This topic might sound drab, but given the growing demand and need for unique product and service solutions to business problems, more and more companies are investing in product engineering services which are either inbound or outsourced.

“Product engineering is the development of a product or service that offers maximized benefits with low cost. It encompasses both hardware and software, and also involves executing engineering assignments to create and uphold products or services utilizing each project’s customized processes and appropriate methods and tools.”

• Is periodic evaluation necessary?

Change is an inevitable part of every business venture and in order to progress, every company must incorporate change in its managerial processes. Likewise, the current industry is highly impulsive and demands, especially customer and client preferences, keep varying on a frequent basis. The change in preferences can heavily impact product and service performance.

When the product or service fails to perform as per industry demands, it becomes obsolete and hence, a major loss to the company and their client and customers. Therefore, periodic evaluation of products and services helps a company to pre-plan and develop alternatives that invariably acts as a substitute or replacement.

• Failure Analysis Vs. Periodic Evaluation

Periodic evaluation should not be confused with inspection or failure analysis – which is a completely different activity all together. It is a process in product engineering where data is collected and analysed only to determine the cause of actual failure and poor performance, often with the sole objective of creating liability or corrective measures.

Whereas, periodic evaluation of a product or service deals with the trends, consumer economics and psychology leading product engineers to strategize, pre-plan and develop a new product or service with enhanced performance and additional features.

What factors should be taken into consideration?

• Market demand and status of the product:

One of the crucial factors that needs to be considered while product evaluation is the current market demand of the product or service. Questions such as – where on the bell curve does the demand for the product or service lay? The bell curve is a balanced curve for demonstrating the performance of the product. Analyzing the bell curve offers true and accurate information on product performance.

• Target customer preferences:

Similar to demand analysis, target customer preference is much more specific and pertains to a pre-determined audience. Collecting target customer preference in the form of reviews and feedback can help companies to custom build and design products as well as generate newer business opportunities.

• Technology:

Often technological changes in the industry can trigger customer dissonance and it is best that a company recognizes this and implements the necessary changes in their product or service. Moreover, a company should remain vigilant by keeping track of current technology, certifications, demography preferences and upcoming trends.