Engineering Innovative Products E-Book

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 535

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Beschreibung

"The book provides vital insights into commercial development for engineering students in a highly practical and applied manner. Over the past 3 years, application of the book’s material has allowed the students to develop their commercial literacy and ambition in the University."
—Steve Orr, Director, Northern Ireland Science Park CONNECT program which looks to accelerate the growth of knowledge-based companies in Northern Ireland

Engineering Innovative Products: A Practical Experience is a pioneering book that will be of key use to senior undergraduate and graduate engineering students who are being encouraged to explore innovation and commercialization as part of their courses. The book will teach the essential skills of entrepreneurship and address the fundamental requirements needed to establish a successful technology company.

As well as providing the crucial background and insights enabling students to identify a key market, it also offers a highly practical guide to undertaking genuine product validation and producing a feasibility study, as well as providing vital insights into the challenges and demands in forming a technology based company.

Key features:

• Outlines how to develop and grow an engineering solution which has market potential and covers key business aspects of giving the perfect pitch, sales and marketing, protection of ideas and finance, to offer a complete and practical guide to commercializing ideas.
• Provides vital insight into the design and innovation processes within engineering and the challenges and pitfalls in translating good ideas into great products.
• Features contributions from leading experts in marketing, finance, company formation, sales and intellectual protection which provides details of the challenges faced by innovators when commercializing ideas.
• Includes Ccase studies from engineering students who give insights into how they have successfully developed their own ideas into companies.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

List of Contributors

Foreword

Preface

List of Abbreviations

Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1 Introduction

1.2 Importance of SMEs

1.3 Inspiring Innovation for Engineers

1.4 Rationale

1.5 Focus

1.6 Processes and Organization of Course

1.7 Breakdown of Book Material

References

Chapter 2: Idea Generation, Filtering and Development

2.1 Introduction

2.2 Timeline

2.3 Team Structure

2.4 Idea Generation

2.5 To Filter or Not

2.6 Idea Incubation and Development

2.7 Conclusions

References

Chapter 3: The Ideal Pitch

3.1 Introduction

3.2 Business Pitch

3.3 Case Studies

3.4 Pain and Solution

3.5 Value Proposition and Technology

3.6 Market and Competition

3.7 Company Traction and Go-to-Market Strategy

3.8 Finance

3.9 Presentation Process

3.10 Conclusions

References

Chapter 4: Creating an Effective Business Plan

4.1 Introduction

4.2 Business Plan

4.3 Company

4.4 The Business

4.5 Business Strategy

4.6 Market

4.7 Competition

4.8 Market Analysis

4.9 Finances

4.10 Conclusions

References

Chapter 5: Brands that Connect Create Differences that Matter

5.1 Introduction

5.2 Why Branding Matters

5.3 The Doing Part of Branding

5.4 The Secret Sauce: Tell a Great Story

5.5 World-Beating Attitude

5.6 Name it. Name it Good

5.7 Brand Strategy (is Not a Dirty Word)

5.8 A Coherent Visual Identity

5.9 Conclusions

References

Chapter 6: The Marketing of Your Business is Your Business

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Definition of Marketing and Marketing Communication

6.3 Target Market Size and Trends

6.4 Demand Indicators—Keyword Tools

6.5 Evaluating Your Market Research

6.6 Your Marketing Strategy

6.7 Promotional Techniques

6.8 What is Social Media All About and Why is it Important for Business?

6.9 Case Studies and Referrals

6.10 Conclusions

Chapter 7: Intellectual Property

7.1 Why Intellectual Property is Important

7.2 Types of Intellectual Property Protection

7.3 Ownership of Intellectual Property

7.4 Information from Intellectual Property

7.5 Deciding How Intellectual Property Applies to Your Company

7.6 What to Do to Protect Your Intellectual Property

7.7 Summary

Chapter 8: Finance

8.1 Why Do I Need a Financial Plan?

8.2 Types of Business Structure

8.3 Sources of Finance

8.4 Main Components of the Financial Plan

8.5 Sales Forecast

8.6 Profit and Loss Account

8.7 Breakeven

8.8 Cash Flow Statement

8.9 Balance Sheet

8.10 Building the Financial Model

8.11 Traps/Causes of Failure

Chapter 9: Preliminary Design and Concept Prototype

9.1 Introduction

9.2 Finalizing Ideas

9.3 Communicating Innovation and Product Differentiation

9.4 Product Definition

9.5 Legal and Safety Considerations

9.6 IP Considerations

9.7 Initial Product Specification

9.8 Design Modelling and Prototyping

9.9 Conclusions

Chapter 10: Full Product Development

10.1 Introduction

10.2 Full Product Development in an Educational Context

10.3 Functional Prototypes

10.4 Product Design Specification

10.5 Detailed Design

10.6 Don't Repeat the Mistakes of Others

10.7 Mass Production Considerations

10.8 Automated Assembly

10.9 Testing

10.10 Final Product Definition

References

Chapter 11: Case Study: Buteos

11.1 Marriage

11.2 Conception

11.3 Giving Birth

11.4 The Baptism

11.5 Growth

11.6 Questioning your Motives

11.7 Flying the Nest

11.8 The Big Bad World

Chapter 12: Student Project to Commercial Project: A Complex Journey

12.1 Introduction

12.2 Evolution of the Product

12.3 Product Development Insights

12.4 Going Beyond the Requirements of a University Project Module

12.5 Part-Time Student or Full-Time Innovator?

12.6 Dealing with Potential Customers and Licensees

12.7 Optimization Through Testing

12.8 Branding the Company

12.9 Branding Websites and Emails

12.10 Finances

12.11 ‘Go For It’ Programme

12.12 Pitching the Technology

12.13 Design for Manufacture

12.14 Conclusions

Reference

Chapter 13: Assessment

13.1 Introduction

13.2 Learning Outcomes

13.3 Investment Pitch

13.4 Business Plan

13.5 Technical Feasibility Study

13.6 Peer Evaluation

13.7 The Assessment Matrix

13.8 Formative and Summative Assessment

13.9 Conclusions

References

Chapter 14: Final Thoughts

14.1 Introduction

14.2 Thoughts for Mentors

14.3 Thoughts for Students

14.4 Future Directions

14.5 Final Comments

Glossary

Index

End User License Agreement

Pages

xv

xvi

xvii

xviii

ix

xx

xxi

xxii

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

32

33

34

35

36

37

38

39

40

41

42

43

44

45

46

47

48

49

50

51

52

53

54

55

56

57

58

59

60

61

62

63

64

65

66

67

68

69

70

71

72

73

74

75

76

77

78

79

80

81

82

83

84

85

86

87

88

89

90

91

92

93

94

95

96

97

98

99

100

101

102

103

104

105

107

108

109

110

111

112

113

114

115

116

117

118

119

120

121

122

123

124

125

126

127

128

129

130

131

132

133

134

135

136

137

138

139

140

141

142

143

144

145

146

147

148

149

150

151

153

154

155

156

157

158

159

160

161

162

163

164

165

166

167

168

169

170

171

172

173

174

175

176

177

178

179

180

181

182

183

184

185

186

187

188

189

190

191

193

194

195

196

197

198

199

200

201

202

203

204

205

206

207

208

209

211

212

213

214

215

216

217

218

219

220

221

222

223

224

225

226

227

228

229

230

232

231

233

234

235

236

237

238

239

240

241

242

243

244

245

246

247

248

249

250

251

252

253

254

255

256

257

258

259

260

261

262

263

264

265

266

267

Guide

Cover

Table of Contents

Foreword

Preface

Chapter 1: Introduction

List of Illustrations

Figure 1.1

Figure 1.2

Figure 2.1

Figure 3.1

Figure 3.2

Figure 3.3

Figure 3.4

Figure 3.5

Figure 3.6

Figure 3.7

Figure 3.8

Figure 3.9

Figure 3.10

Figure 3.11

Figure 3.12

Figure 4.1

Figure 4.2

Figure 4.3

Figure 4.4

Figure 5.1

Figure 6.1

Figure 6.2

Figure 6.3

Figure 6.4

Figure 6.5

Figure 7.1

Figure 7.2

Figure 7.3

Figure 7.4

Figure 7.5

Figure 7.6

Figure 9.1

Figure 9.2

Figure 9.3

Figure 10.1

Figure 10.2

Figure 10.3

Figure 11.1

Figure 12.1

Figure 12.2

Figure 12.3

Figure 12.4

Figure 12.5

Figure 12.6

Figure 13.1

Figure 13.2

Figure 13.3

Figure 13.4

List of Tables

Table 2.1

Table 2.2

Table 3.1

Table 3.2

Table 3.3

Table 3.4

Table 3.5

Table 3.6

Table 3.7

Table 3.8

Table 3.9

Table 3.10

Table 3.11

Table 4.1

Table 4.2

Table 4.3

Table 4.4

Table 4.5

Table 6.1

Table 6.2

Table 6.3

Table 8.1

Table 8.2

Table 8.3

Table 8.4

Table 8.5

Table 8.5

Table 13.1

Table 14.1

ENGINEERING INNOVATIVE PRODUCTS

A PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE

Edited by

Roger Woods

Karen Rafferty

Julian Murphy

School of Electronics, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Queen’s University Belfast, UK

Paul Hermon

School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Queen’s University Belfast, UK

This edition first published 2014

© 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

Registered office

John Wiley & Sons Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, United Kingdom

For details of our global editorial offices, for customer services and for information about how to apply for permission to reuse the copyright material in this book please see our website at www.wiley.com.

The right of the author to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books.

Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks. All brand names and product names used in this book are trade names, service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. The publisher is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. It is sold on the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services and neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. If professional advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Woods, Roger, 1963-

Engineering innovative products : a practical experience / Roger Woods, Karen Rafferty, John Paul Hermon, and Julian Murphy.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-118-75773-4 (pbk.)

1. New products. 2. Marketing. I. Raerty, Karen. II. Hermon, John Paul. III. Murphy, Julian, 1980- IV. Title.

TS170.W66 2014

658.5′75— dc23

2014013128

ISBN 9781118757734

The authors dedicate this book to the many students who have actively engaged in the company and product creation activities described here.

List of Contributors

Roger Woodshas been a Professor of Digital Systems at Queen's University Belfast since 2003 and has spent over 20 years working in the design of programmable hardware systems. He has published over 160 scientific papers and holds a number of patents. He has collaborated extensively with industry and has founded a spin-off company Analytics Engines (www.analyticsengines.com) to commercialise this research. He is a fellow of the Institute of Electronics and Technology, a senior member of Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, and a fully chartered engineer. He has written a book entitled FPGA-based Implementation of Signal Processing Systems with Wiley in 2008. He has developed the material for the ELE3025 Industrial Project course on which a lot of the material in the book is based.

Karen Rafferty is a senior lecturer in the School of Electronics, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Queen's University Belfast. She researches into computer vision with associated camera calibration, position estimation, feature extraction and tracking, colour recognition and sensor fusion with application to the development of intelligent autonomous industrial and environmental inspection devices with a particular emphasis on lighting. She has developed a number of innovative teaching and assessment strategies for Higher Level Engineering and is involved in the ELE3025 Industrial Project.

Julian Murphy is a lecturer in the School of Electronics, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Queen's University Belfast. He conducts research into trusted hardware and secure integrated circuit design for embedded security applications. Previously he founded a high technology university spin-out company, which marketed disruptive self-timed silicon integrated circuit IP; and also worked at Sharp European Research Labs, Oxford, where he co-design the world's most advanced 32-bit E-passport Java-based smartcard. He is also involved in the ELE3025 Industrial Project.

Paul Hermon is a Senior Teaching Fellow in the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Queens University Belfast. Paul has 18 years of industrial experience working in or as a consultant for engineering companies, developing new products and growing the design capability within these companies. Since 2005 he has been involved in the design and delivery of the new degree programmes in Product Design and Development (PDD) at Queen's for which he is Programme Director. He is also co-chair of the UK & Ireland region of the CDIO Initiative; an international collaboration of almost 100 leading universities spread across 5 continents which aims to reform engineering education by teaching in the context of conceiving, designing, implementing and operating a product, process or system.

The authors are most grateful to the experts who have helped to develop the course material and who have also contributed individual chapters.

Rosi Armstrong of Armstrong IPR Ltd, Belfast, UK owns her own intellectual property practice, where she manages the IP rights process for a range of clients, giving a business-oriented approach that tailors legal and technical advice to the structure, size and resources of the client. She identifies and prioritizes IPR requirements for companies, provides advice on IPR portfolio strategy and management, and training on IPR matters as required. She also provides a complete IPR procurement service covering patents, trademarks, designs and copyright, and IP agreements.

Judy Black of NIE Ltd, Belfast, UK studied for an MEng Honours in Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Queen's University Belfast, which she completed in 2012. She was one of the top students in the cohort of 2012 and her degree included a year in industry with the NIE. She undertook the Industrial Project exercise acting as CEO of a highly successful industrial project team Buteos, which was shortlisted for the NISP £25k award. The team are currently looking to commercialize this work. She was also awarded the NIE Project Prize for the best final-year project in electric power engineering.

Kyle Crawford is a student from the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Queen's University Belfast, where he is currently undertaking his studies on the MEng Honours in Product Design and Development.

Stephen Dowling is a student from the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Queen's University Belfast, where he is currently undertaking his studies on the MEng Honours in Product Design and Development.

Gillian Colhoun, Director at Designwriter, Belfast, UK is a brand language consultant. She helps organizations to prioritize the right messages for the correct audiences. She collaborates with all kinds of people to create brands with character and attitude. As a business mentor, she facilitates workshops on brand identity, content strategy and tone of voice. Mostly, she coaches senior executives through the cultural mind shifts of new identity programmes and design projects.

Graeme Roberts is the co-founder and VP of sales and marketing for Icon Containment, Proform, Oakridge, GTRNI and GS Smoothies. He was formerly at Neschen Corporation and Xerox Engineering Systems. A business owner, Graeme specializes in bringing new and innovative products and services to market, online marketing, export channel selection, and is especially strong in business strategy, sales, marketing and international business development. Hisspecialties include strategic business planning, startups, sales and marketing, branding and identity, negotiating sound commercial agreements, international channel distribution selection and management, partnering, joint ventures, online digital marketing, managing people and effective plan creation and execution.

Kirk Shilliday is the School Manager for the School of Dramatic Arts at Queen's University Belfast and is responsible for financial management in the school. He developed considerable experience in finance planning in his past position at NIE plc and is currently revising financial presentations for the Industrial Project course.

Foreword

Engineering Innovative Products is more than just a description of the innovation process. The book is based on experience of running an inspirational and popular course which takes students through the process of starting a new company. A number of ventures that have come into existence through the course are described, with the twists and turns of their journey demonstrating the culture required for success.

The topic of innovation has attained much importance with universities and governments in their quest for economic growth and wealth creation. This is because the pace of technological change has accelerated, precipitating further acceleration in the development cycles of products and consequently in the changing shape of industrial sectors. Hence, what were established models of innovation are being replaced by new ones, with even large enterprises having to adapt and change. New opportunities are frequently based on new business models for getting product to market, something a startup company is able to do easily. This is particularly true in sectors where digital technology either makes up the product itself, or is used more generally as a means of marketing and selling it. At the same time, the barriers to starting a new venture have much reduced, not least because of the training, support and incentives offered. New ventures are a prerequisite for a dynamic economy and now is the time when they have an excellent chance of success.

This book takes the reader through all the essential steps in creating a successful business. Practical insights are given about how new product concepts can be identified and prototyped. The role of product engineering and marketing is discussed. What makes a good business plan is described, alongside illustrations of successful elevator pitches to communicate it succinctly. Teamwork and the roles of each team player are presented. At the same time, the role of finance and raising investment capital is described. Sections on marketing, branding and intellectual property are contributed by expert practitioners. Finally, and of most interest to educators, suggestions for exercises and assessments when running a course are presented.

But there is more. The creation of a new venture is a process of discovery as much as of academic study, and the authors demonstrate this through a number of case studies. The benefit of a cluster with inbuilt experience, partners and competitors is made clear. Members of the cluster can mentor and present critical advice from the earliest stages. The need to respond to critical input and be prepared to significantly adapt the venture is shown by example. The role of crisp presentation and description of the most important components of the new venture is emphasized, particularly when seeking investment. Finally, the benefit of a competitive element at all stages – including assessment by an expert panel – completes the excellent formula.

I warmly recommend this book to the reader for both information and inspiration. Educators using it as the basis of a course on business creation will be well served. The individual reader will become familiar with what it takes to be an entrepreneur. The chances of successful innovation in engineering will be much improved. The book is timely because the opportunities for success are there to be grasped.

Andy HopperUniversity of Cambridge, UK24 February 2014

Preface

Innovation is currently a hot topic and is related directly to economic development. The creation of companies resulting from innovative projects and processes is seen as central to the economic development in many countries. Like many governments worldwide, the UK government's main industry division, the Technology Strategy Board, uses the ‘innovation’ word all over their web pages and highlights that their goal is ‘to accelerate economic growth by stimulating and supporting business-led innovation’.

Whilst most university management schools have embraced the concept of company creation and innovation, some engineering schools have still to incorporate product design as a core element in their courses. This is probably because it represents yet another module amongst the increasing number of technical subjects that need to be covered in the degree programme. We would argue that it is now becoming a core topic and, combined with engineering skills, represents a very interesting skill set for engineers to develop.

A number of years ago, the Schools of Electronics, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Queen's University Belfast embarked on separate activities to introduce students to the concept of product design, company creation and commercialization. However, rather than just create a series of talks to introduce the students to the topic, both schools introduced hands-on practical courses which acted to get the students engaged in developing their own product ideas and then building on this work to create a full commercial proposition. The course has matured to such an extent that the students are now getting shortlisted for, and indeed winning, local and national commercialization competitions.

The purpose of this book is to capture the process, and provide examples of best practice and insights into the practical experiences and development that have been undertaken over the past three years. It is based on the material that has been developed in the courses by topic experts external to the university, whom we engaged to interact with the students; topic areas include finance, marketing, branding, presentation and intellectual property. Also, two of the authors have founded their own companies and brought this experience to bear on the enclosed material. For completeness, two of the groups that undertook the course have provided detailed insights into their practical experience of going the full distance and creating their own companies. In addition, the text builds upon the experiences of some 12 business propositions that have been created during this time.

Throughout the book, the authors have relied on their own experiences and student examples to emphasize the points made and illustrate both good and poor approaches. In addition, the text includes a number of exercises entitled ‘Try this’, which stretch the reader to apply directly some of the material covered in the various chapters; this acts to help future students and readers who are engaged directly on the commercial activity.

The activity has been rated highly by external organizations which are involved in linking entrepreneurs to commercial opportunities, such as the Northern Ireland Science Park. The Institution of Engineering and Technology, a professional organization which undertakes evaluation of degree course material (termed accreditation), highlighted the activity as ‘exemplar’ on their most recent visit. It is hoped that lecturers interested in developing their own courses will find this text invaluable; we also firmly believe that any budding entrepreneur will find valuable lessons contained within this book, as the example business plans developed by the groups have stood up to commercial scrutiny.

List of Abbreviations

API

Application Programming Interface

BIL

Business Innovation Link

BS

British Standard

CAD

Computer-Aided Design

CATS

Credit Accumulation and Transfer Scheme

CEO

Chief Executive Officer

CES

Cambridge Engineering Selector

CFO

Chief Financial Officer

CMO

Chief Marketing Officer

COO

Chief Operating Officer

CTO