Value Driven Product Planning and Systems Engineering

Engineers and scientists often need to sell an innovative idea for a new product or a new product improvement to top management. Sometimes their tendency is to focus on the "WOW!" of the new technology at the expense of making a convincing business case. When the new technology represents a large cost reduction, there will be much less of a problem in convincing management to approve the project if the investment level is acceptable. The major rub comes when the new feature or technology is an improvement in customer value that also generates an increase in cost. This makes the sell difficult in spite of the fact that many of the inventive products available today are widely used because they provide very high value in relation to their added cost. Engineers and scientists also occupy product planning positions where they need to be constantly scanning ideas for improving value that comes both from inside and outside the company to see if they make sense to incorporate in a future product. At the same time they need to anticipate what their major competitors are likely to do to improve their next generation of product. These problems are exacerbated in today’s global economy because the number of competitors has increased markedly in many product segments and there are many technological alternatives available for consideration. The problem of anticipating the moves of your major competitor is particularly challenging because most firms keep plans very secure. The engineer as product planner must learn to think like its major competitor using customer value as a guide. __Value Driven Product Planning and Systems Engineering__ provides essential support for engineers and scientists who are required to make realistic business cases for new innovative product concepts. Front Matter....Pages i-xvii Customer Value: A Key Financial Metric....Pages 1-16 Assessing Value Using Surveys....Pages 17-31 Analyzing Stated Choice Surveys....Pages 33-58 Product Planning and Systems Engineering....Pages 59-84 Value Speculation in a Stock’s Price....Pages 85-90 Simulated Survey of Boston to Los Angeles Flights....Pages 91-96 Analysis of a Multinomial Stated Choice Survey....Pages 97-102 The Market for Hybrid and Diesel Mid-sized Sedans....Pages 103-109 Revealed Values: Minivan Trends....Pages 111-114 Effect of Market Dilution When Value Differs between Competitors....Pages 115-118 Value of Interior Noise in a Luxury Automobile....Pages 119-126 Quantifying the Trade-off between Acceleration Performance and Fuel Economy....Pages 127-132 Value of Mustang Options....Pages 133-139 Simulated Survey of Choice between Auto and Transit Bus Modes....Pages 141-147 Assessing Relative Brand Value....Pages 149-152 Value and Cost Benchmarking a Yogurt Market....Pages 153-157 Back Matter....Pages 159-213 Engineers and scientists often need to sell an innovative idea for a new product to top management. Those who occupy product planning positions also need to be constantly scanning ideas for improving value. The engineer as product planner must learn to think like its major competitor using customer value as a guide. This book provides essential support for engineers and scientists who are required to make realistic business cases for new product concepts. "Value Driven Product Planning and Systems Engineering essential support for engineers and scientists who are required to make realistic business cases for new innovative product concepts."--Jacket