ABSTRACT
This chapter covers the relationship between early equipment management (EEM) and early product management (EPM) and how they work together. It covers the three EPM steps, including project governance to avoid common pitfalls. EPM applies the principles of EEM to new product development (NPD) and new product introduction functions. The scope of EPM covers two types of product/service development: Incremental improvements of existing products and Step-out development of new products. Back in 1990, the FDA reported that over 40" of product recalls over a six year period were due to weaknesses that could have been dealt with during the design process. The foundation for EPM success is good knowledge flow across commercial, operations, and technology functions. Develop simple best-case/worst-case scenarios to assess risk and reward on a life cycle cost (LCC) basis. Risk assessment at this step should include steps to "know what you don't know" and to "confirm working assumptions".
