A Case Study On Interface Management Of SKC’s New Product Development Project

With the increasingly fierce market competition and the rapid upgrading of products,the customization needs are gradually increasing,which raises a higher requirement for the efficiency of developing new products.R＆D and marketing department are the two main departments which are responsible for the development of new products,so the smooth communication and cooperation between them plays a key role in the new product development.If the two functional departments have interface conflicts in cooperation,such as delay,avoidance,or even misunderstanding,it is easy to be failed in the new product development.This will reduce customers’ confidence in the enterprise’s innovative technology,damage the brand image,and reduce the competitiveness of the enterprise in the market.This thesis chooses three classic cases in the new product development project of S Company as the research objects and describes the problems in the new product development.Using the interface management theory,we find the problems in the organization structure of the new product development team,new product development process and communication mechanism between R＆D and the Marketing Department and analyze the root causes of these problems.In problem solving phase,according to the S company current situation and the demand of new products,in terms of the Process Reengineering theory and concurrent engineering,three suggestions are given: adjust the current functional organization structure into the “Joint Project Team”.Decompose the new product development process of S Company,find out and analyze the process links that are prone to problems in the activities.The most important problem in the process is the conflict between the R＆D and marketing interface,the horizontal connection needed in the communication and the linear functional organizational structure.In the process of discussing the new process reengineering,the new process is divided into four stages respectively,which are new product evaluation,research and development,customer verification and listing.Finally,to implement the new process effectively under the new organizational structure,this thesis raises suggestions to improve the communication mechanism between R＆D and marketing.Under the new communication mechanism,R＆D and marketing departments can communicate with each other in a timely and effective manner,avoiding the impact of "information sticking" and other problems,which increase on the efficiency of new product development.Finally,to ensure that these action plans can be implemented,the implementation assurance plan is explained in the last part of this thesis.Communication and cooperation between R＆D and marketing functions is crucial in new product development.The methods and conclusions of interface management in this thesis not only provide suggestions for improvement of communication and cooperation between R＆D and marketing departments of S Company’s new product development management,but also can be extended to other business departments in other industries,such as manufacturing-procurement,R＆D and manufacturing,etc.