A company's capability to conceive and design quality prototypes, and bring a product to market quicker than its competitors is increasingly the focal point of competition, according to the authors of this book. At the core of a successful new product launch is management's ability to integrate the marketing, manufacturing, and design functions for problem solving and fast action, particularly during the critical design-build-test cycles of prototype creation. Companies that consistently "design it right the first time" have a formidable edge in the crucial race to market.
Steven C. Wheelwright is the Class of 1949 Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School.
Wheelwright and Clark are co-authors with Robert H. Hayes of the best-selling Dynamic Manufacturing (Free Press, 1988).