Dr Cooper’s stage-gate process forces the enterprise to continually consider and

evaluate the technology being developed from both technical and market perspectives. The central row contains the project stages. Above it are the technical activities that need to be done. Below it are the market related activities that need to be completed. The project cannot proceed to the next stage unless the both the technical and marketing activities have been completed and the results from both are encouraging enough for the enterprise to take up investment for the next stage. If the activities at this stage are not satisfactory enough, the project is killed and the enterprise saves further expenses on this project. As the project progresses, the unknowns are converted into known and the new knowledge provides evidence that the project is moving towards success. The stage-gate process is designed to find out the most obvious project stoppers early in the process before investment (incurred and committed) is too large. It is an iterative process, the technical and market assessments are repeated in all the stages, each time in grater detail.

• Idea Phase

The first stage consists of idea generation. The idea can come from any source. An initial screening of the idea by company management against its goals will lead to discarding of ideas that do not fit company plans. Those that appear to have a fit will proceed to the next stage. Here preliminary assessments are done from both technical and marketing perspectives. It is a quick assessment of the market and technical hurdles to be encountered in the technology being considered.

A description of the products and rough estimate of the sales is made. In addition a description of the technical unknowns that stand between the present state of the technology and the conceived products, a rough estimate of the money and time needed to achieve technical goals and an assessment of the likelihood of success are made. Management uses the preliminary assessments to make a cost-benefit analysis, technological and market risks and then either clears its progression to the next stage or dumps it to the graveyard.

This is the end of Idea phase, the purpose is to generate ideas, which are consistent with strategic objectives and in response to competitive requirements, capable of delivering consumer needs and which are technically feasible.

Activities to be completed before start of next activity:

• Examination and refinement of potential business opportunities and technical capabilities.
• Identification of business needs and opportunities to market and deliver consumer requirements.
• Categorization of the type of launch and its degree of impact in the market-place.
• Mid-idea phase assessment is to ensure that work can continue and investment can go ahead.
• Formation of broad management team and appointment of team leader.
• Initial planning in terms of resources, facilities, tooling, skills ,etc.
• Check initial manufacturing requirements and suitability of existing technologies.
• Preliminary communication to all stakeholders concerned.

Deliverable – marketing;

• Idea charter document issued.
• Market/ consumer requirement clearly defined, based on inputs from internal functions and through market research.
• Brand technical/ competitive details worked out, linkages determined and initial customer satisfaction goals highlighted.
• Preliminary market testing carried out to ensure that work can continue on the ides.
• Business case put together to ensure that the proposed launch and the size of the market opportunity is commensurate with business needs.

Deliverables- technology:

• Technical assessment completed.
• Technical options evaluated and defined from best of breed perspective.
• Technical strategy clearly defined.
• Design for production initiated and technical readiness plan prepared.
• Assessment of materials and supplies completed.

Deliverables- supply chain:

• Brand goals developed and completed.
• Product performance determined.
• Initial manufacturing strategy defined.
• Concept Phase

In the concept stage, conceptual descriptions of the products are developed. The technical work is applied research and experimental. The market research is conducted to check the concept before conducting experimentation and again after experiments are concluded. The purpose is to further develop the idea by allocating clear roles and responsibilities for delivering the project, check technical feasibility, ensure DFM (Design For Manufacture) is possible. In addition, performance in terms of quality, cost and delivery are put together, customer satisfaction targets determined and the business case completed. Involvement of the various stakeholders continues.

Activities to be completed are:

• technical specifications finalized prior to start of prototyping.
• Technical teams represented with all skills.
• Use of various tools such as Competitive Benchmarking, Continuous Supplier Involvement (CSI) , Taguchi, Computer-Aided design etc.
• DFM and detailed plan for production intent reviewed and integrated.
• Tooling and process technology readiness is checked together with sources of supply.
• Planning for production intent baseline is established.
• Business case is completed.

Deliverable – marketing:

• Contract book developed for the launch.
• Market requirements for the brand determined and confined, pricing / forecast demands, launch configurations, target markets and marketing channels all determined.

Deliverables- technology:

• Product formulation developed based on best in breed practices.
• Technical specifications and procedures checked out and prepared.
• Technology optimization studies completed for tooling and process lines.
• DFM initiated taking account performance targets on quality, cost, delivery and profitability projections.
• Suppliers delivery process assessment completed.

Deliverable-supply chain

• Initial manufacturing plan completed.
• Manufacturing assessment using manufacturing operations for customers requirement completed.
• Proving Phase

If the product survives this stage it moves to the development stage. Here full fledged product /process activities are conducted. On the technical side remaining experimental development work is completed, engineering design is done and prototypes are made. Market plan is developed. Tests >are conducted in-house and with users. The management can still kill the project as the tests unfold further development work to be done. The trial phase produces small batch sizes for test marketing and production trail. During these stages many problems will become known, management can take a total picture and either decide to go ahead or revert back to some early stage or kill the project.

Development, testing and trails comprise capability proving phase. During these phases design for production aspects are finalized with full product functionality and features worked out. Design is optimized using all necessary indicators including those related to quality, cost, delivery. This phase also includes demonstration of product design stability and DFM through an iterative pilot to check the readiness of the manufacturing process.

Activities:

• Design team manages and controls the design process.
• Supplier commitments are generated for production intent.
• Design is checked to ensure it reflects customer needs and that features and functionality are validated against performance indicators of quality, cost and delivery and against customer satisfaction targets by means of iterative development and score testing processes.
• Launch proposal developed consistent with global marketing plan.
• Supplier capability and commitment verified and implemented in all areas concerned.
• Product design stability is confirmed before actual spending of funds/ resources for production scale –up is authorized.
• Pilot production to confirm production conformance to specifications requirements and also for the validation of support documentation.
• Launch plans are developed.

Deliverable-marketing:

• Global brand marketing plan completed- business case updated.
• Comments on launch proposal received from various stakeholders and global marketing plan consolidated.

Deliverables-technology:

• All project specifications completed and management procedures put in place.
• Design process completed.
• DFM in terms of test results and established performance standards , quality, cost, delivery analysis completed.
• Integrated test plan updated.
• Suppliers delivery assessment completed.
• Follow on design for production completed with emphasis on design quality and problem management.

Deliverable- supply chain:

• Production intent baseline plan ready and manufacturing assessment using customer criteria completed.
• Production commitments baseline plans are ready.
• Manufacturing assessment and manufacturing production process completed.
• Suppliers readiness assessment and delivery commitments established.
• Inventory standards set and manufacturing cost variations plan defined.
• Supply/ demand process implemented.
• Production plan developed.
• Launch Phase

Launch phase is where manufacturing scale –up takes place, to full production capability. During this phase product acceptability is also verified using formal acceptance testing. Field readiness for national, regional and global product introduction and market engagement is also confirmed. The launch stage is when the product is introduced to the end consumer through the various launch implementation plans.

Activities:

• Production processes are planned and personnel are given appropriate training to handle new brand.
• Supplier quality validations are completed in all areas.
• Product quality objectives are focused on performance and customer satisfaction.
• Product conformance to specific market and customer requirements is assessed through end user testing and customer focus group interviews.
• Sales, logistics, administration and support systems are validated and launch readiness assessed.
• Sustained and continued production quality is verified.
• Product quality launch objectives are focused on meeting customer satisfaction targets through early warning/ launch performance measurement procedures.

Deliverables-marketing:

• Focus group interviews conducted.

Deliverables-technology:

• Launch baseline completed, tested and verified.
• Supplier delivery process assessment completed.

Deliverables-supply chain:

• Production build versus required production plan/ launch requirement analysed.
• Manufacturing assessment completed.
• Maintain supply/ demand process. 
• Post-launch Review

Post-launch review is verify performance and customer acceptance in support of asset management and end of life strategic objectives. Production build-up continues and profit performances are optimized through product improvement and/ or maintenance activities.

Activities:

• project `lessons learnt’ are developed and assessed through audt process.
• Product improvements and enhancements are implemented.
• New business opportunities are evaluated, product variants/ extensions are proposed.
• End-of-life plan for product withdrawal is implemented.

Deliverables-marketing:

• Product/ product family end-of-life plan developed and implemented.
• Customer satisfaction audit completed.
• Marketing and field audit completed.
• Product/ product family end-of-life strategy developed and confirmed.
• Product/ product family enhancement, improvement and upgrade requirements developed and agreed.

Deliverables-technology:

• Design changes and corresponding justification criteria implemented.
• Launch baseline maintained per project change management process.
• Supplier delivery process assessment completed.

Deliverables-supply chain:

• Maintain manufacturing/ support.
• Production build maintained.
• Financial variance analysis completed- manufacturing assessment completed.
• Manufacturing line balance achieved.
• Manufacturing sustained.
• Production review conducted.

  The central idea of stage-gate model is that new product development can be abandoned at any stage. The R&D portfolio thus will consist of few successfully completed and a larger number of dropped/ abandoned/ failed projects.