new product development – OM in the News

Chick-fil-A’s Cauliflower Sandwich

After four years of iterations with multiple vegetables, from beets to mushrooms, Chick-fil-A is adding a plant-based category to its menu.

Unlike other quick serve restaurants’ (QSR) menu items which resemble their meat counterpart, such as Burger King with the Impossible Whopper, Chick-fil-A decided on a cauliflower sandwich.

Customer research indicated that customers not only want more vegetables, they want something identifiable as a vegetable, yet still with the delicious taste of Chick-fil-A. The decision to go with cauliflower differentiates Chick-fil-A from […]

By Ross L. Fink, Ph.D.|2023-02-26T08:32:01+00:00February 26, 2023|Tags: food supply chain, forecasting, House of Quality, inventory management, limited time offering, new product development, perishable inventory management, product development, supply chain management, voice of the customer|

EV Stations: A Vision to Fuel the Future

The winner of an international competition envisions electric vehicle charging stations that offer far more than traditional gas stations.

Since charging an EV can take 20 or 30 minutes, the designer of the winning station included features like exercise equipment, massage therapy, a garden, and stores in additional to traditional gas station fare. He also suggests placing the stations in interesting places, such as near a trailhead or a community site of interest, to offer customers interesting ways to pass the […]

By Lisa M. Spencer|2022-02-17T23:51:55+00:00February 17, 2022|Tags: applied research, new product development, product design, product life cycle, service design, sustainability|

Design Cycle for GM’s Hummer EV Cut by 3 Years

With its Hummer EV, GM has cut 3 years out of its usual 5-year design time.

GM says that the new development process is saving $1.5 billion annually. GM is using new technologies such as virtual product testing and hardware-in-the-loop testing to cut product development time dramatically. It also helps that the Hummer EV is using a battery that was previously developed and has far fewer parts compared to combustion engine technology.

Testing virtual parts saves money since 3-D printed parts can […]

By David Little, Ph.D.|2021-01-20T04:54:33+00:00January 20, 2021|Tags: 3D printing, facility layout, new product development, virtual reality|

Straight to the Moon, Adidas

Adidas is partnering with the International Space Station to perform product testing in a microgravity environment to improve soccer ball and shoe design. Sustainability is also being studied to account for reuse of every gram of material.

Adidas hopes to learn how to improve sustainable manufacturing as a result of this partnership.

Video Spotlight:

By David Little, Ph.D.|2019-12-08T08:18:16+00:00December 8, 2019|Tags: new product development, NPD, sustainability|