When bringing a new product to market, it is vital for decision-makers to sift through the noise and focus in on what brings the most value to the product. Unfortunately, those in product development often tend to correlate added value with added features, so they try to include as many features as possible - thus overcomplicating the product.

There are many KPIs to consider when evaluating an engineering or manufacturing RFP. Related to years in business and number of senior experts on staff, is the indicator of mature systems – processes and systems that have been seasoned over time to efficiently and predictably produce desired outcomes. Mature processes create historic data that is continually updated. Bugs have been detected. Problems have been anticipated, and results can be counted on.

When it comes to the actual production or manufacturing of your product, chances are you know just how important timing and quality are. Unfortunately, many projects run into issues due to oversights during the early stages of product development, and companies can become frustrated with delays and new costs. 

Finding the right contract manufacturing partner for your product can be much more difficult than you would think. On paper, the concept is simple: who can make this product for the lowest price, or, who can produce this product the quickest? Often, it is a mix of both of these things. The truth is that while cost and timeline are vital to success, there are some other attributes that you need to look for in order to see the best return possible. 

Without argument, one of the most important elements of a successful product development strategy is having a blueprint for success. Both in theory and quite literally, product development teams need to have a clear plan in place - something that specifies their project requirements and timelines throughout the process.

For product development companies, testing any process or device can be time consuming and expensive. The need to perform accurate and repeatable testing across multiple components only adds to the time and resources required of product developers. Manual testing can take hours, and often results in inconsistencies and inaccuracies based on the range of technologies used and the skills of the tester.

So how can product development companies reduce test time while increasing accuracy?

The solution is in four key areas:

1. Establish formal procedures that are accurate, flexible, and consistent – but also easily understood and performed.
   
   
2. Collect and measure meaningful data using a controlled, purposeful, predictable means.
   
   
3. Store data securely and accurately and make it easily accessible for presentation and analysis.
   
   
4. Design a tester experience that is consistent across multiple testers, across multiple skill sets. The testing interface must be user-friendly and intuitive. Complicated systems and hard-to-follow input instructions invite confusion and can compromise data.