Delivering Winning Electronic Products

Taking an electronic product from concept through production to launch needs special skills. It requires not only a good understanding of the market - it also demands a thorough knowledge of the whole process of taking an electronic design through various stages and making it available for sale. This includes the choice of the enclosure, making sure that the product can be manufactured economically and that the design is fit for purpose. The project manager also has to take into account regulatory requirements, make sure that the product is documented accurately for production and be confident that it can be easily supported in the field.In other professions like medicine, accountancy and law, this gap is filled formally during the training phase. Practitioners have to work in a hospital, in an accountancy or law firm before they can qualify and start to practice. However, there is no formal training programme for project managers, when it comes to taking a product through to launch. What I have attempted to do in this book is to try and prepare the new project manager for the task. Throughout the book I have taken examples from products that I have worked on. In over 40 years spent in industry, I have been fortunate to be involved in the design, manufacture and launch of more than 30 different products. I have also worked on a number of other products as a consultant. Many were successful but some did not quite live up to expectations. I am keen to pass on the lessons learnt from all these experiences to a new generation of project managers.