Medical Devices

Commercially Successful New Product launch

Background

This client is a global manufacturer of medical devices. R&D were already using a gated process to control technical and QA aspects of new product development and to ensure regulatory compliance.

The Challenge

The pre-existing gated process was a vital first step that helped the company to produce technically excellent new products that achieved regulatory approval in each target market. Unfortunately the process was not geared to overcome the wider challenges of new product development and did not properly engage functions outside R&D.

Launch of new products into the market was not smooth. A lack of confidence in published launch dates made it difficult for marketing and sales functions to accurately forecast demand for each market leading to serious miscalculations in supply volumes. It was also difficult to commit to a marketing plan. This meant that products were slow off the mark and potential revenue was lost.

Results

The existing phase gate process was reviewed and revised to broaden the focus of attention to include all aspects that can impact commercial success. This included continuous monitoring of the business case, earlier engagement and commitment from marketing and gradual refinement of demand forecasting and supply volumes.