A quality Stage-Gate® process can substantially increase profits

A quality Stage-Gate^Ž process increases profits by millions

	The Stage-Gate^Ž process is template for turning ideas into profitable business.
	The Stage-Gate process is also a checklist to help you not to omit critical activities and to build best practices into your every single development project that you carry out.
	In fact, implementation of Stage-Gate can increase company profits by millions, frequently by just as many millions as your company's annual development budget.

A systematic process
New product development begins with an idea and ends with the launch of a new product. The steps between these points can be viewed as a systematic product development process. Stage-Gate^Ž divides this process into a series of stages.

Stages are cross-functional
Each stage contains a set of prescribed and cross-functional activities, incorporating industry best practices. It is important to remember that the activities during a stage are executed in parallel, not in sequence. This ensures that they are carried out quickly and effectively.

stages are cross-functional - all areas of the company contribute

each stage is preceded by a gate

Gates are the critical decision points
Gates are the critical points in the process where a decision must be made. The gate-keepers can choose to Go, Kill, Hold, or Recycle the project.

Also, gates are:

"quality control" checkpoints:

Has the previous stage been executed in a quality fashion?

Has the project team done its job well?

Is the project attractive from an economic and business standpoint?

Is the Action Plan sound?

project prioritization and resource allocation decision meetings

At the end of a gate meeting, a decision must be reached. If the decision is Go, this ensures resource commitments and support from the management.

Gatekeepers:
Gatekeepers are the team of senior management who make Go/Kill decisions at gates.

Gatekeepers:

are from a different functional areas and can commit resources

have a pre-set list of criteria and rules - they can't play favorites

A Typical Process:

A typical product development process from idea to the final product and a profitable business

A typical product development process from idea to the final product and a profitable business

The Benefits of the system

it puts discipline in an ordinarily chaotic process

it focuses attention on quality of execution

it speeds up the project - because it is cross-functional

it ensures a complete project - no critical steps are omitted

it leads to a better project selection and focused resources

The Results:
More effective, efficient and faster projects that produces more successful new products.

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<A HREF="product-development-process.html">product development process</A> This web site uses frames. To view it, you must have a browser that can handle frames, for example MS Internet Explorer 4.0 or higher. The Process Drives Profit and Growth Higher profitability <ul type="circle"> <li>Higher profitability of your product development programme.</li> <li>Higher success rates.</li> <li>More satisfied customers willing to pay a price premium.</li> </ul> Higher speed <ul type="circle"> <li>Shorter time from idea to profit.</li> <li>Improved timing and adherence to budget. </li> </ul> Certain best practices make product development more efficient. Some of them are: - Products with a superior differential advantage. - Strong market orientation. - Solid homework before development begins. - Sharp product definition before development. - Tough Go/Kill decision points in the process. - A complete and yet flexible system with no omissions of error. - Dedicated and empowered project leader and team. A high quality system secures that best practices are built into each and every development project.

A quality Stage-GateŽ process increases profits by millions

A quality Stage-Gate^Ž process increases profits by millions