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Product Management Experience
The products that I worked
on were used mostly for industrial automation. Specifically these products
were the brains and mussels of robots, high-speed packaging machines (1,200
candy bars per min.), semi-conductor manufacturing machines, machine tools, etc.
Before you role your eyes, these product all incorporated advanced computer
technology, including digital signal processors, sophisticated computer
algorithms, networking (RS-232, Ethernet, TCP/IP, and fiber optic) and
high-powered electronics (thousands of volts and hundreds of amps). Most
products include a wide variety of accessories and PC based software for setup,
programming, troubleshooting, etc.
As a product manager my
day-to-day activities surrounded the implementation of product plans that I had
previously developed.
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Product Planning.
I have developed comprehensive product plans for new product development.
The scope of these plans varied depending on the type of product development,
cost reduction, line-extension, … next generation platform. A
new-to-the-world or new core product development would included items such as:
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Product requirements
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Target markets identification
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Customer requirements
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Engineering specifications
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Performance requirements
- Industrial certification
requirements (UL, c-UL, CE, CSA, FCC, etc.)
- Competitive analysis
- Product Family/Line Planning
- Compatibility issues (backward,
forward, cross platform and competitive)
- Derivative product plans (what
other products were going to be part of the product line)
- Identification of accessories
(what accessories were needed to complement the product line)
- Product line pricing
- Development Plans
- Project team composition
- Design schedules
- Development budgets
- Technology and market risks
- Financials
- Pricing
- ROI, NPV, IRR, payback period
- Capital requirements (development
and production)
- Sales forecasts (units and
dollars)
- Cannibalization analysis
- Development budgets
- Market launch plans
- Sales training
- Promotional plans and budgets
- Sales aids
- Service plans
- Project risks
- Key/critical technologies
- Key/critical components
- Long-lead-time components
- Product development team management.
After the product plans are developed (above), I would manage the team that
developed these products. I have mostly worked with companies that used a
strong project management structure. This means that the team members did not
report to me (I didn’t do their performance reviews), but I had absolute
authority/responsibility for all project decisions, schedules, and budgets.
The one personnel decision that I did have was who was on the team.
- I have managed product development teams using 100%
internal resources at one physical location. I have also managed
developments that were spread across four geographic locations on three
continents using a mix of internal on external design engineers.
- A typical new product development might involve 20
design engineers, 20 part-time-project support staff (finance, QA, sales,
etc), 18 months and $5 million dollars (time and materials). A derivative
product development might be three engineers, 3 months, and $100k.
- Product and Technology Roadmapping.
This a planning activity that looks out two, three or more product life
cycles to identify what products are likely to be needed and which
technologies will be required, critical or enablers for those products.
- Product Portfolio
Management.
This is a planning process that looks across the various product lines to
ensure a company wide balance between risky and safe, new-to-the-world and
derivative, short-term and long-term, current markets and new markets, etc.
- Inbound and outbound private labels.
Most companies cannot develop all the products that they need for a
complete product line. To complete my product lines I have private
labeled products from other manufactures (in bound private label). I have
also been directly involved in creating products that were then used to
fill a competitors product line (out bound private label). My direct
involvement in private label agreements has included:
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Developing and executing
product plans (see above)
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Negotiating contract terms
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Negotiating modifications to
contract terms
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Launching private label
products into my channel
- Miscellaneous
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Develop product development
procedures/process to satisfy ISO 9001 requirements.
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Product life cycle
management, including planning and managing the withdrawal of products from
the market.
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Develop and implement a
stage-gate product development process.
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