Increase in competition and demand from consumers has led to high demand for development of new products. The life of a product in market is very limited and this has made it very difficult for the companies who need to keep upgrading their existing products and create new ones to remain in the race. This is not an easy task and has led the companies to incorporate the phase gate model which provides a proper guidance for the new product development and is broken down into stages and separated by gates where the management takes decisions as to the efficiency of each stage.

How Stage Gate Process Works?

The working of stage gate process is divided into a number of stages with the conceptualization of an idea being the first stage and the launch of the new product being the final stage. All the other stages in between comprise of the dynamics of the whole process. After the end of one stage and before the next stage begins, a gate is encountered that decides how effectively work has been done in the previous stage.

Stages in the Stage Gate Process

The stage gate process has six crucial stages which when executed correctly ensures a surefire successful project for the customers.

Conceptualizing an Idea – This stage generally deals with finding out what opportunities can be tapped into and what ideas would work best. Once the team decides on an idea, it has to present it to the decision makers for their approval. This is the first gate that is encountered in the process.

Understanding the Scope – In this stage, the team decides the technical benefits of the project. They also decide how beneficial the product would be for the consumers and whether it would be successful enough in the market. It is also important to gauge the competition in the market. Once the team is satisfied with this process, the findings have to be put to the management for approval.

Developing Business Plan – This is the most crucial stage on which the success of the whole project depends. In this stage all the feasibility aspects of marketing, technical and business are analyzed and a plan is made which has three major parts namely details of the new product and the project, why this project would be successful and the plan for the new product development.

Product Development – In this stage, the plan is executed and the concept is made into reality. This involves designing and manufacturing the new product, deciding on the plans to launch the product into the market and planning the tests that need to be conducted.

Testing and Validating the New Product – This phase involves validating the project by testing the product, the process involved in product development, acceptance of the product in the market and what financial benefits the project has for the company.

Launching the Product – This final stage involves launching the new product into the market.

Every phase or stage in the new product development is separated by a gate. The structure of the gates i.e. the decision making points is similar. The management reviews the ideas and the plans that have been delivered by the team. This plan is then compared to the criterion which has been specified by the management for a successful product. Once they are satisfied with the results they approve the working of the previous stage and let the process move on to the next phase.

The stage gate process has proven to be an extremely helpful and successful model for developing new and better products that are sure to succeed in the market