Design of Goods and Services, Research Paper Example

How does the concept of product life cycle apply to Regal Marine products?

The concept of a product life cycle applies to Regal Marine products because they produce boats, which have a natural wear and tear. Therefore, they must continually develop new boats that can replace ones that are no longer in service in addition to ensuring that the boats they sell are better than the competitors in terms of product longevity. According to the case study, the product life cycle involves introduction, growth, maturity, and decline phases. They are currently implementing a differentiation strategy that focuses on 22 different boat models, which is challenging because each one of these products will go through different phases of the product life cycle at different times. In addition, newer products will likely be entering the introduction and growth phases of the product life cycle, while existing products will be going through the maturity and decline phases. However, this strategy will be successful because there will always be at least several products in the maturity phase. In this manner, the company can be certain that there will be product that is low risk, which will ensure profit.

What strategy does Regal use to stay competitive?

To stay competitive, Regal makes sure to receive input from its customers so that all of its decisions are data driven. This involves seeking design input from customers, dealers, and consultants. Regal recognizes that many of its products have a short life cycle, which requires the company to be in constant development of new boat designs. Since they are well prepared when a product reaches the decline phase, they are able to manufacture a new boat model to keep their profit flow steady. Furthermore, their manufacturing process is done in a way that creates molds that can be used to make thousands of boats. Therefore, this mold can be ready in time for production need and make boats very quickly. Ultimately, Regal is able to remain competitive because it has many options for boat design and is able to develop and implement plans quickly.

What kind of benefits are Regal achieving by using CAD technology rather than traditional drafting techniques?

Ultimately, Regal benefits from Computer Aided Design (CAD) technology because it speeds up the development process. Rather than requiring a hand written design, engineers and artists can use this program to put their idea to life in a manner that could eventually be used to produce a mold for a boat if the company decides that the idea will be successful. Therefore, using CAD technology allows Regal to skip an unnecessary step in translating their ideas into a physical mode to create their product. In terms of the product life cycle, this speeds along the introduction stage. Before a product could be placed on the market, it offers no profit to the company. Therefore, there is incentive to have a new boat available for sale as soon as possible. Using CAD accommodates the need for this speed. Furthermore, CAD will help the growth phase of the product cycle, although more indirectly. Since CAD helped produce the initial mold for the boat, the company could use the design save in this program to make additional molds provided that it needs to make more boats for a specific model than it had initially planned.

References

Day, G. (1981). The product life cycle: Analysis and applications issues. Journal of Marketing, 45: 60–67.

Hill, Charles (2007). International Business Competing in the Global Marketplace 6th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.