QCD - The Mantra for Success

A product or service can be thought of as having three cornerstones: QUALITY, COST, and DELIVERY.

Quality is the attribute desired by your customers that determines the value of the product and/or service and its usefulness to them. Features, specifications, longevity and varieties are some examples of the quality indicators your end customer is looking for (does the product imbibe the quality of your brand story?).

Cost, the second cornerstone, refers to the cost of developing, manufacturing and delivering the product at the best cost for your customer.

Delivery involves bringing the finished goods or services to the customer at the right time, in the right quantity or amount, and at the right place.

Balancing these three cornerstones during the product development phase is critical to shaping the end product and how it will be valued. :

1. Quality -

Quality is paramount for all organizations, whether in the product or service space. This is a conversation we regularly have with our customers. Being in the product space, it becomes imperative to understand and measure the quality of the manufacturing process as well as that of the finished product.

We have customers who want to work in the OPP (opening price point) space and those that want to work on highly innovative products with high features.

We, as the research arm for their product needs, come back with recommendations based on the brand story and ethos they want to stand for. It is, therefore, important to define what you want your brand/product to stand for, making quality an imperative function of the brand story.

To ensure quality, you need to know what customer pain point the product is solving. The product should then be defined to a meaningful degree before development begins.

This certainly does not mean that the product must be fully defined and agreed upon before any development happens. This is where developing your MVP (Minimum Viable Product) comes into the picture. Developing this will be enough to estimate the high-level requirements and the suppliers you will need to develop the full product and demonstrate to stakeholders the challenge your product will be solving.

We work very closely to get this correct with our partners.

2. Cost -

The quality of the product determines the cost, which, in turn, impacts the overall selling price and your company’s profit margin. While developing the product, you need to keep in mind the right price your customer will be willing to pay. The overall cost also impacts the marketability and profitability of your product.

At Ideas91, we help clients achieve the desired product costs from the development phase. We do this by primarily assisting clients in sourcing the right material by selecting suitable vendors. Right vendor selection is critical because costs for each vendor can differ based on reputation, delivery time, geography etc. We deep dive into vendor cost analysis, as we believe this is of prime importance to achieving your desired product cost.

3. Delivery -

Delivery of the end product to the customer is largely determined by the availability of inventories, the length of the manufacturing lead time, and the available capacity - all within your company’s reach. The production plans and production schedules you make essentially determine the delivery performance of the company; of course, working with the wrong vendor or a terribly wrong forecast from marketing can wreak havoc on the best laid-out production plans and confound delivery schedules. Imagine you are coming out with limited edition products for festive occasions or specific campaigns, or even a new product launch; in such cases, delays can cause irreparable damage to your company’s reputation and lead to a loss of sales and customer confidence.

Quality, Cost and Delivery are the three legs of a stool on which a customer's happiness rests.

To ensure this stool is steady, we have constructed an expert methodology over the years, which enables us to become a vital link between your customer, you and your manufacturing process. We become your trusted partner and follow a step-by-step process to ensure a seamless product development process that results in increased profitability and enhanced customer experience. We have successfully implemented this methodology process across consumer products and multiple geographies.?