17 8 CHAPTER 7 INTRODUCINGANDMANAGINGTHEPRODUCT
Step4:TechnicalandMarketingDevelopment
A productthathaspassedthescreenandbusinessanalysisstagesisreadyfortechnicaland
marketingdevelopment.Technicaldevelopmentinvolvestwosteps.Thefirstistheapplied
laboratoryresearchrequiredtodevelopexactproductspecifications. Thegoalofthis research
istoconstructa prototypemodeloftheproduc: thatcanbesubjectedtofurtherstudy.Once
theprototypehasbeencreated, manufacturing-methodsresearchcanbeundertakentoplan
thebestwayofmakingtheproductincorunercialquantitiesundernormalmanufacturing
conditions.This isanextremely important step,becausethereisa significantdistinction
betweenwhatanengineercanassembleina laboratoryand whata factoryworkercan
produce.
Whilethelaboratorytechniciansareworkingontheprototype, themarketingdepart-
mentis responsiblefortestingthenewproductwithitsintendedconsumersanddevelop-
ingtheotherelementsofthemarketingmix.Thetestingprocessusuallybeginswiththe
conccp~test.Theproductconceptisa synthesisora descriptionofa productideathatreflects
thecoreelementoftheproposedproduct.Forexample,a consumergroupmightbeassem-
bledane~heinterviewsessionmightbeginwiththec;uestion:"Howaboutsomethingthat
woulddothis? ."Thesecondaspectofmarketdevelopmefitinvolv'~sconsumertesting0:the product
idea.Thi~activitymustu:;uallyawaittheconstn.:ctionoftileprototypeor, preferably, lim-
ited-I;J)lproductionmodelsVariouskindsofconsumerpreferencecanbeconducted.The
productitselfcanbeexposed:oconsumertasteorusetests. Packaging,labeiing,andother
elementsint;1emixcanbesimilarlystudied.Comparisontests arealsoused.Step5:ManufacturingPlanning
Assumingthattheproducthasclearedthetechnicalandmarketingdevelopmentstage,the
manufacturingdepartmentisaskedtoprepareplansforproducingit.'":.'heplanbeginswith
anappraisaloftheexistingproductIOnplantandthenecessarytoolingrequiredtoachieve
themosteconomicalproducti.on.Fancydesign~andmaterialmightbehardif notimpos-
sibletoaccommodateonexistingproductioneql'ipment;I".ewmachineryisoftentime-
consumingandcostlytoobtain.Compromisebetweenattractivenessandeconomyis often
necessary.
Finally, manufacturingplanningmustconsidertheotherareasoftheorganizationand
whatis requiredofeach. Morespecifically,theyshoulddeterminehowtosecuretheavail-
abilityof requiredfunds,facilities, andpersonnelattheintendedtime,aswellasthemeth-
odsofcoordinatingthiseffort.Step6:MarketingPlanning
Itisatthispointthatthemarketingdepartmentmovesintoactionagain.Theproductplan-
nermustpreparea completemarketingplan-onethatstartswitha statementofobjectives
andendswith[he:usionofproduct,distribution,promotion,andpricingintoanintegrated
programofmarketingaction.Step7:TestMarketing
Testmarketingis thefinalstepbeforecommercialization;theobjectiveistotestallthevari-
abilitesinthemarketingplanincludingelementsoftheproduct.'iestmarkeiingrepresents
anactuallaunchingofthetotalmarketingprogram. Butit isGoneona limitedbasis.