RESPONSES FROM FOCUS GROUP INTERVIEW

Only two questions were posed to the focus group. Each Business Function was individually requested to answer these questions:

 What gaps in the NPD process do you normally experience? And,

 What kind of improvement (if any) does the company need to assume in order for it to bridge such gaps?

5.5.1 Gaps in the NPD process

These questions resulted in many significant and helpful responses, stated as follows:

On the 29 May 2012, a focus group interview was held with NPD process key Business Functions who have direct inputs to the NPD process. Out of 27 Business Functions directly involved in the NPD process, the key Business Functions comprised a total of 12 participants, coded as PAR1-9, PAR12-14, and PAR17.

Only about 70% of the participants could make it to the focus group interview. Three of these Business Functions were either absent from work or had to be excused due to other significant priority business commitments. Present in the focus group interview session were PAR02 to PAR09 and PAR13 and PAR14.

What gaps in the NPD process do you normally experience?

“Continuous ineffective communication from the team around NPD Samples (i.e. Prototypes) and the actual commercial run is frustrating. It results in non- operational Bill of Materials (BOMs). By the time in which a Commercial run needs to commence, there is tremendous pressure to update prices of

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materials in order to update the BOMs and in most cases; insufficient and/or incorrect materials are purchased” (PAR13).

“If only NPD samples were planned by the production planner life would have been easier. The fact that the NPD projects manager directs NPD samples by himself creates problems on raw material and machinery capacity, including people requirements. The problem is that when NPD samples are produced, the NPD manufacturing team takes readily available materials that were not purchased for NPD process. Also, at the time whereby there was no dedicated NPD manufacturing process, NPD manufacturing process used to inconvenience and interrupt production facility by manufacturing ‘urgent’ NPD Samples whilst inconveniencing already firm orders. This sometimes resulted in people working unplanned overtime and that alone costs our business” (PAR09).

“The fact that NPD Samples do not have both the customer and/or Cape Pak (Pty) product codes (i.e. sometimes having just only one of), creates confusion on already determined product ID and traceability system. The outcome of this is that products are not booked accurately on the SYSPRO System. In most cases, NPD Samples validation is not taken off the SYSPRO system; as a result, during the commercial run there will be both sample codes on actual product information that in most cases confuses people working with that system. Such confusion creates wasteful activities around production planning and raw material purchasing” (PAR09).

“The Sales team pressurises everybody for NPD Samples to be made; on the other hand, the actual commercial run order from the customer can come as late as in two years’ time. The obsolete BOMs gap as identified by PAR13 is due to the reality that, by the time some of the NPD Samples are approved for commercial run, the team had unintentionally overlooked or forgot to update manufacturing documentation such as BOMs, Manufacturing and Finished Product specifications for instance” (PAR09).

“We lack NPD process stages planning and review that could lead to sufficient new product verification and validation, thereby determining quality of our NPD

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process. Respectively, a planning and review of this nature will result in effective communication to the team clarifying each Business Function’s responsibilities in each NPD prototype and overall service” (PAR04).

“Our NPD process needs a formally authorised NPD multidisciplinary team that should be empowered with the right NPD competence, linked to Business Function’s expertise and key performance indicators so that when there is a task at hand, it could be tackled with no major complications and frustrations. This means that there are various training resources (e.g. product knowledge, project management) that should take place in order to discover such competence. When a competence gap is closed, purchasing specific test equipment, developing accurate test methods and quality control plans would be an understood and graceful, successful daily activity” (PAR04).

“NPD speed and quality are Cape Pak (Pty)’s biggest challenge. It takes time to manufacture NPD Samples yet even once these are produced, there are dissatisfied customers that complain about product quality. Our NPD process is not a centrally controlled business process as it has no documented systems in place (i.e. procedures, process descriptions)” (PAR02).

“The NPD process does not really affect our Function. The only problem was that by the time that a commercial run needs to occur, there is no proper handover from the NPD function as a result, in most cases, our Function struggles a lot with the first time commercial run resulting in wasteful activities such as down time. I think it would be easier if the NPD team could dedicate time and mentor our Function during the first time of commercial run to eliminate wasteful activities such as extended setup time” (PAR07).

5.5.2 What kind of improvement (if any) does the company need to assume in order it to bridge such gaps?

The focus group interview session participants, collectively discussed, agreed and came up with the following group recommendations:

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Managing NPD Risks:

One of the ways to manage NPD process-related risks is to ensure that there are no NPD Samples made without ‘formal’ written customer approval. When this happens, customers would be ‘forced’ to understand their requirements so that, if at any time when the Samples are not according to these requirements, the related cost risk is not one-way but owned by both the company and the customer. It was also said that Functions responsible for external customers (e.g. TSMs) would have to take time and teach customers about the functionality, reliability and product application. All NPD Samples should be captured on a structured system so that a responsible Business Function could trend and analyse on the basis of plan versus actual. When this happens, the NPD team will be able to keep track of these NPD products.

Production Plan:

To ensure an effective production plan and raw material, people requirements should be managed efficiently. Prototypes should only be produced if the Works Order is officially generated from customer order on the SYSPRO System. The Works Order should be forwarded to the Production Planner so that he can plan all requirements accordingly.

Sample Log Database:

Sales Coordinators (both local and export) should ensure that there is a Sample log database and number so that the Supply Chain and Production Functions could easily differentiate between a NPD Sample and ‘normal’ production.

NPD Gate Control System

The Quality and NPD Function should establish an uncomplicated ‘NPD Gate Control System’ so that the NPD process can only progress to the next stage when there has been formal approval from the previous stage.

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The feedback from interview sessions positively correlates with literature review. This demonstrates that indeed, NPD process is a very imperative and huge business process that if not properly managed could lead to challenges related to process delays, people incompetency, customer dissatisfaction etc. This shows that, there was a need for Cape Pak (Pty) to formalise the way the company manages its NPD process.