Product Development Life Cycle – Understanding The Steps and Stages!

The product development life cycle consists of many important aspects to consider when you want to develop a new product from scratch. As an entrepreneur or product creator may know, the product is the sole reason behind creating interest among customers and driving sales. However, the process of taking your half-baked idea from inception to product launch is hectic and somewhat complex. One should know that each process of the product development life cycle will be a little different based on the end product. However, the process is almost the same when looking at the main steps of product development.

A step-by-step plan is indeed crucial when we are talking about new product development, of course, if you want the product to succeed in the market. Each and every phase of product development has its own importance in the product development cycle. Whether you are a newcomer or an experienced entrepreneur opting for building a creative and powerful product from scratch, you will need to find an expert product development company such as GID Company. Let’s move forward to find out more about the product development life cycle and process.

What is Product Life Cycle?

The product life cycle is the amalgamation of stages a product goes through from its launch in the market to termination. There is a minor difference between the product life cycle and the product development life cycle. That’s the reason why most people often consider both terms the same. You will get more ideas by comparing the important stages of the product life cycle and product development life cycle. The main stages of the product life cycle are as follows:

Introduction

The product is in the introduction phase and new to the market. The introduction phase begins once the product is launched in the market for the end user. The customers or end users will use the product for its specific purpose.

Growth

When the product is becoming popular among its customers, it will be gaining traction and grow consistently. The growth stage will depend on various factors such as the quality of the product, the price range, and how useful it is for people.

Maturity

The product reaches the maturity stage in the product life cycle when it reaches peak market penetration. The product reaches its maximum limit to grow in the market and eventually, will keep holding its position or degrade over time but not exceed the peak point.

Decline

The product will lose its market share over time after it obtains the maturity stage. The product may have to be discontinued under circumstances where the product owners deal with the loss for a considerable period of time.

Product Development Life Cycle For New Products

Basically, a product life cycle is a process of developing a new product by generating a new idea and defining the development process to creating a product prototype model and later on, developing, and launching the actual product. The product development life cycle actually describes how a product goes through each and every stage from inception to launch.

The process actually explains how the new product ideas are actually brought to the market after their successful and precise design and development. The product development experts will craft a well-planned and efficient process to ensure reducing the risk and maximize the chances of leading the product in traction. The product development life cycle defines the accurate path for new product development.

7 Stages Of Product Development Life Cycle

Product development is a process that involves the creation of a new product or service. It starts with an idea, which is then developed into a prototype and can be tested for viability. The process then continues to the production phase, where the product is manufactured and sold to customers. Finally, the product can be improved or changed in order to meet customer needs. Highlighting the different ways to categorize steps in the product development process, here are the important 7 key stages of the product development life cycle. 

Ideation

Generating new ideas for new product development is indeed the first step in the product development life cycle. The main motive of the product development company is to identify new problems as well as opportunities and have a clear idea of how to resolve them. The best thing to not do in the ideation stage is to judge the feasibility of the idea. Take the help of professionals if you want to let creative ideas flow through the product you are developing. The ideation stage involves market research, competitive research, and customer analysis to define the product scope, features, and needs.

Validation

Following through the ideation stage in which you might have a list of creative product ideas through brainstorming, the second stage of product development begins. The validation stage actually is taken into account to filter through product ideas that are worth investing in and product ideas to avoid. In this stage, one can speak directly with potential customers to get a clear understanding of what they need in a product. It will be an advantage if you are trying to pre-sell the product in the validation product development life cycle stage.

Prototyping

Before moving on with the prototyping stage, you should ensure to have a list of the features and functions your product should have. Based on the defined requirements and scope, the product prototype model of the actual product is built and developed. Using wireframing tools such as Figma or Sketch, it will be easy to build a working prototype model. The prototype model is then tested by product testers and improvised accordingly to make it flawless.

Marketing

As soon as the product prototype model is developed successfully, it will be time to identify your potential customers and reach out to them with an effective marketing strategy. Consider marketing on social media and your current customer base if any and request them to share feedback and pain points. Ensure to establish the KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) using your preferred advertising mediums such as paid advertising, blogging, social media, etc. A well-planned marketing plan can offer you the desired results. 

Development

Start with the product development phase once you have finished with the marketing strategy of your actual product. With our years of experience, we believe that the end goal of the product development stage is to get the product to the market at the earliest. It will be better to define a deadline for a product launch in the market and divide the time into small manageable works to get you one step closer to the finished product.  

Launch

When it is time to launch the product into the market, there are several things to finalize such as finalizing integrations, billing, user tracking, and analytics. The main thing when launching the product is to ensure everything is running smoothly and up to expectations. The product should be well-tested from each and every angle possible. You can opt for a product launch event to boost your product’s marketing and increase mouth-to-mouth advertising.  

Improvement

As you know, product development is not a one-time thing, a product will have to keep improvising with time. Once your product is launched into the market, you need to keep tabs on how it is performing and identify the flaws or weaknesses of the product and work on improvising the actual product for customer satisfaction. Take note of the end-users behavior, then tweak your existing features and functions of the product or add a new one. With consistent improvement in the product, it will be gradually successful in the market.  

Get In Touch With Us & Clear Doubts About Product Development Life Cycle

With an expert and well-experienced product development company like GID Company, it will be possible for your business to reach new heights and success in the market with a newly-launched product. We are here to help you find the right product development experts to serve your product design as well as development requirements. To clear all your doubts and questions, please feel free to give us a call at +1714-323-1052 or Contact Us. To get the latest updates, please connect with GID Company on Social Media – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

Product Development Cost Estimation – Things You Must Know

One of the most important things that may not cross your mind when you are thinking about a new product idea is the cost estimation for product development. It is possible that you are thinking about dozens of things and problems your unique and amazing product may solve. But at the same time, it will be beneficial for any individual to realize figure out how deep the pockets are. Knowing your budget will help you focus on why and how you should estimate the cost of the product development process.

Whether you have been in the product development industry for many years or if you are a newcomer thinking of covering the entire market, product design and development cost are the key factors to concentrate your thoughts on. Not only the cost of the product development can seriously affect your business but also it may have a great impact on budget planning. If you are investing your fortune in getting prototype development services, then you will have to face some difficulty if the cost estimation of the overall product development is not appropriately calculated.

Factors To Consider Product Development Cost Estimation

In order to calculate an overall product development cost estimation when we are talking about product development, there are basically some important factors. We can consider the production stages of a new product as different stages or phases of the product development process. Getting a clear idea of all the product development phases will be helpful in guessing the budget required for the product development. Our product development company will make sure to guide you through the entire process. The stages of the product development will involve the following phases:

Design Phase:

In this phase, you will not have a product to showcase but you will have a half-baked idea of how your product should look and function. The choice of material, planning, and designing the product will be the key factors to prioritize in this phase of product designing.

Prototype Phase:

Once the design of the product is finalized, your product moves to the prototyping phase in which a prototype model is developed. The prototyping phase is now a lot easier than before due to the prototyping companies offering new and advanced platforms.

Production Phase:

The production stage comes after the product prototype model is successfully developed and ready. Of course, you can make some minor changes that will help fulfill the needs and requirements of the customers. In this stage, the product is developed finally and you will know the exact cost of the product development.

Distribution Phase:

In this phase, you may have to work with third-party companies to distribute the product. Once you will reach the product distribution phase, you will have a clear vision and goal of the product along with the production and distribution cost estimation.

Hire GID Company – A Leading Product Development Company in California To Develop A New Product

If you are looking for a top-notch product development company in California, USA, then there is no better product design and development company than GID Company. Our expert product developers, engineers, and designers are committed to providing our valued clients exceptional product development services. Want to schedule a free consultation with our highly experienced GID Company professionals? Feel free to give our professional designers and experts a call at +1714-323-1052. Get the latest updates on trending topics and subjects related to product design and development by following us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube. Explore our profile on Clutch , GoodFirms and DesignRush.

3 Top Product Design Tips

While all the steps in new product development are important, one particular step demands more focus. It is the product design step. One of the primary steps in new product development cycle, product design of the conceived product factors toward the success of the final product. Product design affects the manufacturability as well as the cost of manufacturing too! For that reason, a little more attention is needed when designing a product. Here are top three Product Design Tips to consider when designing a product. The tips are based on our years of experience in the field of product design and development and are overall the best tips to take into consideration as you begin your venture into new product development.

Keep it Simple

Keep the design of your conceived product as simple as possible. The best product designs are those that just form a seamless connection between function and design. If the design of your product is complicated, it will be difficult to manufacture it. It will also increase the cost of manufacturing. Apart from these issues, if such a complicatedly-designed product is brought into the market, the potential customers will probably alienate it, resulting in total failure of the product. The goal of a good product design is to entice customers with an ergonomically-friendly design that seems easy to use.

For product design, it is best to team up with an intelligent team that can create a simple, yet attractive and functional design that allows easy and economical manufacturing.

Research

There is no need to reinvent the wheel! In fact, customers often prefer that you do not reinvent the wheel. Before designing your product, it is necessary that you conduct an extensive market research. Find out the competitors’ products that are on the market. See which features the customers like and dislike for those products. You would want your product to have only likable features – right?

When conducting the research, note down all the new features and functions you can implement in the design of your conceived product. Also, keep in mind that you do not change certain things that are familiar to the customers. For instance, it would be a terrible idea to change the order of the accelerator, brake, and clutch (ABC) in a car. People are already familiar with the default pattern, and changing it will result in instant rejection.

Prototyping and Testing

Although, product prototyping and testing are two entirely different steps that come later down in the product development cycle, they do have a connection with the product design phase. Product prototyping and testing make it possible to detect flaws or defects in the product design. Therefore, you need to create prototypes so that they can be tested to find flaws. Once the flaws are detected, you should eliminate them and then create a new product design. Based on the new product design, build and test the prototype again. You need to repeat this process until you achieve a definitive product design.

Today, because of the advanced technologies, prototype development and testing have become virtual, in a 3D computer-generated world. Nevertheless, there are still instances when you need to develop and test physical prototypes to detect the flaws and make the final product better.

You will also need to build product prototypes to give it to people for their suggestions. Based on their suggestions, you may need to alter the product design and create new prototypes again. Of course, this is a tedious process, but it is vital to achieving a flawless product design.

There is nothing easy about product design. For successful product designs, massive skills and experience are needed; skills and experience like GID Development Corporation has.

We are one of the leading California Product Design Companies, USA. We have decades of experience in the field, and have delivered thriving product design solutions to our clients (inventors) in the US and worldwide.

Along with product design, we provide rapid prototyping, product development, product manufacturing, and other product fulfillment services. No matter how complex the product concept is, we will help you realize it. To learn more, visit https://www.gidcompany.com.

Have any questions regarding Product Design Tips? We are offering a 15-minute, FREE telephonic consultation. Just call Jim Grimes at 714-323-1052 between 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM PST.

Medical Device Product with Embedded Software – Important Things to Know

Developing a medical device product is always a challenging, time-consuming, and an arduous task. However, developing a medical device product that includes software (products with embedded software), is even a more demanding task. Today’s medical device products with embedded software are able to save lives, but there is still room for more innovative medical device products. Getting a new, innovative medical device product with embedded software into the market is certainly very lucrative, but more importantly, a revolutionary medical product can change the face of the healthcare industry by providing better healthcare treatments and services.

If you have a ground-breaking idea for a new medical device product with embedded software, then you should definitely consider bringing it to life. If you proceed carefully, you will certainly achieve success with your conceived product. Before you start with the medical device development, however, you should know about the four important things.

Is it really a medical device?

Before you initiate the medical product development, you need to first determine whether your conceived product will be considered a medical device or not. As per the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), “Medical devices range from simple tongue depressors and bedpans to complex programmable pacemakers with micro-chip technology and laser surgical devices [sic].” Therefore, a simple tongue depressor or a very complex CAT (Computerized Axial Tomography) scanner is a medical device, rather a medical device with embedded software in the latter case, but an activity tracker, like Fitbit’s wristband, is not a medical device. For that reason, it is vital to first find out how your conceived product will be classified. You need to know whether your conceived product can cause any harm. You also need to find out whether there are any safety risks involved.

If you are developing a medical device product with embedded software, knowing how your product will be classified will certainly have a major impact on the product development process, affecting factors such as assessing the development costs and timeline, creating the documents required for FDA approval, and testing the product.

Is your project scope defined accurately?

If you do not know the limits of the complexity of the project, software needs, and the security requirements, you may totally underrate or overrate the product development efforts required. Will your medical device need complex mechanical components to function, or does it need to upload data to the servers to process and generate reports?

When you are trying to ascertain the complexity of your project, think about how many components the conceived medical device product might have. This will help define the timeline and cost of the project. Also, for the software part, you will need to get a clean user interface, which is easy to understand; hence, spend some time understanding the interface part. When defining the scope, be sure to take into account the complexity of the user interface development.

Modern, complex medical device products with embedded software are often backed by mobile applications, which control the medical devices through smartphones and tablets. If your conceived product needs mobile apps, clearly define it in your scope.

Do you have any plan for the maintenance?

What is your plan for maintaining the software aspect of your conceived medical product? The FDA in its guidelines includes the corrective and preventive maintenance of the software. Having a plan for the maintenance will factor toward the development efforts and the long-term success of your product. If the new version of the OS (operating system) releases, how the software of your product will be updated? Will the update affect the functionality of your product? Will it improve the performance and fix software bugs if there are any?

For medical product development, creating a plan around such questions is vitally important.

Do you need a product development partner?

Medical device product development is no easy task, and if any step is missed, it could result in costly delays. Everything needs to be perfect when it comes to medical product development. Having a reliable product development partner will make a big difference and prove to be in your best interest.

Have a complex product idea in mind, like a medical device product with embedded software? Want to bring your idea to life? Get in touch with vastly experienced industrial engineers at GID Development Corporation.

GID Development Corporation is one of the top product development companies in the US. They provide agile and economical product design, rapid prototyping, and product development services to inventors throughout the US and across the globe. Utilizing their vast experience and technology like 3DEXPERIENCE Platform, which features BIOVIA, CATIA V6, SIMULIA, etc., the skilled industrial engineers at GID Development Corporation can help design, prototype, and develop medical device products with embedded software, electromechanical products, sports products, and all sorts of complex products.

So no matter how simple or complex your product idea is, GID Development Corporation will bring it to life. To learn more about the leading product development company in the US, GID Development Corporation, visit https://www.gidcompany.com/.

Have any questions regarding medical device product development? Call Jim Grimes at 714-323-1052 between 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM PST, for a 15-minute FREE telephonic conference. He will answer to various questions regarding medical device product development.

Why You Should Partner with a Good Product Design Company?

The art of product designing needs the skill of designing a product (just from a concept) that is beneficial to the inventor as well as the intended consumers. Product design is certainly not an easy task. It requires many skills as well as computer knowledge and, most importantly, creativity. Not everyone is skilled enough with the aesthetics – right? Besides, you also have to be knowledgeable about different software applications, especially CAD (computer-aided design), CAM (computer-aided manufacturing), CAE (computer-aided engineering) software applications. It will definitely be in your best interest to team up with a reputable product design company to take care of your product design needs.

Here are some logical reasons why you should consider partnering with a good product design company:

A Descent Product Design Does Wonders

A few years back, the importance of a decent product design usually went unnoticed, but times have changed. Today, whether it is a simple, economical product or a complex, expensive product, its product design barely goes unnoticed. Professional product design engineers help create conclusive product designs that meet their inventor’s vision. They ensure that the product design is exactly the way the inventor envisioned and also make sure to take care of the aesthetics and ergonomics aspects so that the intended consumers like it.

Consumers do not like to waste time searching for the perfect product. For that reason, creating a good product design that can capture their attention and incite them to buy the product is necessary. Product design also factors toward the cost and manufacturability of the conceived product. Therefore, compelling product design is vital, and to get such a product design, it is necessary to rely on experienced professionals of a reputable product design company.

Product Design Experience and Computer Skills

Product design engineers have years of experience. Designing an effective product requires a vast knowledge in the field of engineering, art, and marketing. Expertise in using CAD/CAM/CAE software applications is also necessary. Where would you find someone who has considerable product design experience and thorough competency in using specialized software applications? It is rare you will find someone so capable somewhere other than a leading product design company.

Makes All the Things Easier

Ask yourself these questions:

  1. Do I have enough time to carry out all the research?
  2. Can I create detailed designs of the conceived product?
  3. Am I capable of creating a product prototype on my own?
  4. Am I qualified to determine the product material and estimate costs?
  5. Can I evaluate the product safety and figure out how well the conceived product can do in the market?
  6. Can I mass-produce the conceived product?

If the answer to these questions is “No,” then you should definitely partner with an experienced product design company. A product design company has experienced and skilled engineers who can perform a wide variety of tasks, from research to mass manufacturing. They are thoroughly aware of each product development stage and will handle it for you.

Other Valuable Services

A leading product design company will take care of everything. Such a company will help you not only with product design and product development. It will assist you in moving your conceived product from the point of manufacture through warehousing, distribution, and delivery to potential consumers. It will also take care of the IT stuff, like creating and setting up a website for your product. Overall, a product design company will help you bring your idea to life and take it to the intended consumers so that you can start making a profit.

Are you searching for a good product design company in California? GID Development Corporation is one of the leading product design companies in the US, and it provides A-to-Z product development services. Ranging from swift product design to rapid prototyping, and economical product development to agile product fulfillment, GID Development Corporation is the BEST partner inventors can get.

GID Development Corporation is led by very skilled industrial engineers who have many years of experience in product design, product prototyping, and product development. Utilizing cutting-edge 3DEXPERIENCE Platform from DS (Dassault Systèmes), which includes CATIA V6, 3DVIA, SOLIDWORKS and other apps, GID Development Corporation can help you create electromechanical products, medical products, sports products, products with embedded software, and all sorts of complex products.

To learn more about the leading product design company in California, GID Development Corporation, visit https://www.gidcompany.com/.

Have any questions regarding product design? Call Jim Grimes at 714-323-1052 between 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM PST, for a 15-minute FREE telephonic conference. He will answer to various questions regarding product design and product development.

Types of Engineers – Who Can Help Develop Electromechanical Products?

Types of Engineers: It is a fact that developing an electromechanical product can be a highly-intellectual, time-consuming, and expensive task. Even if the time and money are not the barriers, the technical know-how and skill is something that, you as an inventor may not have to create your idea. For that reason, if you want to develop an amazing electromechanical product, you need to partner with professional engineers who specialize in multiple fields of engineering.

Because it is electromechanical product development, you will need to team with experts who have the knowledge in different fields of engineering. Approaching a reputable product development company that has engineers, specializing in different fields of engineering, may prove to be in your best interest after all.

In this blog, we will shed light on different types of engineers who can help you develop electromechanical products.

Product Design Engineers

Even if you have the product design for your electromechanical product, you may need to team up with skilled product design engineers. Product design engineers deal with creating viable product designs that are actually feasible and economical to manufacture.

Product design engineers also look after the aesthetic and ergonomic aspects of the conceived products. Usually, product design engineers utilize computer applications like CATIA V6, SOLIDWORKS, 3DVIA, etc. to create definitive product designs, but sometimes, they may rely on their manual drafting skills.

In order to ensure that the design of your conceived product is impeccable in every aspect, you need to partner with experienced product design engineers.

Electrical Engineers

An electromechanical product does have many electronic components, and for that reason, you need to team up with electrical engineers. The field of electrical engineering, however, is a very broad field, so you need to partner with the right electrical engineers.

For instance, if your electromechanical product consists a high-voltage system, you need to seek out for engineers, specializing in power engineering. If it consists, electronic circuits, you need to rely on engineers, specializing in electronic engineering. Likewise, there are electrical engineers specializing in control engineering, microelectronics engineering, instrumentation engineering, and so on.

Based on the nature of your electromechanical product, you may need to team up with engineers, specializing in the different fields of electrical engineering.

Mechanical Engineers

An electromechanical product will obviously have the moving mechanical parts. In order to design and develop the mechanical parts, you will need to rely on mechanical engineers. However, just like electrical engineering, mechanical engineering is a broad field.

Mechanical engineers may specialize in different disciplines of mechanical engineering, like mechanics, biomechanics, mechatronics and robotics, thermodynamics and thermos-science, structural analysis, technical drawing, CNC, etc.

As per the nature of your conceived product, you may need to partner with mechanical engineers, specializing in different disciplines of mechanical engineering.

Manufacturing Engineers

Manufacturing engineers deal with employing the appropriate manufacturing practices. Their main focus is to select the right raw material and turn that material into a new product in the most efficient, effective, and economical way.

Manufacturing engineering is also a pretty broad field, and manufacturing engineers may specialize in subfields, such as plastic product manufacturing, lean manufacturing, CNC (computer numerically controlled) manufacturing, and additive manufacturing (3D printing) to name a few.

Again, based on the nature of your conceived electromechanical product, you may need to select the right engineers who are better suited for the job.

Software Engineers

Sometimes, electromechanical products may require software to perform various functions. To design and develop the software, you may need to rely on software engineers.

Software engineers may specialize in different disciplines, but when it comes to the development of products that rely on software to function, you will have to work with engineers who specialize in embedded software programming.

Embedded software applications control the machines and only those engineers who know embedded programming can develop such software applications. So, if your electromechanical product needs software to function, you will need to hire skilled software engineers.

Industrial Engineers

Industrial engineers monitor the entire process of electromechanical product development, right from product design and product prototype development phases to product manufacturing and product fulfillment phases.

Industrial engineers ensure to minimize the waste of time, money, energy, materials, labor, machine time, and other resources that do not generate any value.

Whether it is the development of electromechanical products, medical device products, products with embedded software, or any complex products, having an industrial engineer on board always proves to be very beneficial.

The above-mentioned engineers are just some of the common types of engineers who will help you develop electromechanical products. Searching for each type of engineer and teaming them with each other to work on your electromechanical product can be a very difficult task. Partnering with a reputable product development company instead, that has a collaborative team of engineers, can prove to be very beneficial. You will be able to realize your conceived electromechanical product while saving substantially on time, money, and effort.

Want to bring your complex product ideas to life? No matter how challenging and resource-demanding your product ideas are, GID Development Corporation will help you realize them. A leading product development company in the US, GID Development Corporation provides swift, agile, and economical product design, rapid product prototyping, and product development services. They have vast experience in developing complex products, like electromechanical products, medical device products, mechanical products, products with embedded software, and so on. Utilizing state-of-the-art technologies, like the 3DEXPERIENCE Platform from Dassault Systèmes, experienced engineers at GID Development Corporation ensure to bring your product ideas to life.

Have any queries regarding electromechanical product development? Just call Jim Grimes at 714-323-1052 between 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM PST, for a 15-minute FREE telephonic conference. He will answer to various product development questions relating to electromechanical products or any other complex products.