Clearview National June 2019 - Issue 211 | Page 50

SECURITY
Top Notch Testing and R&D
Helps Installers and Fabricators
Future-Proof Their Business
» » RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
(R&D) is a discipline that requires an awful
lot of patience and tenacity. From initial
concept all the way through to market launch,
the process of introducing new hardware
products has many steps involving several
internal departments and external partners.
But it is also a fascinating one, and here the
Head of Product Management at ERA, Kerry
Blackford, talks us through what R&D looks
like in today’s hardware market, and reveals
why it is the key to helping fabricators and
installers to future-proof their business.
One of the great outcomes of ERA’s move
to brand new purpose-built premises on the
i54 business park just outside Wolverhampton
in late 2017, was the fact that the design
and development departments were brought
together under one roof. The 135,625 sq ft
site is home to our state-of-the-art research
and product development hub, design
team, test facilities as well as manufacturing,
warehousing and training facilities. With a
team of six in product management and six in
product design, having us all under one roof
50 » JUN 2019 » CL EARVI E W- UK . C O M
makes collaboration day to day much easier.
So how do the two disciplines work together,
and how do they involve other in-house and
external stakeholders? Probably the best way
to answer that is to look at the end-to-end
process of bringing new products to market.
Not only do we focus on filling product
gaps within our existing product portfolio
with continued investment in new product
development, but much of the company’s
R&D activity centres on enhancing existing
products or adapting products to suit specific
window and door profile systems. This process
can be customer-driven when products are
required to create differentials; our own sales
teams who spot a need for a new solution can
initiate it; or it can be driven when relevant
building regulations or performance standards
change. Product managers also have a big
influence on the process too. We also do gap
analysis reviews in order to identify products
that will support and enhance the company’s
package offer.
We hold Blue Sky meetings where
interesting and innovative ways of utilising
new technology – such as smartware
opportunities - and new materials are
discussed. Collaboration with ERA’s group
companies across Europe and the United
States also facilitates the sharing of ideas.
Once the need for a new product has been
identified, the ‘PRINCE2’ process-based
method is used to project manage the delivery
of it, taking it from initial concept to delivery.
PRINCE2 (an acronym for PRojects IN
Controlled Environments) involves the a
number of key stages:
• Focus on business justification
• Defined organisation structure for the
project management team
• Product-based planning approach
• Emphasis on dividing the project into
manageable and controllable stages
• Flexibility that can be applied at a level
appropriate to the project
At ERA, what this involves at the outset is
cost validation, designing to a specification,
and concept development by the design team
with the support of key stakeholders such as
the sales team and product managers.
A 3D CAD system is used to design the
new product and demonstrate its features.
Excitingly, we are also able to make use of our
3D printers for design validation. They are
used to produce plastic samples of a proposed
new product in order to test that they are
suitable for the application for which they are
intended. We also use metal prototypes for
more advanced functionality and aesthetics
testing.
New tooling is commissioned with our
approved manufacturing partners, and
prototypes are then produced which are
then rigorously tested. Testing is critical,
particularly with innovative designs.
After this, provided all stakeholders are
in agreement, the new product can then
be taken through the requisite approvals to
ensure they meet relevant quality standards,
and only then can they be marketed and
sold.
It is always our intention to try to speed up
the process while maintaining the integrity