Global competition is presenting companies with new challenges. They must be able to develop and launch products that meet local market needs. Factors such as regional market trends, national laws and different customer wishes often lead to a clash between short-term targets for management and long-term innovation cycles. The result: Unsuitable products and falling competitiveness among companies. "According to many international managers, this mismatch is the biggest barrier to the success of an innovative product," says Jochen Gleisberg, Partner at Roland Berger Strategy Consultants. "To avoid product flops and thus wasted money, companies should focus on the basic requirements of certain markets and products early on."
IPE – "Boosted innovation, optimized product value, efficient engineering" is the name of the innovative Roland Berger approach to help companies develop optimum new products for new markets. It examines in detail the basic requirements for a product or product portfolio to succeed in a particular market. It answers questions such as: What product features do customers prefer? What price are they willing to pay? What drives costs up? Based on the answers, the experts at Roland Berger create an individual roadmap for each product and each market. "IPE helps reveal previously untapped innovation potential and integrate it into the development process," explains Roland Berger Partner Max Blanchet. "In times of fierce competition, companies must offer suitable innovations to fend off their competitors and survive to be successful in the market."
IPE – More innovation and shorter innovation cycles
The IPE approach does not simply analyze the innovation potential of products and technologies in certain markets; it also includes development processes, related services and business models. Emerging markets often want different solutions than industrialized countries, Gleisberg explains. "People often want simpler, cheaper versions of established products. Companies that want to successfully sell their wares must be able to develop the right products or adapt their product portfolio and production processes."
IPE thus helps companies achieve up to 40% more innovations. With the same resources, companies can successfully launch up to 60% more products. In the field of engineering, they can boost productivity by up to 25%. "Technology collaborations with suppliers are very important in this field to keep development costs in check, better meet local market needs and solve the problem of skills shortages," Blanchet says.
Another way to cut manufacturing costs across different industrial sectors is to modularize production. Products that are virtually identical yet made of different components drive costs up sharply and involve lengthy market launch periods. Through greater modularization, companies can use the same parts for many different products and thus limit their development and product costs.
