NEWS/NEWSLETTERS

January 2012: Want to Create a Great New Product?
User-friendliness is the inevitable result of a smart design approach, not the starting point. Here are three criteria to help you develop a useful design brief that will ultimately yield a great product.

December 2011: The Power of Questions
Rob Connely, President of Henny Penny Corporation, recently wrote a nice article about how Henny Penny has used questions to create a successful new product development program.

November 2011: A Bad Economy Great for Innovation?
How can companies like Stanley Black and Decker continue to innovate during tough economic times? The same way successful companies have been doing it for years.

October 2011: The Little Engine That - Couldn't
This posting is an interesting take on the old story of “The Little Engine that Could” with a twist, especially as it applies to new product development. The moral of the story: “Sometimes it pays to call in a professional!”

September 2011: User Inspired Design
There seems to be a common misunderstanding of user research and user-centered design. Too many people believe that user centered design involves asking users what they want and then building exactly what they asked for. This is far from the truth.

August 2011: 5 Ways to "Reinvent" a Simple Product
Simple products are often the most challenging to innovate. Imagine being the product manager tasked with developing new innovations in the marshmallow market. Marshmallows are used in a variety of applications (recipes). They’ve been around nearly 60 years, and most people have already tried just about every size, shape and color.

July 2011: Innovate With Companion Products
You’ve spent years developing the perfect product. It’s designed to be the most durable, powerful and attractive of its kind. It will ensure your success. There’s only one problem. Days before launch while doing online research, you discover that your competition has also designed “the most durable, powerful and attractive product of its kind”.

June 2011: Putting Innovation at the Heart of Your Business
Innovation is all about doing things differently, exploiting new ideas and taking risks. It enables businesses to bring new and improved products or services to market, re-energise brands, refine processes and, most importantly, improve profitability.

May 2011: Stay Small, Stay Profitable
Economies of scale are well understood. Bigger factories are more efficient, bigger distribution networks are more efficient, bigger ad campaigns can be more efficient. It’s often hard to defeat a major competitor, particularly if the market is looking for security and the status quo.

April 2011: How to Make Innovation Part of Your Company DNA
In any industry, organizations that innovate constantly and relentlessly have a big competitive advantage over those that do not. So how can you make innovation part of your company’s DNA, an integral element of its culture?

March 2011: Mighty-Right Impact Driver — the Right Kind of Power Tool Innovation
Sometimes successful innovation is as simple as designing your product for a specific application. Take Malco’s new Mighty-Right right angle impact driver. This compact power tool was developed especially for contractors who specialize in the repair and installation of ductwork, diffuser boxes, furnace jackets or equipment enclosures.

February 2011: Innovate to Thrive - No Risk, No Innovation
Part two in a series of articles by Robert Brands discusses the need and importance of taking risks to achieve successful innovations. Since the high failure rate, organizations pursuing the practice of innovation must have a tolerance for failure.

January 2011: Innovate to Thrive - The Importance of Inspiration
Innovation is the key to your company's survival. It is an imperative and must be an integral part of your organization. Innovation — it must be encoded in your corporate DNA. This is true no matter the size of your organization. Now, it is more important than ever for business leaders to institute innovation programs and manage them effectively.

October 2010: Ten Principles for Good Design
Back in the early 1980s, Dieter Rams was becoming increasingly concerned by the state of the world around him – “an impenetrable confusion of forms, colours and noises.” Aware that he was a significant contributor to that world, he asked himself an important question: is my design good design?

September 2010: Nine Ways to Ignite Innovation Inside Your Company
If you’re going to survive this season of turmoil, you must innovate your way out of it. Here are some tips that can have your whole company lighting up the economic darkness with one bright idea after another.

July 2010: Case Study: Hi-Ground Scaffolds and Finite Element Analysis
Hi-Ground Scaffolds asked the Malco Design and Deliver Group for assistance with a problem they were having with a new drywall cart design. Though the idea behind Hi-Ground's innovation was to add handles onto the cart in order to provide added usability and rollover safety, the starting point for the cart's improvements was a generic design that Hi-Ground already marketed. The Malco D2 Group used FEA to detect and fix the cart design problem. Read on.

June 2010: More Benefits of Design for Manufacturability
Research has shown that decisions made during the design period determine 70% of the product's costs. Implementing Design for Manufacturability (DFM) can identify potential issues that affect these costs. Last month we talked about how Design for Manufacturability results in lower capital investment, quicker time to market, and improved quality and reliability. This month, we'll cover five more benefits that derive from applying the principles of DFM. Read on.

May 2010: Benefits of Design for Manufacturability
Design for Manufacturability (DFM) can make a critical difference in getting your product to market and generating revenue. The "Tool and Manufacturing Engineers' Handbook" defines Design for Manufacturability as the practice of designing products with manufacturing in mind. Design for Manufacturability is based on the proactive practice of identifying potential issues and planning for them before they arise. In upcoming newsletters, we'll discuss the benefits of implementing Design for Manufacturability. Read on.

April 2010: Innovation Knows no Recession
During a recession, you need to continue having the confidence to know that moving new ideas to market will help you grow. Keep in mind that more market share changes occur during a recession than during good times. Your new product pipeline should be directed at your best growth opportunities, those that point the way to the future of your business. Read on.

March 2010: The Five Competencies of Thomas Edison
In today's hyper-competitive marketplace, breakthrough innovation often can be stimulated by looking to the past. Here are the Five Competencies of Thomas Edison, and how they apply to current best practices in new product development. More information on the five competencies may be found in a new book by Michael Gelb and Sarah Caldicott, Innovate Like Edison: The Five-Step System for Breakthrough Business Success. Read on.

February 2010: Why Quality and Innovation Still Matter
In today's economic climate, it's tempting to buy into the notion that price has become king, and that substance, quality and innovation no longer matter. But while low price and copycat products may have their day, joining the crowd to make them is not a viable business model for companies that wish to enjoy stronger growth and superior margins than their competitors. When it comes to new product development, quality and innovation still matter. Read on.

January 2010: Benefits of Seeing a Problem Through a Fresh Pair of Eyes
Product ideation is often referred to -- for good reason -- as "structured creativity." Like everything related to the application of creativity, this product ideation works best when the activities follow a structured process; when the problem is clearly defined, when the solution is clearly sought, and when out of the box thinking leads to increased creativity. Read on

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