People have been developing products for thousands of years.
The general process is well understood: 1) Identify a need, 2) Imagine a product concept
that could address that need, 3) Create a prototype of the product, 4) Test it
and refine it until it works satisfactorily, 5) Produce, market, and sell it to
your customers. There are numerous
product development methodologies that are tailored to specific companies or
industries, but they follow this same pattern.
The Internet of Things (IoT) will transform each of those steps.
Let me define what I mean by IoT. I am using it in its broad context. The IoT is a network of devices, sensors,
actuators, computers, displays, and any other physical device you can imagine
that can communicate on a network. That
means it either creates, distributes, displays or reacts to data on the
network. And the network could be
hard-wired or wireless.
So, let’s consider what the IoT will mean to product
development.
Identifying a Need
The IoT will reduce the guesswork when it comes to
identifying a customer need. First, many
current products have little or no IoT presence, but they could. So, an obvious new product development is to
add IoT capability to existing products.
Then with the IoT information, look for defects, inefficiencies and
other problems with existing products and processes. These are the next obvious candidates for new
products.
Imagine a Product Concept
The characteristics of the concept will be affected by the
IoT. The developers will need to
consider the use of the product and all the ways that meaningful data could be
generated and used, both within the product and remotely. The communication capability of the product
can dramatically expand its ability to access data and coordinate its actions
with other nearby products and systems.
The product will no longer be an isolated and autonomous system. Now the
concept is an integrated system with significantly enhanced capabilities.
Create a Prototype
Now the IoT moves from not just the product and product idea, but
into the actual product development process.
With IoT technology, the developers can connect to 3D printers to create
prototype parts in a fraction of the time that was required formerly. In addition, since much of the product
functionality is likely to be based upon the software applications and both
onboard and remote processing, changes to functionality can be prototyped with
changes to a few lines of code. This
will also shorten the time it takes to create a prototype.
Many of us who have been through multiple development projects
know that you seldom get everything right with the first prototype. So you build a second or third until
you achieve the performance that is desired.
This often creates delays, overruns, and eventually cutting corners
elsewhere in the project. But again,
with the IoT and the 3D printing and nightly downloads of new software, many
prototypes can be quickly created and the lessons from one can be incorporated
into the next and so on. Implementing
the development best practice of iterative design and fast failure.
Refine and Test It
Now let’s consider how the IoT will impact the detailed
product design definition, process development and verification testing
processes. Both the new product IoT
capability and the IoT capabilities of the test equipment and manufacturing
process equipment will be used. The
product IoT will provide data throughout testing to establish a performance
database. And with an extensive use of
sensors in the product and the communication capability of IoT, this will be rich
source of data for “tweaking” performance and fully characterizing the product
characteristics. Add to this, the IoT
capability of the test equipment being used and the designers and developers
will have immediate access to extensive data that will both uncover hidden design
flaws and then demonstrate acceptable performance.
But the even bigger benefit is likely to be based upon the
IoT capability of the manufacturing process equipment – both in-house and at
suppliers. Manufacturing process
development is often costly. This is especially
true do to the ongoing changes when the doing concurrent engineering – that is
development the product and process concurrently. Yet this concurrent approach is used because an
even greater cost to the business is the delay in product launch that results
from doing the manufacturing process development sequentially after the product
development is finished. The IoT
simplifies the change process with manufacturing equipment and at suppliers by
electronically communicating design changes.
In addition, the IoT provides real-time process data so manufacturing
process issues – both in-house and at suppliers – are identified quickly,
reducing the time needed to qualify the production process.
Produce, Market, and Sell
The IoT will also improve our ability to product and market
the new product. Let’s talk about
production first. The IoT that is in the
production equipment will enable the application of predictive maintenance
algorithms that will reduce unplanned down-time and smooth production flow. In addition, the IoT sensors on the
manufacturing equipment will enable a higher degree of real-time statistical
process control that will decrease defects and improve overall product
quality. And to the extent that a
product is customized for each customer order, the IoT capability of the
product will allow the manufacturing process to install the unique software and
configuration just prior to packaging and shipping the product. This will also serve to smooth out
manufacturing flow and reduce scrap and rework.
The IoT can also enhance the marketing of the new
product. Of course, one obvious element
of marketing is to promote the IoT capability of the product and the advantages
for the customer. In addition, through
IoT interfaces, the marketing and sales personnel will know product
availability. Further, they can take a
customer’s unique order information and communicate it right to operations in
order to have a custom configured product.
Finally, the sales person, or even the customer, can track the
production and delivery status of the product to know when it is coming and to
be prepared for its arrival.
IoT is not just a buzzword or fad. It is transforming companies and
industries. It will also transform the
product development process.
