SAGE - much more than just product design.
As well as product design SAGE can also provide man-power to assist with any of the many "non-design" activities that are key to the overall product development process.
The list below shows just a few "non-design" areas that SAGE can assist with...
The list below shows just a few "non-design" areas that SAGE can assist with...
|
|
|
|
|
Prototypes and mock-ups
|
A great idea is nothing if you can’t get it across to the people who matter and nothing gets your point across better and faster than a beautifully made mock-up people can hold in their hands.
And of course once the project is approved and underway, prototypes will be a crucial part of the development process. SAGE has many Asian contacts who specialize in making both conceptual and functional prototypes as well as limited production runs for testing and trials prior to tooling. Even the most complex products and shapes can be made in a wide range of materials and processes, and beautifully finished to yield “products” that look like a million dollars. |
Some examples of the quality and sophistication of
prototypes SAGE can source from its Asian partners |
Cost Reduction.
|
Meeting cost product targets in new designs and reducing cost in existing products is always high on most companies’ agendas. If a company is used to doing things a certain way, using certain parts, technologies and processes, it can help to get a fresh perspective from an impartial third party. We can act as a de-facto customer, ask the “stupid” questions, reduce products to their lowest common denominator, and question why every part is there and why it is what it is. Most of the time this will simply confirm everything is as it should be but a third party assessment is always a good insurance policy that might save a lot of money and possibly even your business.
|
|
Product Specifications.Having seen many projects fail through the lack of a high quality Product Specification this is an area we are passionate about. The Product Specification is the "Bible" by which your product is designed and without it your design project is like a ship without a rudder trying to navigate no particular course.
Writing a good Product Specification is not a trivial exercise and requires a wide range of experience as well as consultation and negotiation between all key stake holders, of which there can be many. Since the Product Specification is the interface between the Marketing Team who want the product and the Design Team who create it, it makes sense that it be written by someone who understands the needs and goals of both camps. |
Product Specifications don't need to be as daunting as this - a single sheet of paper may suffice for some products - but you need to go through the exercise to ensure you have considered and documented all aspects of the product that are critical to its success
|
We have generated Product Specifications for a great many hi-tech products. Invariably this has involved communication with international sales teams, major overseas customers and internal departments of all types, followed by a distillation of collective requirements into a document that satisfies the company’s overall strategic outcome in the fairest way. This requires diplomacy, lateral thinking, strategic thinking, and, since the audience for the Product Specification is the engineering team, a precise understanding of the engineering process and the ability to translate marketing needs into engineering terms is imperative.
Test Plans, validation and verification (V&V)
|
It goes without saying that every product needs thorough verification and validation (often referred to as "V&V") to weed out bugs and identify product specification non-compliances prior to launch.
"Validation" is the "end to end" test undertaken by marketing (or their representatives) to ensure that all requirements of the Product Specification have emerged from the design process intact, unaltered and unscathed. In other words, marketing needs to be satisfied they got what they asked for, that what they specified in the "green' phase of the product development line above makes it through to the "red" phase. "Verification" is an "internal" test (or set of tests) undertaken by the design team to ensure that the various design related specifications they generated in the course of development have been met and that all the unit tests specified therein have been satisfactorily completed. It occurs in the "yellow" phase of the product development line above and checks that everything has been implemented correctly at a "nuts and bolts" level.
|
Product Specification problem? Insufficient V+V? Poor User Manuals? Or just plain User abuse. Any which way, when
problems get out in the field you feel like an ass. |
It takes a very specific mind set, and the impartiality that a third party can bring, to predict all the abuse and extraordinary usage scenarios to which your product will be exposed at all points down the distribution chain. SAGE can generate meaningful and measurable test plans that capture real world scenarios as well as designing the test set-ups and performing the hands-on testing and reporting.
Training packages.Even the best most innovative product in the world is useless if no one understands what it is or how to use it.
It is a rare product that does not have more features than its predecessor and the ease with which features can be added in software at no cost can result in a bewildering array of options and programmability that can threaten to overwhelm the end-user. User education, is vital to ensure these “features” are actually a selling point rather than a deterrent to purchase. |
"Even the best most innovative product in the world is
useless if no one understands what it is or how to use it." |
Once again this is where a third party can often add insight by starting from a blank page and with no pre-conceptions. I can create on-screen help-text, user manuals and training material optimised to be meaningful to and resonate with your audience. If your distribution chain has multiple audiences - for instance, the audiences for a medical device might be the company sales force, dealers, clinicians and the ultimate end-user - I can tailor a suite of packages to target each audience according to their specific degrees of knowledge, requirements and jargon.
Marketing Collateral
Getting a great product into production is only the first step. An even greater challenge is to turn the product into the commercial success that was the reason for its creation in the first place. Among many other things commercial success requires effective sales and marketing collateral. Engineering driven companies in particular are often not good at articulating product advantages and sales angles, and conversely advertising agencies that may be great at selling shampoo are often not good at understanding engineering concepts and applications. SAGE's intimate knowledge of engineering and industrial applications combined with our commercial focus can help bridge this gap and generate persuasive and powerful marketing collateral to give you the market edge you need.
Copyright SAGE designs 2013