The Four P’s of Innovation

Innovation has been defined as the methodology that is involved in the design of a new product. Every once and again people observe the need for a new commodity in the market and as such devise strategies that either advance the current technology or produce new technology from scratch. It is the backbone of the movement towards a better life for every society. The 4 P’s of innovation generally serve as the guiding principle to any sustainable market in the product and are centered on the product, price, place, and promotion. The model was developed by Joe Tidd and his accomplice John Besant mainly to separate the old commodities from the new and thus develop a framework for innovation (Anthony, 2010). However, the context can be broadly put as follows: product innovation, process innovation, position innovation and paradigm innovation. 

Product innovation refers to the ability of an individual or an organization to change the types of commodities that are produced while the process is the ability to modify the methodologies employed in product production with the notion of coming up with better products. Position innovation refers to the changing methodologies employed for framing and communicating the products while paradigm refers to the underlying strategies involved in the production.

Companies are continually faced with challenges and opportunities. However, the two play a significant impact on the ability of the company to thrive or fall in the society.However, the two may influence the methodologies that are employed in production activities. The commonly applied theory of analysis is SWOT which tries to identify both the opportunities and threats coming from both the internal as well as the external environment.

One major threat is competition. Companies continually face competition and it is the ability of a company to overcome competition that ensures its survival. Competition can be overcome by changing the strategies that are involved in the production with companies offering products that are a cut above the rest faring significantly better. Secondly, new technologies provide a significant threat but it is the ability of companies to quickly implement the technologies in their production activities that give them an edge over other companies. New technologies result in an efficient as well as better products and as such, it is easy to see why companies using the latest technology cover a large share of the market than those using obsolete and outdated technology. The last, but not least, threat is the changes in consumer tastes and preferences. The change in taste may be classified as an opportunity as well as a threat (Peterson, Jaret, & Schenck, n.d.). Regardless, the ability of a company to quickly observe this change and devise production techniques defines the ability to strive in the market.

Overcoming Threats: Competition, Technology, and Consumer Tastes

On the other hand, opportunities present themselves to companies in the form of market growth, new locations and distribution, new materials and even new technologies. All these opportunities have the impact of influencing the methodologies that are used in production as well as delivery. New materials may be integrated into products leading to better ones, new markets require the companies to innovate the delivery strategies while an increase in the market requires companies to increase the production. All these require innovation.

Concurrent engineering is the strategy employed in production whereby the stages are concurrent, rather than consecutive (Loch & Terwiesch, 2000).It is a very important production technique that results in bulk as well as quality production. There are three basic advantages that advocate for the use of concurrent engineering in production: the competitive advantage, increased and enhanced product development, decrease in the time that is used to design and develop a commodity. New products may be produced in a far lesser time and therefore result in a competitive advantage. It is easy to develop a new product if the development stages run consecutively and a case example is the production of new vehicle models. In this, the engine, tire, chassis and all the other components are produced in a step to step method and therefore it is far much easier and faster.Secondly, the design errors that occur in the production process can be easily identified and therefore the necessary amendment can be put in place as fast as possible. Lastly, the products that are produced match the preferences of the consumers and therefore there is an increase in the market coverage.

Adopting concurrent technology may pose some risk to the production of the commodity due to the continuous production. One major problem is the backlog in production that may arise due to an error in the upstream assembly and production. Upstream production affects the downstream and if there are errors, the quality of production as well as the time that is taken to produce new commodities may be affected. Furthermore, the technology may not be used for efficient development of new commodities because of the relatively shallow knowledge that the company has on the best practices of production.

The manufacture of new car models in the market such as the Lamborghini and Ferrari is mainly guided by the performance of the actual track system. Some of the models may be developed for track racing and it is of vital importance to ensure that the products meet the standards required. The governing standards in the production mainly include the comfort and the speed levels. Therefore, the vehicles are produced in warehouses and factories that meet all the standards required by the racing committee as well as the transport and safety committees.

The QFD analysis is a product analysis methodology that is mainly focused on the customer. Customers have specific needs and it is important for any company to identify and analyze these needs prior to the actual design process. By constantly engaging the consumer and identifying the product requirements, the engineering as well as the technical aspects of production may be tailored towards the optimal requirements. One major tool used in this analysis is the house of quality and it defines the best practices to be employed towards quality production.

In the manufacture of vehicles, the customer requirements mainly pertain speed, fuel consumption, and safety. The second step is to categorize these requirements in terms of the level of need. As with the vehicles, the most important aspect may entail speed, followed by fuel consumption, level of comfort and finally the safety. The third step is based on the overall percentage of the importance of each parameter that is involved in the design. Next, the designer has to identify the individual parameters involved in the design of the vehicle. Some of these parameters include the weight of the vehicle, engine power etc. The parameters will be used in identifying the most important aspects of production and the necessary time allocation to be put into each step. 

Failure mode effect analysis is a methodology employed by companies in order to determine the probability of failure and the effects of any failure in the production process (Sethiya). Therefore, the methodology is employed in order to determine the possible modes of failures and the ripple effect on the production process. Conducting an FMEA analysis enables the companies to put in place measures that are aimed at preventing the actual failure. Therefore, the methods and the types of raw materials, assembly lines and the finished products are all designed towards efficient production.

In the production of vehicles, the first step is to identify the various product and processes that are involved in the production. This will provide a general outline of the steps and methods involved in the design and will, therefore, provide significant insight on the necessary mitigation measures in case of any failure.

Developing a block diagram to demonstrate how the individual processes interact is the next step. However, it may be more important to break down the processes into subsystems which provide a blueprint for the engagement at the basic level. By doing so, the necessary modification measures can be drafted and put into effect. Finally, the failure modes likely to occur are identified and the precautionary measures put in place.

Benefits and Risks of Using an Assembly Line

The Boothroyd & Dewhirst assembly analysis is based on the notion that the cost of a commodity is directly proportional to the time that it has been in the assembly line (Miller, 2014). Therefore, products that spend lesser time on the assembly line are far much cheaper than those that spend a considerable duration. In the assembly of a vehicle, the individual components include engine, tires, body parts, the actual body, and the tires.The time taken in engine production plays a major role in determining the overall time required for the production of the vehicle. However, joining all the parts together will determine the overall time requires and the cost.

The actual materials used in the production of the key components include steel and rubber. Steel plays a major role in the design of all the components of the vehicle as well as the body. On the other hand, rubber is used in the production of the tire systems and is a major player in the success of the production process. The use of an assembly line to design all these commodities in an effective strategy with the steel section focused on the use of iron ores for steel production. The actual steel production may be a cheaper method than the purchase from steel producers. On the other hand, rubber may be purchased from the producers as the methodologies and technologies used in its production are far expensive and complicated.

 The use of an assembly line in the production of commodities is one way of improving the production process (Beaume, Maniak, & Midler, 2009). Assembly lines have been used extensively to reduce the time taken to produce a product and therefore reduce the final cost. On the other hand, polymers may be used as a substitute for steel because it is relatively cheaper. However, polymers are less durable than steel and therefore extra measures need to be considered prior to the actual release to the market. 

The assembly line methodology was developed by Henry Ford for the bulk and efficient production of vehicles and has been extensively used since then (Becker & Scholl, 2006). Therefore, the methodology will be employed for the overall production of the vehicle with the body, chassis, engine, tire and all other components occurring at the different stages of the assembly line. However, the final product will be obtained when all the commodities are put together at the final step in the assembly line. The process has the advantage of increasing the amounts of individual components produced while at the same time reducing the time taken for production. Furthermore, there is a decrease in the labor used in the production of these commodities. On the other hand, polymer production is a cut through technology that may be extensively used in vehicle production because polymers, unlike steel, are comparatively cheaper and can be produced easily (Ulbricht, 2006).  

References

Anthony, S. (2010). The 4ps of innovation. Retrieved from hbr.org/2010/06/the-4ps of innovation

Beaume, R., Maniak, R., & Midler, C. (2009). Crossing innovations and product project management: a comparative analysis of the automotive industry. journal of project management.

Becker, C., & Scholl, A. (2006). A survey on problems and methods in generalized assembly line balancing. European journal of operational research.

Loch, C. H., & Terwiesch, C. (2000). Product development and concurrent engineering. innovation and competitive manufacturing, 263-273.

miller, S. N. (2014, Dec 9). Design for manual assembly part 2: Boothroyd Dewhurst method. Retrieved from blog.dragoninnovation.com/2014/12/09/dfm-course-11-design-manual-assembly-part-2-Boothroyd Dewhurst method

Peterson, S. D., Jaret, P. E., & Schenck, b. F. (n.d.). How to identify opportunities and threats in business planning. Retrieved from dummies.com: www.dummies.com/business/start-a-business/business-plans/How to identify opportunities and threats in business planning

Sethiya, S. K. (n.d.). Failure mode and effect analysis.

Ulbricht, M. (2006). Advanced functional polymer membranes.