INDIVIDUAL NPI SERVICE VALUES AND BENEFITS

NPI incorporates planning, engineering collaboration, verification, and manufacturing readiness into a coordinated new product development plan. Each NPI service brings values and benefits to the New Product Introduction process. Check out the table below to learn more about the value and benefit of each NPI Service we offer.

NPI Project Management

	Service		Value		Benefit
	Product Build Planning		Simplexity will co-develop the Product Build Plan with the client to document build phases from prototype to production ramp.  We review and update the Build Plan as the product matures, ensuring key manufacturing, test, quality, and NPI objectives are met.		Project plan development can help reduce time to market, help manage expectations, control costs, and ensure process and quality flows are followed.
	Manufacturing Schedule Management		Managing scheduling milestones is critical to meeting delivery timelines. Our team helps manage all prototype to production timelines.		Our oversight of the manufacturing process offers clients an additional level of accountability and control.
	Resource Management		Staffing needs for an NPI project change throughout the project. We ensure that the right distribution of design engineers, manufacturing engineers, test technicians, or assemblers are forecasted for each build phase.   During initial design transfer, our onsite presence at a Contract Manufacturer is also often beneficial.		Simplexity can provide resourcing flexibility which is critical to support a client’s team.
	Vendor Management		We have relationships with a network of contract manufacturers, part suppliers and tooling vendors, plus we can help evaluate and audit new vendors.  We will recommend and manage partners based on project requirements – without any potential bias.		Our focus will be on representing the client’s needs in developing vendor and CM relationships.  We provide useful oversight in both vendor selection and management.
	Cost Management		A costed Bill of Materials and capital expense estimates provide early insights into project and product costs. We provide estimations that can be used to establish baseline criteria for Contract Manufacturer selection, factoring in location, labor costs, and services offered.		The ultimate goal is to align project costs with client’s overall development budget and expectations.
	Supply Chain Strategy		When supplies are constrained or unknown, Simplexity develops risk mitigation plans, stopgaps and innovative solutions to supply chain problems.		By working closely with the procurement departments of the CMs, we strive to keep the project on schedule and within budget delivering products that meet quality and performance goals.

Concurrent Engineering

	Service		Value		Benefit
	Critical Performance Metrics (CPM) Development		We help clients define and document product requirements. Identifying critical performance metrics drives engineering priorities, quality, and cost considerations and, ultimately, project success.		Communicating critical performance metrics EARLY helps guide and focus engineering efforts to ensure product requirements are met.
	DfX Processes		DfX evaluations enable our engineers to approach the design from the perspective of manufacturability, assembly, and serviceability. Identifying these opportunities early in the design process when they are least costly to accommodate is critical to minimize higher cost changes downstream.		Simplexity’s broad experience includes these “Design for” aspects and requirements, ensuring schedule, cost, and quality benefits.
	Design Transfer		A clean hand-off from the design team to the manufacturing team (with a robust design history file and assembly documentation) is the true test of the value of NPI. We enable bringing up the manufacturing line efficiently.		Simplexity’s design transfer ability can save time and money and minimize manufacturing iterations.
	RCA/Defect Resolution		Performing RCA (Root Cause Analysis) to resolve defects and communicating a path forward to all affected stakeholders, leads to ongoing improvements in design and process development.		We provide a careful, systematic, and well documented review of defects to diagnose and ultimately provide a resolution path to improve product integrity and performance.

Product Verification

	Service		Value		Benefit
	ECT Builds and Test		Engineering Confidence Testing provides important verification of product functionality and ensures products are fully tested prior to manufacturing. This leads to the development of production line testing equipment and assembly fixtures.		Rigorous testing can identify issues earlier in the development of the product when they are significantly less costly to fix.
	Pre-Production Builds and Test		Pre-production builds allow vetting of the assembly process at the contract manufacturer. Formal work instructions and build documentation may be iterated to ensure a consistent process that meets quality goals. Assemblers are trained in the use of assembly fixtures and test tooling. Build reporting is established to communicate progress between the contract manufacturer the client and the NPI team.		Our strong emphasis on build management keeps the objectives of each build in mind to provide maximum benefit to the project.
	Reliability Testing		Reliability testing helps uncover product design weaknesses or flaws and is a vital part of pre-production building and testing.		Reliability testing provides critical feedback and helps minimize costly fixes downstream.
	Regulatory Testing		Some products may require regulatory certifications for safety, manufacturing, electromagnetic compatibility, and/or other compliance areas.		Simplexity has extensive experience managing regulatory testing at certified test facilities.

Manufacturing Readiness

	Service		Value		Benefit
	Tooling Vendor Selection		Selecting the right tooling vendors is critical to schedule, product quality and cost management. With an extensive network of tooling vendors, Simplexity can provide vendor selection support, and can onboard tooling vendors with competencies based on product design and cost requirements.		We can help select and manage tooling vendors and establish clear communication with the design engineering team.
	CM Selection and Onboarding		We can help with CM selection based on project requirements. We can also manage the cost and schedule associated with the production ramp, the development of the costed Bill of Materials, and development of quality control tools.		Selecting the right CM to take the design into production is critical. We can help select, onboard and manage CMs to ensure smooth handoffs from design to manufacturing.
	Quality Metrics Validation and Process Verification		We review and validate all the processes that will be followed and implement quality management needed to support final assembly at the contract manufacturers. Once a manufacturing line is operational, it is critical that ongoing quality verification and monitoring is established.		The result is a high-quality product that meets requirements. Simplexity can provide additional quality audits as needed.
	Onsite Build and Test Supervision		We can provide onsite build supervision with the CM for as long as is needed to ensure training, production quality, and test protocols are maintained.		Providing ongoing quality verification and monitoring ensures optimal manufacturing line operation.

When New Product Introduction (NPI) Services are integrated with product development, they can help manage product costs, reduce time-to-market, and improve product quality.

Contact us to discuss how our NPI team can work with either your design engineering team or ours to help you get your next innovation to market.

Check out some of our New Product Introduction (NPI) Case Studies below to learn more!