Deck 11: Managing the New Product Development Process

Question 1

The use of executive sponsors reduces the effectiveness of the development process.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

In the product development process,expenditures increase as uncertainty increases.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Many firms use beta testing to get customer input early in the development process.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Quality Function Deployment (QFD) was developed in Germany.

Question 5

A majority of new product development projects result in an economic return.

Question 6

A sequential process has an early warning system to indicate that planned features are not manufacturable.

Question 7

Parallel development processes are universally endorsed.

Question 8

In failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA),potential problems in a system are classified according to the time at which they occurred.

Question 9

In Stage 1 of the stage-gate process,the team builds a business case that includes a defined product,its business justification,and a detailed plan of action for the next stages.

Question 10

The house of quality uses a scale of one to ten to evaluate competing products.

Question 11

Firms often make decisions about projects on the basis of marketing criteria.

Question 12

Three-dimensional printing can generate a model in a few hours.

Question 13

In the context of design rules for fabricated assembly products,minimizing the number of parts for a product reduces direct labor and material handling costs.

Question 14

Computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) is faster and more flexible than traditional methods of manufacturing.

Question 15

The criteria in the go/kill decision points are the questions or metrics used to make the decision regarding whether or not to kill the project or allow it to proceed.

Question 16

One of the drawbacks of Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is that it hinders cross-functional communication.

Question 17

Suppliers can contribute ideas for product improvement or increased development efficiency.

Question 18

A company with a short development cycle can quickly revise or upgrade its offering.

Question 19

A firm can benefit from developing "antichampions".

Question 20

Using computer-aided design (CAD) to build and test product design increases cycle time.

Question 21

Which of the following is typically true regarding a firm with a long development cycle time?

A) It can quickly revise or upgrade its product offering.
B) Its cost of capital will increase.
C) It can take advantage of both first-mover and second-mover advantages.
D) It is more likely to be able to fully amortize the fixed costs of development before that generation becomes obsolete.

Question 22

_____ is a distributed problem-solving model whereby a design problem or production task is presented to people who voluntarily contribute their ideas and effort in exchange for compensation,intrinsic rewards,or a combination thereof.

A) Championing
B) Crowdsourcing
C) Partly parallel development
D) Sequential development

Question 23

Alpha Cleaning Equipment Co.has started the actual design and development of a new floor buffing machine.It also has the details of manufacturing,marketing,and operations of the new product.According to the stage-gate process,what is the next stage of the project?

A) Launch the product by producing it commercially and selling it.
B) Verify and validate the new product, its marketing, and production.
C) Form a focus group to make sure the product meets user expectations.
D) Build a business case to justify the project.

Question 24

Josh is the executive vice president of a bank.Recently the president of the bank asked Josh to use his influence to ensure that the online banking project was developed and implemented.Paul is being asked to be a:

A) devil's advocate.
B) project champion.
C) entrepreneur.
D) mentor.

Question 25

A DVD manufacturing company is considering involving the suppliers of the electronic components used in its DVD players/recorders in the concept development and design of a new version of its products.Research has shown that including suppliers will result in:

A) bringing products to the market more slowly because getting their input takes time.
B) an increased cost because they must be paid for their contributions.
C) a higher quality of product as their ideas can be incorporated into the design.
D) short-term supplier relations.

Question 26

The time elapsed from project initiation to product launch,usually measured in months or years is referred to as _____.

A) diffusion of innovation time
B) technology trajectory
C) development cycle time
D) the Six Sigma period

Question 27

According to the stage-gate process developed by Robert G. Cooper, _____ are the results of the previous stage and are the inputs for the gate review.

A) criteria
B) outputs
C) deliverables
D) beta versions

Question 28

A(n) _____ of a product is an early working prototype of a product released to users for testing and feedback.

A) beta version
B) substitute
C) spiral model
D) alpha model

Question 29

Astech Inc.has been developing a new graphic design software.The firm releases a functional version of the software,and sends it to several lead users for testing.Based on the feedback from the lead users,the firm will improve the design of the product,and begin commercial production.This initial version of the product is referred to as the _____.

A) spiral model
B) substitute product
C) beta version
D) alpha model

Question 30

Alpha Cleaning Equipment Co.is developing a new street sweeper machine.It has a business plan and a detailed plan of action for the machine.According to the stage-gate process,what is the next stage of the project?

A) Launch the product by producing it commercially and selling it.
B) Verify and validate the new product, its marketing, and production.
C) Begin the actual design and development including the details of manufacturing, marketing, and operations.
D) Build a business case to justify the project.

Question 31

Which of the following statements is true of partly parallel development processes?

A) It enhances the probability that R&D will design products that are difficult to manufacture.
B) It requires costly iterations between design stages.
C) It shortens overall cycle time.
D) It initiates product design after concept development is complete.

Question 32

The stage after the investigation and conceptualization of the project is:

A) verifying and validating the proposed new project and its marketing.
B) building a business case that includes a defined product.
C) the actual design and development of the product.
D) defining the test plans to be utilized in the next stage.

Question 33

Alpha Cleaning Equipment Co.wants to use the house of quality matrix in designing and developing a new vacuum cleaning machine.What is the first step that Alpha should take?

A) Identify customer requirements.
B) Determine the relative value or weight of customer requirements.
C) Identify engineering attributes that determine the performance of the vacuum cleaner.
D) Evaluate competing products to determine how well they meet customer needs.

Question 34

Matrix Technologies Inc.has recently developed a new personal digital assistant (PDA).The marketing director of the firm says that the firm should not use a large sample of customers to test the market for its new PDA.Instead,it should focus on the inputs of _____,because they have the same general needs as the marketplace,but are likely to face them earlier than the bulk of the market.

A) focus groups
B) lead users
C) antichampions
D) laggard customers

Question 35

Trekker Inc.has developed a product with a very short product development cycle.Which of the following results can it typically expect?

A) Its sales will be slow as consumers will already be committed to other products.
B) It will be able to provide complementary goods to enhance the attractiveness of its product.
C) It will be unable to fully amortize the fixed costs of development before the product becomes obsolete.
D) It will not be able to upgrade its product.

Question 36

Alpha Cleaning Equipment Co.wants to use the house of quality matrix in designing and developing a new vacuum cleaning machine.What is the last step that Alpha will have to take?

A) Determine the relative value or weight of customer requirements.
B) Create a new design based on the design targets.
C) Identify engineering attributes that determine the performance of the vacuum cleaner.
D) Evaluate competing products to determine how well they meet customer needs.

Question 37

An "antichampion" is:

A) a person who wishes to sabotage a new project.
B) a person who plays the role of the "devil's advocate."
C) a person who uses subjective criteria to evaluate a new project.
D) a person in a competing firm who sabotages market tests by promoting his company's products more heavily than normal.

Question 38

Dr.Peterson is a professor of Information Systems at Mount Newfield University.She was asked to be a beta tester for the latest version of Microsoft Office a year before it was released because she tends to use such programs in an advanced way and often develops her own solutions to problems with the programs.She made several suggestions for its improvement.She is a(n):

A) lead user.
B) laggard customer.
C) expert technician.
D) consumer advocate.

Question 39

Alpha Cleaning Equipment Co.wants to use the house of quality matrix in designing and developing a new vacuum cleaning machine.The use of house of quality will typically:

A) provide a common language and framework for members of a project team to use.
B) blur the relationship between product attributes and customer requirements.
C) conceal the competitive shortcomings of the company's existing products.
D) hide design trade-offs.

Question 40

Customers who face the same general needs of the marketplace but are likely to experience them months or years earlier than the rest of the market and stand to benefit disproportionately from solutions to those needs are referred to as _____.

A) laggards
B) intrapreneurs
C) early followers
D) lead users

Question 41

In the context of FMEA,which of the following formulas is used to calculate the risk priority number?

A) Risk priority number = total profits from new products/total expenditures
B) Risk priority number = total profits from new products - total expenditures
C) Risk priority number = successful projects/total project portfolio
D) Risk priority number = severity X likelihood of occurrence X inability of controls to detect

Question 42

What is partly parallel development process? Is it universally used?

Question 43

What are the risks of championing?

Question 44

Explain the value of the stage-gate process in new product development.

Question 45

Which of the following measures assesses the ratio of the firm's total profits from new products to its total expenditures?

A) Return on innovation
B) Average cycle time of the innovation
C) Percent of development projects meeting deadlines
D) Percent of development projects within the estimated budget

Question 46

What is Quality Function Deployment (QFD)? What are its advantages?

Question 47

Jupiter Tech Inc.conducted a failure modes and effects analysis of a digital identification system that it had developed.The scores are as follows: Severity = 4
Likelihood of occurrence = 2
Inability of controls to detect it = 3
What is the risk priority number of the digital identification system?

A) 24
B) 6
C) 2.67
D) 9

Question 48

Additive manufacturing refers to:

A) printing a design by laying down thin horizontal cross sections of material.
B) printing a new design that converges with an old design by adding details.
C) constructing a model by injection molding.
D) constructing a model by machining a mold.

Question 49

Which of the following is true of design for manufacturing (DFM) methods?

A) Considering manufacturing at an early stage of the design process can lengthen development cycle time.
B) It fails to structure the new product development process.
C) It is a method of facilitating integration between engineering and manufacturing.
D) It is a method by which firms identify potential failures in a system, and classify them according to their severity.

Question 50

Alpha Cleaning Equipment Co.is experimenting with a faster and quieter machine to polish floors.To develop this concept the company is contemplating using the lead user method of concept development.How does this method work? What are its advantages?