NEW PRODUCT DESIGN AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENTEngineering and business students join with industry to create new products

William DurfeeDepartment of Mechanical EngineeringUniversity of Minnesota

Why

New products drive successful businesses

Faculty from several schools within the university interested in new products

Need to train students in a multi-disciplinary setting

New partnerships with industry

Education Projects Research

ProductNeeds U ResourcesIndustry

•New Product Development Leaders•New Products•New Knowledge

NEW PRODUCTS PROGRAM

Faculty Students

What

Graduate level course offered by IT, CSOM, BME

Work with client firms to design a new product and create a business plan

Teams of 4-8 students (1/2 business, 1/2 engineering) + faculty + marketing and engineering company reps

Nine months (Sept - June) Deliverables: Working prototype,

comprehensive business plan

Features

Real projects– Companies commit to manufacture

Cross-functional teams– Engineers do marketing and vice-versa

All patents assigned to companies All team members sign confidentiality agreements Strong university/industry collaboration on project Parallel research on NPD process Companies pay fee, revenue used to support

academic design program

Outcomes (as of Year 5)

30 projects 180+ students 8 faculty Many working

prototypes Saved Augustine

Medical 1-1/2 years in product development process

One patent issued, several pending

Confidentiality

Signed agreements All students and faculty sign all

agreements Implications

– Cannot disclose information to friends or family

– Agreement is between students and company, not university and company

– Five-year time limit– Publications must have company approval

Intellectual Property

All patents assigned to company– but students can be named inventors

Company pays costs associated with patent preparation and filing

University resources

Faculty experts Research centers Computing resources

(CAD....) Student Shop Rapid Prototyping

machine Medical Devices

Prototyping Lab

Projects

Careful selection Known area, but not completely defined Business challenges Engineering challenges Typically mechanical, electromechanical Many medical products 4-6 projects/year

Projects (1995-2000)

3M, Home and Commercial Care Division (1995), 2nd generation Twist ‘N Fill container

Toro, Consumer Division (1995), Powered, hand-held gardening tool

Micro-Medical Devices, Cleveland OH (1995, 1996), Endoscope technology

Reel Precision Manufacturing (1996), New market hinge product

Horton Manufacturing (1996), Smart cluth/brakeIrwin Publishing (1996), CD-ROM textbook

supplementDonaldson (1997), Engine noise control productMolecular Diagnostics Lab, UMN (1997), Blood

collection systemAetrium, Inc. (1997), Motion platform for Integrated

circuit testing machineSpinal Designs International (1997), Low-back pain

care for people in wheelchairsAugustine Medical (1997), Skin care productHorton Manufacturing (1997), Web control productSoil Sensors (1998), Next-generation soil moisture

sensorHoneywell, Home & Building Control (1998),

Residential ventilation system

Select Comfort (1998), Improved-comfort sleet system

Sulzer Medica, Winterthur Switzerland (1998), Hip surgery instrument

3M, Stationery and Office Supply Division (1998), Improved Post-it Flag dispensors

Augustine Medical (1998), Nursing home market for Augustine technology

Medtronic (1999), Catheter productEnhanced Mobility Technology (1999), Biorehab

productLincages (1999), Windows version of CAD

mechanicsm softwareShepherd Medical (1999), Male contraceptivesRust Architects (1999), Ice-palace coolerSulzer Medica (1999), Arthoscopy productSpineTech (2000), Artificial disk productEnduraTEC (2000), Tissue test gripsScimed (2000), Smart catheter productMedtronic (2000), Visible Heart CD-ROMMachine Magic (2000), Key duplicating machine

3M (1997-1998)

Post-it Flag group Innovative product to increase Flag sales 200 preliminary concepts, 40 prototypes, 4

detailed prototypes 3M took one to placement study then to

manufacture

The old product

The NPDBD collection of prototypes

AUGUSTINE MEDICAL (1996-1997)

Find new markets for core technology of warming patients during surgery

Team identied new market, developed and field tested a prototype product

Saved Augustine 1-1/2 years in product development time

SULZER MEDICA (1997-1998)

Orthopaedic products company, Winterthur, Switzerland

New product to facilitate hip implant surgery

Distance communication issues (e-mail, phone and video conferences)

European market Working prototype developed, will be

launched as a product soon

Lessons Learned

Engineering and business must lead program equally

Creating appropriate agreements takes time and effort

Requires didactic component on product development process

Advantage if company is nearby

Want more information?

www.npdbd.umn.edu

Durfee, W. “Engineering Education Gets Real”, Technology Review, Feb/Mar 1994, 42-51.

Erdman, A and W. Durfee, “Pac-Man, Calluses and the Undergraduate Engineering Design Student”, Educators’ Tech Exchange, Spring/Summer 1995, 16-23.

Durfee, W., The new product design and business development program: Engineers and business students join with industry to create new products, Proceedings of the 1999 ASEE Annual Conference (CD-ROM), Charlotte, 1999.