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Along with product improvements, Dow Corning considered improvements to its product development program. Prior to 1974, Dow Corning had product checkpoints in place. For example, the file on the original implant included a specification page, where the plant manager, research scientists, and bio-safety scientists from the PMG signed off that the product made was the product intended, verified a formulation page, and approved a recipe page which not only reiterated the formulation, but laid out the instructions for the manufacturing of the product.
(The table and figure below illustrate Dow Corning's Product staging system[45].)
| TABLE I | PRODUCT STAGING SYSTEM | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII | |
| STAGE | Conception | Feasibility | Product Development | Commercialization | Market Expansion | Product Maturity | Product Obsolescence |
| DEFINITION | Exploratory lab studies are conducted to define new science and technology or an external market need is conceptualized. | Lab work is done to translate basic science & technology into product concepts and ptrototype products | Prototype products are defined with product specifications. | Products are intoduced that meet the requirments of the customer. A marketing strategy is implemented, price/value established & the first sale made. | That stage in a product life cycle characterized by market expansion and rapid growth. | That stage in a product life cycle characterized by product maturity and slow growth rate. | That stage in a product's life cycle when product profit and sales growth are topping off and product or market is becoming obsolete. |
| OBJECTIVE | Develop new science and technology. | Define prototype solutions to well characterized market neeeds. Assess mfg. implications. | Develop a product that has a competitive advantage in satisfying a specified need. | Demonstrate commercial viability & begin market penetration. | Maximize rate of sales and distribution. Maintain balance in capacity and market demand. | Maintain business and maximize profit over as long a time span as possible. | Remove product product from product line. |
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When all that was complete, a product moved on to Stage III, "Product Development." The Technical Service & Development Department held the main responsibility for Stage III, where product specifications and market applications were refined, more testing completed, and the legal environment researched. Manufacturing determined the quality controls along with the processing and packaging steps, and looked at environmental considerations concerning the product. Marketing organized literature about the product, establishing a potential sale price, a most-likely cost of production, and probable product terminology. The legal department determined applicable regulations and whether the product required a patent; and they wrote contracts on the new product. The Health and Environmental Science office reviewed the product's lab sheets and also conducted biocompatability tests.
Dow Corning's shift to matrix management in 1967, where decision making was pushed to the lowest level possible and the corporation was no longer solely organized by product line, allowed the use of product management teams. These groups consisted of Marketing, Manufacturing, R & D, Technical Service & Development, Financial, and Legal employees who moved a product from idea to actualization, weighing all the departments' considerations at earlier Product Stages than previously, for example, at Stage II. A Product Action Form had to be approved by research, legal, and manufacturing staff before any devices could be moved to Stage III. At that stage, the team initiated interaction with the process engineer, who represented the people that would assemble the product day to day. A scale-up of the product was also made at this time, and the team reviewed the product and its market, making sure one more time that Dow Corning wanted to be involved with such a product and such a market. Not every product made it through these checkpoints, either. For instance, Dow Corning considered making a male contraceptive similar to the Dalkon Shield, but questioned its safety and decided against it. Similarly, Dow Corning rejected extremely large breast prostheses as an option, citing their inappropriateness.
At Stage IV, "Commercialization," Dow Corning began production of its new product--signifying a commitment to make the product conceivably forever. Responsibility, while still within the product management group, shifted mainly to the shoulders of the manufacturing members, who began production while Marketing continued work on the product campaign. At Stage V, "Market Expansion," Dow Corning made the full-blown product available. At this stage, Marketing assumed the main responsibility, which was to develop and maintain product demand. Stage VI, "Product Maturity," marked Manufacturing's maintenance of the product supply and viability. The goal was to maintain demand and profit for as long as feasible, until reaching Stage VII. Entitled "Product Obsolescence," this stage marked the demise of the product or its market, where demand leveled off. Here, Marketing directed the product's phase- out. Thus, Dow Corning developed a product staging system that encompassed the product's life-cycle and provided checkpoints before production.
(An interesting footnote to this explanation is that the breast implant never made it past stage four, since manufacturing did not want sole responsibility for the product, also desiring the freedom to call on TS & D when problems or questions arose.)
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