom Prentiss, Manager of Value Analysis and Value Engineering Xerox Corporation
Value Analysis is a problem solving process that was developed at the end of World War II and has been used world-wide since then. It brings together an unique combination of tools, techniques and methodologies to efficiently solve problems in design and manufacturing of products, in development and improvement of processes, in organizational effectiveness and in software development. After a short overview of the Value Analysis process, the presentation will focus in on the most powerful of the Value Analysis tools - FAST Diagrams. These Function Analysis System Technique diagrams allow teams to logically focus their attention on the important functional interactions of their system and to identify the areas that can most effectively be improved. Tom will describe how to generate these diagrams as well as the many valuable benefits that can be achieved through their use.
PDMA of WNY Annual Conference: Strengthening Your Future Through Product Development
Lessons in Making Product Development Successful in a Complex World Mark Schneider, Chief Technical Officer of Consumer Imaging, Eastman Kodak Co.
Mark presented practical learnings from the execution of a variety of product development solutions including programs done within a sole enterprise, with joint venture partners, with partners with common lanugage skills, with partners with no common language skills and in situations where nearly all of the activity was outsourced to a third party. The lessons spanned project management, communication, strategic alignment, product definition, and the importance of aligning product development with the capabilities of the broader business.
Lessons Learned From Running A Skunk Works - Or - Will You Be King of the Forest or Just Another Road Kill Raymond Riek, President, R&D Management Consulting, LLC
This presentation replayed a breakthrough product development project in the US automotive market.Presented by the project leader, this project was run independently within a large chemical company with a do-or-die approach organizational, personnel, customer, technical and manufacturing issues were discussed and compared to newly published studies in the field of breakthrough technology development Critical positive and negative lessons learned were highlighted.
Controlling New Product Development Risks: Technology, Project, and Market Dave Zawadzki, Product Manager Micromachined Products Division, Analog Devices Inc.
Delivering complex semiconductor products to demanding consumer end-product lead customers often means taking on considerable risk while hitting tight market windows. The success of an Analog Devices design win at a major customer meant going from design to production in a time not previously achieved, while simultaneously delivering new levels of design performance, software capability, and manufacturing technology. This case study demonstrated a pragmatic and effective risk management methodology that proactively identified, quantified, and managed a large set of risks, leading to a dramatic reduction in the overall product development risk profile in a very short time.
Product Innovation and Corporate Value Chip Holt, Adjunct Professor RIT School of Business and guest lecturer in the Masters of Product Development
This presentation discussed the imperative of product innovation as the creator of durable corporate value. It examined the value network established by corporations and the implications of that network toward the realities of business requirements. Chip defined a model and the need for a corporate engine of innovation. The characteristics of a durable value network were then examined in the three dimensions: Change Dynamics, Finite Characteristics of Product/Business Cycles, and Identifying and Managing Corporate Behavior.
The Product Development Process: It's about WINNING in the Marketplace Robert Boehner, Adjunct Professor Rochester Institute of Technology
Nearly every corporation has implemented the traditional "phase gate" oriented product development process (PDP) but in many companies PDP has become more and more focussed on improving efficiency - on internally oriented cost and and productivity benefits. Winning in the marketplace requires that firms manage a holistic process, of which the current PDP is just a part. Bob showed how a firm's PDP must be tightly integrated with the marketing-oriented process that focus the firm's efforts on all activities required for the success of new products - everything it takes to win in the marketplace.
Marketing Makable Products vs. Making Marketable Products Stan Caplan, President Usability Associates
Most products work by requiring specific human interactions with them. For a product to be successful, those interactions must be as thoughtfully designed as its hardware and software components. Enlightened development that considers the totality of interactions customers experience during its acquisition and ownership will result in a truly marketable product. This presentation will discuss the total user experience, signs indicating a company is just marketing makable products, and requirements for making marketable products with "swearless" user interactions.
"Choosing Technology Winners: A Systematic Approach" Gary M. Oosta, Ph.D., Patent Insights, Inc.
Technology managers and investors routinely face choices among apparently equivalent technology investment options. Visualization of technology development trends can provide a framework and a guide for making the most appropriate investment choices. The process can improve confidence in technology investment decisions by allowing both technical and non-technical managers to identify and interpret critical technology-related opportunities.In this presentation, a technology development hypothesis linking patenting patterns to the readiness of technology for commercialization will be discussed. Examples of patenting patterns and associated summaries will illustrate how patenting patterns can answer key technology-related business questions.
"The Valuation of R & D Projects" George Gibson and James Larson, Xerox Corporation
One of the hardest challenges the technical community faces is communicating the value of new projects and technologies to the business and investment community that must fund the work. Proper metrics for expressing the value of the projects under consideration are essential to making sound decisions. This presentation discusses the main methods of valuing new projects and technologies and the strengths and weaknesses of each.
"Bringing Creativity and Innovation to Life in a Corporation" Shari Rife, Manager of Creative Facilitation, Rich Products Corporation
"We start kindergarten with a full bucket of 64 brightly colored crayons... and we leave high school with one boring blue pen."
Does your company talk about being "Creative and Innovative", but when push comes to shove takes the path of familiarity rather than risk? Take an inside look at a successful Buffalo-based company and learn their secret of bringing Creativity and Innovation to life. You'll see how Creative Problem Solving has become their Corporate way of life, through the implementation of an effective Creative Facilitation program. You'll hear how ideas are being captured and sent throughout the organization to Innovation Champions, via an electronic "IdeaNet". And you'll experience how Innovative implementations are being documented, measured, shared, and celebrated. Creativity and Innovation have become not just buzzwords, but important drivers of this corporate culture. This engaging presentation will help show you how they could become a part of yours as well!
Benchmarking for Superior Performance Robert Camp, Principal, Best Practice Institute
Benchmarking is essential to any organization to ensure that credible goals, objectives and direction are set. The presentation will therefore cover how successful organizations have implemented this innovative technique and improvement approach that continues to gain acceptance.
The Office of the Future: A Technology Opportunity Rosemarie Nelson, Senior Market Development Manager, Welch Allyn
The Office of the Future Consortium is a research and development group of nine medical industry leaders that seeks to integrate medical devices with work flow processes to optimize productivity in the physician's office. The Consortium was founded in 1996 by Welch Allyn and Midmark, who were seeking ways to optimize design efficiency in the primary care environment and to expand the electronic capabilities of the physician's office thereby creating an environment that promotes improved medical care. The vision of the Office of the Future is to enable the frontline practitioner and their patients to achieve better outcomes through the acquisition, integration and management of clinical information. This PDMA presentation focusses on the opportunities and challenges of product delivery through a consortium.
