Description of the Ideation Process

Ideation
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Ideation
Description of the ideation process
Idea generation is also referred to as ideation stage. This is the first stage in NPD process. Beckley, Foley, Topp, Huang, & Prinyawiwatkul (2008, p. 185) refer to the concept as a blueprint for developing a new product and is crucial for the success of the new product. In order to develop a concept, the design team in an organization needs to understand the product’s general market specifications. Understanding the customer needs as well as the competition in the market will steer the design team in the organization towards generating a new concept (Beri, 2007). It should be noted that there are several activities involved in the process of developing the concept (ideation stage). These activities include functional modeling; concept engineering; product architecture development and functional modeling (Beckley et al., 2008).
The generation of a new idea in NPD process is meant to meet the aim of product development. Thus, the intention of creating the new product could be utilized in deciding on the concept development’s direction. With this regard, Brown (2004) assert that the call for developing the new product could arise from three quarters: sales department, customers and the company’s internal operations. In this case, customers could give their suggestions through the customer relations management (CRM) offices. Thus, the design team could capitalize on such information from clients to come up with a new idea aimed at meeting the customers’ needs. On the other hand, the sales department is at a better position of understanding the customer needs in the market. This is due to the fact that this department is often in direct contact with the clients on the daily basis.
Besides, Moore (2006) claims that the suggestions for the new product from internal operations department is often aimed at increasing the profitability. In this case, the decision and approval of the new product will come from the quality assurance, research and development (RD) department and the operations department. It should be noted that the new ideas could be generated through both the external and internal sources. I this case, internal sources include the sales department, consumer department, and research and development (RD) department (Beckley, et al, 2008). On the other hand, the external sources include trade literature, professional conferences, patents, government publications and libraries.
Alternative Solutions or Concepts Considered in the process
There are various alternative concepts considered in the ideation process. Ideas can be generated from reading a lot of literature regarding the technological application of concern. Additionally, one can get ideas from the family on how to come up with a new te...