Product development integration

The need for weU-trained technical service professionals is expected to continue as an essential aspect of the chemical industry, despite the phenomenal growth ia electronic methods of information storage, retrieval, and transmission. Advanced troubleshooting of complex customer processes and accelerated accurate product development and market introductions should continue to be principal elements of technical service personnel duties. Increased levels of integration, perhaps blurring the lines between suppHer and customer, may come to pass. There are already instances of personnel swapping between customers and suppHers for extended periods to allow cross-fertilization of ideas and provide more accurate perspectives for the companies involved in these efforts. Technical service and research personnel have been those persons most directly involved in such efforts. 

The integration of tools and techniques in the product development process... 

A key success factor for reducing the costs and lead times for vehicle manufacturers, for example, is the degree of integration of the suppliers within the product development process. This is seen as a natural extension to concurrent engineering principles (Wyatt et al., 1998). For many years, in engineering companies, a substantial proportion of the finished product, typically two thirds, consists of components or subassemblies produced by suppliers (Noori and Radford, 1995). 

Andreasen, M. M. and Hein, L. 1987 Integrated Product Development. London IFS Publications and Springer-Verlag. 

Wyatt, C. M., Evans, S. and Foxley, K. 1998 The Integration of Vehicle Manufacturers and their Suppliers Prior to Product Development. In Proceedings EDC 98. Bury St Edmunds Professional Engineering Publishing, 613-620. 

Implementing an inherent safety review process is one mechanism companies can use to institutionalize inherent safety. The review process should integrate well with company systems for process safety management, new product development, and project execution. Safety, health, and environmental considerations in the new product or process development effort can be strengthened via the introduction of the inherent safety review. Companies may also build inherently safer design concepts into their existing process safety management system and process hazard reviews. 

The DOD and NASA programs generally involve an aerospace firm that works with material suppliers to develop a material for a specific performance goal. In addition, the Government provides some research and development (R D) funds so the risk to the materials developer is minimized. In a sense, this is a case of vertical integration in which DOD or NASA is the end user and manages the complete product development. 

Fabrication of the prototype is an important step in product development. It demonstrates that the various components can indeed be physically integrated to form the final product with the desired functionalities. Consider a UV sensor. While its functionality depends on the physical response of a certain nanomaterial in the presence of UV light, an electric circuit and a display system are required for a functional consumer product. The availability of a prototype is essential in test marketing, safety tests, reliability tests and so on. However, the development of consumer-oriented products often involves a considerable amount of trial-and-error, which can lead to costly delays in product launching [10]. 

Integrated Drug Product Development — From Lead Candidate Selection to Life-Cycle Management... 

---