Consumer product development

In 1982, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first consumer product developed through modern genetic engineering a biosynthetic human insulin, sold under the trademark Humulin. The bacterially produced insulin created by Genentech and marketed by Eli Lilly revolutionized the treatment of diabetes, as it produced fewer immune reactions and its supply no longer depended on the availability of animals. 

Risk-Based Inspection. Inspection programs developed using risk analysis methods are becoming increasingly popular (15,16) (see Hazard ANALYSIS AND RISK ASSESSMENT). In this approach, the frequency and type of in-service inspection (IS I) is determined by the probabiUstic risk assessment (PRA) of the inspection results. Here, the results might be a false acceptance of a part that will fail as well as the false rejection of a part that will not fail. Whether a plant or a consumer product, false acceptance of a defective part could lead to catastrophic failure and considerable cost. Also, the false rejection of parts may lead to unjustified, and sometimes exorbitant, costs of operation (2). Risk is defined as follows ... 

Two more recent appHcations for amorphous siHcas are expected to grow to large volumes. Precipitated siHcas are used ia the manufacture of separator sheets placed between cells ia automotive batteries. Their function is to provide a controlled path for the migration of conductive ions as a result of the porosity of the siHca particles. Additionally, both precipitated siHcas and aerogels are being developed for use ia low temperature iasulation, where the low thermal conductivity of the dry siHca powders makes them useful ia consumer products such as refrigerators (83). 

In the area of consumer products, amperometric glucose sensors hold high potential. Industrially, process monitors for the manufacture of consumer chemicals are under development. However, replacement of defective reference electrodes, which in a laboratory environment may be trivial, may be prohibitively difficult m vivo or in an industrial process environment. 

Resources consumed in product development can be significant Team-based application and systematic approach is essential Many subjective analysis processes... 

Optoelectronic devices are found in numerous consumer products such as television, compact-disk players, laser communications, laser printers, radar detectors, cellular telephones, direct-broad-cast television, and many others. Many of these applications were developed in Japan and that country is still prominent in the field. 

These so-called Pareto-based techniques do not force consolidation over multiple criteria in advance and aim to return a representation of the set of optimal compounds. They support discussion between team members who may have different views on the downstream impacts of different risk factors perhaps, for example, one team member may know that there is a reliable biomarker for one potential side-effect. This would then mean that assessing this risk need not consume much development time and cost, and the risk factor can have a reduced weighting within the target product profile being evolved by the team. 

Sometimes, new values are added not only to the polymer itself, but also to the shape or physical state of the processed polymers to maximize the profit opportunity. For example, when a company develops a novel polymeric material and its manufacturing technology, the company may prefer to make their novel polymers available to customers in the form of intermediate consumer products, such as hi performance films or fibers, rather than manufacturing and selling bulk resins to industrial customers. To do so, the company should have a line of technical capabilities from polymer synthesis to consumer product manufacturing. 

Van Trijp, J.C.M. and Steenkamp, J.E.B.M., Consumer-oriented new product development principles and practice, in Innovation of Food Production Systems, Jongen, W.M.E. and Meulenberg, M.T.G., Eds., Wageningen Pers, Wageningen, 1998, 37. Luning, P.A. and Marcehs, W. 1., A food quality management functions model. Trends Food Sci. Technol., 18, 159, 2007. 

Van Kleef, E., Consumer research in the early stages of new product development, PhD thesis, Wageningen University, Wageningen, 2006. 

The determination and analysis of sensory properties plays an important role in the development of new consumer products. Particularly in the food industry sensory analysis has become an indispensable tool in research, development, marketing and quality control. The discipline of sensory analysis covers a wide spectrum of subjects physiology of sensory perception, psychology of human behaviour, flavour chemistry, physics of emulsion break-up and flavour release, testing methodology, consumer research, statistical data analysis. Not all of these aspects are of direct interest for the chemometrician. In this chapter we will cover a few topics in the analysis of sensory data. General introductory books are e.g. Refs. [1-3]. 

Let us consider a product developer who is trying to improve the taste of an existing product. The first question one could ask (and should ask before continuing) with the new product is does the new product taste different from the old product If trained panellists cannot establish a significant difference, it is hardly justifiable to do consumer tests, let alone launch the product on the market. A standard overall difference test is the triangle test (Fig. 38.1). In such a test one presents three samples, in no particular order, which should be tasted. Two out of the three samples are identical (e.g. the existing product, as a control) and the task is to identify the odd sample (the new product). If enough panellists correctly... 

The application range of cSFC-DFI-MS (Table 7.41) appears to be restricted either to the analysis of low-MW substances or to problems related to high-MW samples where low detection limits are not needed [124,444,445], The analysis of surfactants [446] by SFC-MS is frequently performed to demonstrate the feasibility of newly developed interface technology for practical applications. A rugged cSFC-MS method has been developed for the analysis of ethoxylated alcohols (AEs), which are non-ionic surfactants incorporated into a wide variety of industrial and consumer products [447]. cSFC-DFT-DFS was used for the analysis of low-MW, thermally unstable peroxides, and the higher-MW surfactants Triton X-100 and... 

Whereas the use of conventional fast atom bombardment (FAB) in the analysis of polymer/additive extracts has been reported (see Section 6.2.4), the need for a glycerol (or other polar) matrix might render FAB-MS analysis of a dissolved polymer/additive system rather unattractive (high chemical background, high level of matrix-, solvent- and polymer-related ions, complicated spectra). Yet, in selected cases the method has proved quite successful. Lay and Miller [53] have developed an alternative method to the use of sample extraction, cleanup, followed by GC in the quantitative analysis of PVC/DEHP with plasticiser levels as typically found in consumer products (ca. 30 %). The method relied on addition of the internal standard didecylphthalate (DDP) to a THF solution of the PVC sample with FAB-MS quantitation based on the relative signal levels of the [MH]+ ions of DEHP and DDP obtained from full-scan spectra, and on the use of a calibration curve (intensity ratio m/z 391/447 vs. mg DEHP/mg DDP). No FAB-matrix was added. No ions associated with the bulk of the PVC polymer were observed. It was... 

John C. Lang, Ph.D. Director of Emerging Technologies, Consumer Products Research and Development, Alcon Research Ltd., Fort Worth, Texas... 

Grunert K G, Bredahl L and Brunso K (2004), Consumer perception of meat quality and implications for product development in the meat sector - a review , Meat Sci, 66, 227-259. 

Vicki Barwick obtained a first degree in Chemistry from the University of Nottingham. She then joined the Laboratory of the Government Chemist (which became LGC in 1996) as an analyst in the Consumer Safety Group. Vicki was involved with a number of projects to assess the safety of consumer products, including developing test methods for the identification of colourants in cosmetics and the quantitation of phthalate plasticizers in child-care items. 

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