Product Launch Plan "Checklist" and Procedure

Hi All,

Would anybody be willing to share the procedure and chacklist for a "New product launch plan" ?
Million thanks.

M.

I guess I'd like to know whether your new product will be "off-the-shelf" or custom to someone else's design. Will it be retail or wholesale? Will it be a capital expenditure for a customer or a component for an OEM?
what will your market be: local, national, international? Will it require regulatory approval from one or more government agencies? How big do you project the market in terms of quantity of products or dollar volume?

Answers to questions like that help focus the points you will want to cover in the product launch. Once you answer those questions, you can think about FMEA (Failure Mode & Effects Analysis), Control Plans, Inspection, customer satisfaction surveys, pricing, etc.

Hi Wes,

I am not sure I am able to answer all those questions.
The product will be custom and off-the-helf as well. One of our company has their own products, own design. Other two companies will only make custom products to someone else's design. We manufacture custom products for the off-road industry, forestry (i.e. Caterpillar, John Deer, Komatzu...just a few).
Our products wont require any approvals from government agencies.
As far as quantity, it will be mostly a low volume build (considerable dollar volume though).
I am not very experienced with documentation for new product launches, so if you could guide me I would very much appreciate it.

Thanks again,
M.

Mumus said:

Hi Wes,

I am not sure I am able to answer all those questions.
The product will be custom and off-the-helf as well. One of our company has their own products, own design. Other two companies will only make custom products to someone else's design. We manufacture custom products for the off-road industry, forestry (i.e. Caterpillar, John Deer, Komatzu...just a few).
Our products wont require any approvals from government agencies.
As far as quantity, it will be mostly a low volume build (considerable dollar volume though).
I am not very experienced with documentation for new product launches, so if you could guide me I would very much appreciate it.

Thanks again,
M.

Click to expand...

Mumus

You should check out the attachments directory and do a search. There are numerous threads here about APQP. Those should give you a good starting point.

Bigfoot said:

Mumus

You should check out the attachments directory and do a search. There are numerous threads here about APQP. Those should give you a good starting point.

Click to expand...

In my experience, "new product launch" is much more than simply making the manufacture as effective and efficient as possible. It has to do with finding or creating a market for the product and nurturing that market.

For some ideas on this topic, google the term "new product launch" (using the quote marks.) Pay special attention to points about avoiding positioning your product as a "me too, only cheaper" one and focus on what makes it better for the customer. (This may include quality, durability, efficiency, etc.)

Be sure to avoid wasting time trying to market to "bargain hunters" only interested in initial price and focus on folks who look at "value."

Above all, I want to stress this process is important and deserves serious attention from a multi-disciplinary viewpoint, not just one middle-level manager.

Hello Mumus,

Product launch is very much a part of the marketing plan - which is a complex interplay of corporate strategies, marketing strategies and the so-called 4P's or 5P's as some prefer to call it. There are simply too much variables and too fluid to have a procedure guiding it. Further more such plans are normally top secret.

I am guessing that you are from the technical department and you do have a technical support role (bear in mind that industrial marketing is quite different from consumer marketing) to play in product launches.

Some of the technical data and information that you need to prepare for product launches could be as follows:

Technical Data / specifications
Test reports
Product development reports if any - and any endorsements by third parties
Performance data if any - especially if developed jointly with principals
Product life cycle cost and benefits

You may need to help potential customers to develop:
Value analysis
Cost of quality analysis
Compatibility/modifications etc. and related cost estimates.

These are some of the items normally considered and to the best of my knowledge, there is no requirement for a procedure nor had I ever come across one. However, it your call/choice.

Hope I had guessed you requirements correctly.

LRR - Launch Readiness Review

Maybe you can use the Ford forms to check the launch readiness.

I did not see any copyright restrictions, so I have attached it.

I do not know however if this is the latest version.

Best regards,

Antoine

Thank you all, it's clear know.
Thanks for being here and helping out. I hope I can do the same for others.

Mumus