Information for Project
Sponsors
ver. 06-sept-06
Welcome to the New Product Design and Business Development (NPDBD) program. The
NPDBD faculty hope the experience will be beneficial to your company and will
lead to a successful new product launch. The purpose of this document is to provide
information about the program and answer many questions you may have about project
logistics and administration. At the end of the document, you will find a check-list
of action items for sponsors to complete before the project begins. Note that
program web site (www.npdbd.umn.edu/) is the best and most up-to-date place to
go for information, including the current version of this document.
Class Organization
NPDBD is a two-semester (nine month) course where most of the students' time is
spent developing the new product. Project work is accompanied by a series of lectures
covering the basics of new product design and business development in the context
of the projects. The class meets every Monday and Wednesday from 8:00 to 9:30 AM.
The Monday meeting is a whole-class session with a lecture or student presentations.
The Wednesday meeting is devoted to team meetings (including faculty and company reps)
in separate locations at the University.
As the course proceeds, the number of whole class sessions is reduced to allow
for more team meeting time. A complete course schedule is available on the web.
Students are responsible learning new product development process via the material
covered in lecture, the course text and other readings. Otherwise, all student
work concerns the project.
Project Dates
The project starts on the first day of the University Fall Semester (usually around
Sept. 7) and finishes at the end of the Spring Semester (usually around May 13).
Exact dates can be found on the schedule posted on the web site. The students
will have their first contact with the company at the project kick-off meeting
(explained later in this document) which takes place a week or two into the Fall
Semester. Before then we focus on building teams and introducing the product development
process.
Work Locations
Weekly team meetings take place at the University, although occasional
meetings at the company may be scheduled as needed. Engineering prototype
development is shared between University and company locations in whatever
way is most convenient. Although the University is well-equipped with shops
and design facilities, it does not have sufficient secure laboratory space
to accommodate all of the projects.
Milestones and Deliverables
Specific team deliverables are detailed in the "Deliverables" section
of the web site. Generally, they reflect these goals:
End of Fall Semester
Product and marketing concept formed, market segment and target market defined.
Working demonstration hardware or early prototype fabricated to demonstrate familiarity
with product and technology. Detailed plan for gathering market information formulated.
Detailed project plan for spring created. Fall Semester Project Review presentation.
Written report which will have a one or two page project summary, copies of the
presentation transparencies and appendices with additional information or tasks
that have been accomplished. Also, during Fall Semester, a Project Analysis report
is completed (see below).
End of Spring Semester
Product and market concepts refined. Customer needs and competitor analysis completed.
Testable product prototype created in a form suitable for gathering customer reaction.
Market research completed. Working product prototype fabricated and tested. Hand-off
plan developed. Patent application completed. Final Project Review. Final report
consisting of an executive summary, project overview, marketing and/or business
plan, engineering report, manufacturing report and hand-off plan.
Project Reviews
Formal project reviews will occur at the end of Fall and Spring semesters, usually
during exam week. Approximately 90 minutes are allotted to cover a 45 minute formal
presentation by the student members of the team followed by 45 minutes of questions
and discussion. We prefer that the project reviews be held at the company in a
presentation facility large enough to hold the project team plus other company
representatives. We encourage you to publicize the reviews widely within your
organization because it not unusual for 15 to 20 company members to attend. A
light lunch or other refreshments following the presentation is always welcome.
The presentation time, date and place should be scheduled (in consultation with
the NPDBD faculty) well in advance. Occasionally, and with your approval, we may
wish to invite distinguished guests (for example, a Department Head or Dean) to
attend a Project Review. The visitors will sign a non-disclosure agreement prior
to attending.
Reports
The student team members will write an interim project report at the end of Fall
Semester, and a formal document at the end of Spring Semester. The reports document
the technical and business accomplishments of the team. Their contents are listed
in the Deliverables section. If there is information you would like included in
the reports or if you wish the reports to be formatted in a particular style,
please make your wishes known to the students well in advance.
The Team
"The Team" means students, two faculty assigned to the project and core
company representatives. When you say "the team", it does not mean just
the students, although clearly the students will be doing most of the daily
work on the project. Thus when decisions are made by the team, that automatically
means the company participates because the company is part of the team.
This is an important point to remember because it prevents schisms between
the company and the University or between the company and the students.
No, "us versus them". Everyone is in this together.
Student Team Members
Each team includes five to ten graduate students, approximately one half business
(CSOM, MHA, HHH) and one half engineering (IT, BME). On the first day of class,
students express their project preferences based on brief, written descriptions
provided by the companies (explained below) and discussion with the faculty. The
faculty form the project teams based on student preference, balance of engineering/business
and student background and skills. We have found that highly motivated teams result
from students making their own choices rather than trying to optimize the match
of student skills to project needs. Because the students are registered for a
4-credit course, they are each obligated to devote approximately 10 hours per
week to the project (including lectures and reading), or approximately 150 hours
per semester. The actual workload varies considerably from week to week and tends
to be deadline driven. Also, students will generally be unavailable between semesters
and during school vacations. The posted schedule has all the details.
Faculty Participation
Each team is assigned a primary faculty member. The
faculty is part of the core team, will attend most weekly meetings and
will participate actively in developing the product. He or she will also
be the primary contact between the company and the University on questions
of procedure, logistics and project administration. Other faculty
may participate in the product development, but at a lower level of involvement.
Company Participation
The project is a joint endeavor between the University of Minnesota and
your company and should not be viewed as a project being handed over to
the University to work on alone. A successful product will result only
if all team members (students, faculty, company liaisons) are active on
a daily basis. Some companies have found it useful to assign additional
staff and resources to the project during Winter and Spring quarters to
help gather market information and produce prototypes and to simplify the
hand-off process at the end of the project.
Project Leadership
The teams are best described as self-directed work groups. Early on, teams will
select among the students a team leader whose job is to ensure the team remains
on track. This role may be filled by a different person each month.
Meetings are typically run by a facilitator and scribe. The former sets
the agenda, keeps the meeting on task and ensures the everything ends on
time. The latter records decisions and action items for latter distribution
to the group by e-mail. The facilitator and scribe roles rotate weekly
among team members. Most tasks are accomplished by subgroups who organize
themselves in whatever way makes most sense for getting the job done.
Faculty and company liaisons have a delicate role and should view themselves
as coaches rather than project directors. They should be cautious of dictating
project direction or product concepts and instead should ensure that best
practices of new product development are followed. This will be particularly
difficult when decisions must be made based on insufficient information.
However, faculty and liaisons should also take advantage of their knowledge
and expertise to provide team guidance when required, rather than letting
the team flounder. So, don't over nor under direct. Provide guidance versus
orders. Lay out the issues, present your ideas, provide your reasoning
and let the team make the choices.
Company Liaison(s)
The liaison is the primary contact with the company and is a core member
of the project team. The liaison is not the team leader, but can provide
appropriate direction and guidance to the project from the company perspective.
It is essential that the liaison attend the weekly team meetings which
generally are held at the University. The liaison should also be readily
available to the students through phone, fax and (preferably) e-mail. An
important role of the liaison is to serve as a conduit between the project
team and people within the company who have access to needed information.
It is advantageous if at the start of the project, appropriate contacts
are identified from all departments of the company (e.g. engineering, marketing,
finance, manufacturing, industrial design, patents) which may have an impact
on the project.
The liaison can be from engineering or marketing. It works best to have
two liaisons, one from engineering, one from marketing. The liaisons can
then alternate attendance at the weekly team meetings, although it is preferable
that both attend every meeting.
Attending weekly meetings at the University is generally the biggest resource
drain for the company, but this commitment must be made for the project to proceed.
Use of University Resources
The project teams have access to all of the resources normally provided to students
at the University including the libraries and academic computing facilities and
machine shops. Specialized resources in the Department of Mechanical Engineering
include a fully equipped student shop (including a late-model Bridgeport 5-axis
CNC mill), a Stratasys FDM 1650 fused-deposition modeling rapid prototyping machine
and many engineering software packages including Pro/ENGINEER, ANSYS, Matlab and
Lincages. Use of research labs by the project hinges on making a connection between
the lab director (a University faculty member) and the project. Prior connections
have been made with the Center for Microelectromechanical Systems ( Erdman), the
Human/Machine Design Lab (Durfee), the Carlson Center for Entrepreneurial Studies
(Cardozo) and the Department of Biomedical Engineering (Erdman, Durfee, Iaizzo).
Students are also free to contact faculty experts throughout the University for
information and advice in a variety of relevant areas.
Confidentiality and Intellectual Property Policy
Please review the standard Confidentiality and Intellectual Property (C &
IP) Agreement document located on the web site as soon as you can, and have it
verified by your company's legal department. This agreement was developed after
substantial negotiations between the University and prior NPDBD program companies
and we feel it satisfies the basic needs of the company, students and the University.
Modifications are difficult to make since the same agreement must be used for
all projects in a given year of the program. Highlights of the agreement are that
patent ownership belongs to the company and confidentiality is maintained, although
students and faculty are free to publish non-confidential information about the
project once it is completed. Any questions about the agreement should be referred
to Durfee.
The C & IP agreement will be signed by all students and faculty
in the course, not just those on your team. This facilitates team interaction
and enables the faculty and students to generalize what is being learned
from each project. We have found sharing information to be one of the best
methods for learning about and improving the product development process.
Overall, it is beneficial to the company since you have the benefit of
many more students and faculty thinking about your product.
We will generate copies of the C & IP and will have each student
and faculty sign two copies. Both copies will be delivered to you for signing
by the company, after which you deliver one copy back to us. All of this
takes place one or two weeks into the course.
In addition to the C & IP agreement signed by team members, we have
a standard non-disclosure agreement which is used for outside guests who
wish to attend lectures, team meetings or design reviews where confidential
information may be discussed. This is also available on the web site.
Project Choice
The project undertaken by the team must be selected carefully by the company in
consultation with the course faculty to provide an appropriate educational experience
for the students, to provide benefit to the company and to ensure the maximum
chance for success. The general area of the product should be known, but specific
product requirements should not be dictated to enable full exploration of market
opportunities by the product development team. The project must have a balance
of engineering and business challenges.
The products should have significant engineering content - in contrast
to clothing, books or paper clips - because skilled student and faculty
engineers will be part of the team. The product should come in discrete
units - in contrast to food, material or petroleum products - because the
latter are typically driven by process control issues. The products should
be physical - in contrast to software, information or service products
- to take fullest advantage of the talents and skill of the design teams
and faculty coaches. Mechanical, electronic or electromechanical products
(including those with embedded computers) are particularly good choices
as are non-inplantable medical devices.
Often, the best choice is a novel product which the sponsor would like
to see developed, but is in an area in which the sponsor does not have
existing expertise, or is one for which there are insufficient resources
to develop the product completely in-house.
Project Descriptions
By August 15, please provide two versions of the project description via e-mail
to Durfee or another NPDBD faculty The first should be a one page (no more) description
which the students will use to make their project choices. The second should be
a 1 paragraph description suitably "sanitized" so it can be used when describing
the project to those who have not signed the confidentiality agreement. The latter
is important when we market our program to University administrators.
E-Mail
Much of the intra-team communication takes place through Internet electronic mail.
We set up a group e-mail list for each project and encourage team members to send
e-mail to the group even if it is directed to a single person. The company core
team members will be included on this list and should check their e-mail once
or twice daily (more often is preferred) to stay current on team activities. In
fact, it is impossible to keep up with what the team is doing without this e-mail
connection. If your company does not have e-mail or if your e-mail system does
not have an Internet gateway, core company team members should sign up with an
Internet provider ( AOL) for dialup access to e-mail. These accounts should be
in place before the start of the project. Please send the names and e-mail addresses
of those who will be on the group e-mail list to Durfee before the project begins.
Web Site
Each project will have a reasonably secure World Wide Web site on a University
computer. The team can use the site as an intranet for archiving meeting
minutes, decisions and other project documents.
Project Fee
Sponsoring companies pay a project fee of $25,000 to partially offset the
instructional costs associated with the course. Independent firms with
total revenues of under $1 million per year pay a reduced fee of $10,000.
You will receive an invoice for the project fee from the Carlson School.
One half is due on January 1, the other on June 1. As soon as possible,
provide us with the name, mailing address and telephone number of the individual
to whom we should send the invoice.
Other Project Costs
In addition to the project fee, the design team will incur project costs
to, for example, conduct marketing surveys, hold focus groups, construct
prototypes and produce reports. We suggest that the sponsoring company
support all expenses associated with these and other activities at the
same level as it would if the team were internal. Company resources (such
as internal prototyping shops) should also be available for use by the
team when appropriate. Also, it can be very beneficial to send one or two
of the student team members to an industry trade show relevant to the project.
Each time a major cost is anticipated (e.g. for a professionally-run focus
group), the team (including company liaisons) should determine if that
cost is appropriate. At the start of the project, every team member should
have an understanding of the approximate project budget and what resources
will be made available to the team. There will be many incidental costs
as well, for example, report printing and binding, copying and telephone.
For the latter, we suggest you provide each student team member with a
pre-paid long-distance phone card for making project related calls. In
addition, the University will provide each team with a small discretionary
fund out of the course budget to cover expenses which are course, but not
project related.
Each team will appoint a treasurer to track project expenses via a check
book style register and handle petty cash expenses. You should work out
with the treasurer how out-of-pocket expenses will be approved and reimbursed.
Project Information Packets
At the project kick-off meeting, you should provide each student and faculty
member with copies of an information packet about the project. The purpose
of the packet is to bring students and faculty up to speed as quickly as
possible by minimizing the time spent acquiring and assimilating the background
necessary for the project to be a success.
The packet should contain the following, although suitable equivalents
are also welcome. Emphasis should be on the division or business unit which
will undertake the new product.
-
List of key company marketing and engineering contacts for the project
with name, title, telephone, fax, e-mail and responsibility areas.
-
Statement of the project product design challenge, market need and company
expectations.
-
Annual report or other documents which describe company history, core products
and financial position.
-
Descriptive brochures about the company and its products.
-
Catalogs and/or data sheets of related products made by company and its
competitors.
-
Description of typical route(s) to market for company products, including
functions performed and margins received by intermediaries.
-
List of competitors in the proposed product area.
-
Trade journal articles which cover the proposed product area.
-
Copies of key company patents which describe core technologies.
-
Description of the product development process normally followed by the
company. If appropriate, include your company product development process
document.
-
URL of company or business unit web site (if exists).
-
Other information which might be useful to the development team.
Preparation of the packets will take some time so please start on this
task early. Ask your faculty contact for the final number of copies to
make.
Project Kick-Off Meeting
The project will formally start with a 60 to 90 minute kick-off meeting
which should be held at the company. This is when the project is formally
introduced and the students and core company representatives meet each
other. It also provides an opportunity for others in the company who will
have peripheral involvement with the project to meet the team members and
gain an understanding of the project's purpose, goals and initial strategy.
(Therefore, invitations to the kick-off should be sent to all company members
who are or might be connected to the project.) Providing refreshments or
a light meal will help keep this event upbeat.
The meeting date and time is limited to either Monday or Wednesday morning, 7:30 to 9:30
AM, in the third week of the semester. See the schedule on the course web site
for exact dates. We are limited to these days and times because it guarantees everyone on the
University side is available.
The kick-off meeting is run by the company with the primary project
liaison acting as host. A possible agenda follows:
-
Introductions all around.
-
Hand out project information packets (see above)
-
History and overview of the company. Strengths and weaknesses.
-
Project introduction (description, context, market, competitors)
-
Project scope
-
Project purpose
-
Project goals
-
Company expectations
-
Projected budget and company resources available to the project
-
Company product development process
-
Discussion
It would help to make copies for attendees of any transparencies used.
Because the meeting time is short, a company
facility tour is best left for another date, unless it is brief.
Project Analysis
The first major activity the student members of the team will undertake
is a project analysis (PA) of the sponsoring company or business unit,
the project charter and the market and business context for the project.
The deliverable for the students is a comprehensive written report due
midway through the Fall Quarter, a copy of which goes to the company. The
purpose of the PA is to enable the team to shape its mission statement,
to form and realize the challenges of its product development strategy,
and to understand the company's current situation and strategy. Another
purpose is to create an early, well-defined task which forces a close working
relation between the students and the company. The PA includes a history
of the organization, descriptions of the organization's current and prospective
strategy, statements of markets served, market position, product/service
offerings, core technologies, R&D and manufacturing capabilities, and
financial profile. It also includes descriptions of the organization's
new product development process, the rationale for the chosen project and
a project mission statement.
Producing a comprehensive PA will require considerable and detailed information
gathering by the students. Company representatives from marketing, engineering,
manufacturing, sales and finance should be prepared to have student team members
contact them for printed material and interviews. You should look upon this as
an opportunity for your business unit to be evaluated by neutral, outside observers
and the resulting report should be of value to your organization. The students
will be following the "Project Analysis Brief" document which can be found in
the Deliverables section of the course web site. It is HIGHLY recommended that
you read the brief to facilitate the information gathering task.
Project Evaluation
The primary responsibility for assessing student performance rests with
the course faculty, however, it is expected that the company liaison as
well as others in the company associated with the project will provide
input.
Students receive letter grades at the end of each semester. Grading is based on
effort and contribution to the product development process and is assessed by
faculty evaluation and anonymous peer reviews by team members. At the end of each
semester, the students also provide anonymous evaluations of their sponsoring
company (which we will pass along to you) and course faculty. An evaluation questionnaire will be given to you at the end of the project
to provide feedback on how the process did or did not work and how the
program could improve in the future.
Providing Information
Good product design requires knowledge of the market, past design efforts,
patent positions, manufacturing capabilities, financial expectations and
other information. As much as possible, the company should share this information
freely with the design team. For example, the team may request information
to help them generate financial forecasts for the new product. Here, it
might be helpful to provide the team with a spreadsheet containing data
for a current product (real or imagined) which shows how such forecasts
should be computed and formatted.
Witholding information under the philosophy that, "well, the students
should learn by figuring everything out for themselves", is a bad idea.
The more you share with the entire team, the more chance for success.
Commitment
The company must provide its full support to the mission and activities
of the design team for the entire nine month period of the project. Companies
cannot pull out because the students and faculty have made a substantial
commitment of their time to these projects and cannot be left hanging.
If the team determines half way through that the wrong product choice was
made and the project should be killed, work can shift to a related project.
Learning when and how to kill a product development effort is an important
lesson for all product developers.
Realistic Expectations
The deliverables at the end of the nine months include one or more working
prototypes, a detailed engineering report and a comprehensive business
plan. Although the students are expected to perform at a level that will
result in substantial benefit to the company, no guarantees can be made.
It is important to realize the main purpose of the course is to provide
an appropriate educational experience to the student rather than a direct
service to the company. If the company needs guaranteed deliverables, a
better approach may be to develop the product internally or to contract
with an independent market research or product development firm.
Initial goals will be set for the project early in the Fall Semester. From past
experience, we know that project direction and goals often change based on information
learned from the market or technology development. This is a normal part of the
product development process and projects which follow best practices will have
the flexibility to change direction without endangering the project mission.
NPDD Faculty Contacts
Once the course is underway, your main contact for administrative questions
about the program will be the primary NPDBD faculty assigned to your team.
Before then, please feel free to contact either of the NPDD faculty below
for answers to your questions.
Professor William Durfee
Department of Mechanical Engineering
University of Minnesota
111 Church St., S.E.
Minneapolis, MN 55455
tel: 612-625-0099, fax: 612-625-4344
e-mail: wkdurfee@umn.edu |
Professor Carl Adams
Information/Decision Sciences
3-314 CarlSMgmt
321 19th Ave S
Minneapolis, MN 55455
tel: 612-625-3542, fax: 612-626-1316
e-mail: adams003@umn.edu |
Action Item Checklist for Sponsors
Before Project is Approved
-
Discuss project with one or more NPDBD faculty members. Agree on project
scope.
-
Review confidentiality and intellectual property agreement. Transmit any
concerns to Durfee. (Note that changes are very difficult to make because
the same agreement is used by all projects in the course.)
-
Review fee structure and seek approval for costs from company management.
Costs include the project fee and product development costs (prototyping,
marketing and reports).
-
Seek approval for company liaison(s) to attend weekly team meetings at
the University.
-
Receive verbal commitment from NPDBD faculty and company that project will
be undertaken.
- Sign NPDBD Project Agreement form
After Project is Approved
-
Pick project engineering and marketing liaison(s) Send contact (name, title,
phone, fax and e-mail) to faculty contact
-
Write one-page description of project which will be used by students to
select among projects. Transmit by e-mail of fax to faculty contact two
weeks before first class.
- Write one or two paragraph "sanitized", non-confidential description of project
which can be used by the Univesity to market the NPDBD program. Transmit by e-mail
to faculty contact before the program begins.
-
Prepare copies of project information packet for handout at project kick-off.
-
Send e-mail addresses of those who should be on the group e-mail list.
- E-mail to Cardozo name, mailing address, telephone number of person to whom
invoice for the project fee should be sent.
-
Schedule, publicize and prepare for project kick-off meeting.
- Read the "Project Analysis Brief", located under the Deliverables section
of the course web site. Prepare for information gathering by the students during
the first few weeks of the project.
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