Developing an inventor support service which performs early stage market and manufacturing evaluations. Final report
American businesses are learning the difficult high cost lesson of ignoring production and market factors (producibility, unit product cost (UPC), marketability, etc) during the engineering design phase of product development. Studies have shown that the Japanese spend three times as long as Americans in the design feasibility and decision process of new product introductions and one third the amount of time in the implementation of those products. There is a 20 to 1 cost benefit on effort applied in the design phase versus the production phase of the product life cycle. The number one goal of this project was to establish an organization that has, as one of its purposes, the providing of services responsive to the needs of independent inventors. The number two goal was to demonstrate the value of providing marketing and manufacturing counsel at an early stage in the product development process. The first study goal was met by providing the materials and information necessary to establish an evaluation team and an organization to handle such evaluations. The second study goal was met by demonstrating the impact of early market analysis and manufacturing considerations on product design and therefore on the description of the invention for four different inventions. These inventions were selected at various stages of development. Regardless of stage of development, the marketing and manufacturing reviews resulted in significant changes in design and/or market positioning.
- Research Organization:
- Innovative Products Research and Services, Inc., Lexington, MA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- FG02-90CE15983
- OSTI ID:
- 10187718
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/CE/15983-T1; ON: DE93002523
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: Oct 1991
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
WE-H-204-01: William D. Coolidge, Inventor of the Modern X-Ray Tube
A profile of Michigan independent inventors and partnering activity: 1991 survey. Final report