Overview

We start by making the assumption that we are working with a worse-case scenario. Someone has had an idea for a new product and has to take it forward, through to production. The process has not been done before and hence the production machine cannot be an off-the-shelf design. Even for a fairly standard metallizer it is probably a one-year long task, from the point of writing a machine specification and choosing a supplier, to accepting the machine on site.[1]

It is common to underestimate the time required to get to the point of production. So many of the items included in the timeline appear on the critical path but are controlled by others who may not be working to the same deadlines or with the same enthusiasm.

History shows that for most projects the time from idea to production is greater than three years and for many cases is often more than four years. Some of this time is the natural time taken to do the initial research and development. However, all too frequently quite a lot of time is lost from the point where the decision is made to take the process through to production (Fig. 19.1).

Figure 19.1: A typical timeline showing the time from idea to production.

The other aspects of developing a new product are to make sure there is a market for it and to make sure the market is ready to accept it when it becomes available.[2] It is essential that any...