The product development process (NPD) gets a new look
It is the result of collaborative work by the NPD committee, which brings together the business lines involved in the projects.It will be deployed this spring to all the teams.In practical terms, the NPD describes the activities enabling a market opportunity to be transformed into a product available for sale.Its redesign is part of the group’s transformation policy.
“From the initial idea to final production, each project follows a formalized path with key stages. Our mission was to re-write the content of this development process which needed to change to reflect the work of the teams,” explain Arnaud Robardey and Benoît Baleydier, the project leaders in charge of this redesign.
It all started from a simple fact: the development process was suffering from a lack of ownership and understanding on the part of the teams. “This analysis led us to define five objectives: draft a clearer, more precise development process, give the business lines more responsibility, integrate the missing business lines and lastly ensure the NPD is sustainable in the long-term.We also worked on more robust document management.”
The result of a team effort
Arnaud and Benoît have meticulously prepared the groundwork to ensure that all the business lines share the same vision of the development process.
In the organization, a product project brings together a project team within which the project leader coordinates the relevant business lines.Each business line from marketing and R&D to service, purchasing, regulations, industrialization, etc., has a representative in the team. This representative is the voice of their department and provides the deliverables required to validate the milestone.
“We wanted to inject a “project culture” by highlighting the interactions between the business lines.This is a new way of looking at things which provides real added value, as it leads to improvement and performance.”
Arnaud and Benoît selected a collaborative method to ensure that the NPD is understood and validated by everyone. They have created an NPD committee bringing together a representative for each business line. Each then launched an internal work group to draft the contribution of their departments.
A new “project culture” is taking shape
The NPD will be officially launched in the spring. Its deployment will be based on several media. Firstly, the NPD committee plans to deliver reference guides with self-standing easel-style bases explaining each milestone for validation in detail. “It is an essential tool to have a common basic terminology.”
The teams will also receive a more detailed kit with a formalized dashboard in particular. With a view to continuous improvement, employees will have access to a training program on Haulotte Academy.
Finally a document management system will be set up to standardize the various project deliverables, their storage and validation. It will allow all the documents for a project to be found easily in case of an internal or external audit.
New tools for more efficient work!
Further reading
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Innovation: the Heart of our Ambition
Fostering a culture and spirit of innovation
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Let’s Invent
Workshops to understand the innovation process and awards for inventors
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