The PDMA Handbook of New Product Development

6.5. Fuzzy Front End for Platform Products

The traditional Stage-Gate® processes, discussed previously, was designed for a single product—not the development of a platform product possibly requiring a multimarket, multiproduct plan, which will share common architecture and have common systems and interfaces.

A classic example of a platform product was Black and Decker's development of a new common universal motor with a fixed width and variable length that could be used in all of the their products (i.e., drills, sanders, circular saws, hedge trimmers, etc.) instead of hundreds of different motors manufactured on different production lines. The result of this change in product architecture was Black and Decker being able to market a lighter and more profitable drill at half the price! As a result, Black and Decker gained dominant market share and drove many competitors out of business (Meyer and Zack, 1996). McGrath (2001:54) indicates that "...failures in high tech companies frequently can be traced to an incomplete platform strategy..."

The FFE for developing a new platform starts out with a strategic vision of what the company wants to develop. This vision can come from the need to develop a new generation product to make a current one obsolete. For example, Xerox realized that digital technology was a major threat to their lens-based copier line and needed to develop a new generation of copiers and printers based on digital technology. Black and Decker (Meyer and Lehnerd, ...