Future Robust Product Portfolio Development: Modelling Innovation Potentials in Product Portfolios

• Published in: Procedia CIRP Vol. 128; pp. 555 - 560
• Main Authors: Schlegel, Michael, Just, Markus, Pfaff, Felix, Wiederkehr, Ingrid, Koldewey, Christian, Kempf, Christoph, Dumitrescu, Roman, Albers, Albert
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 2024
• Subjects: Design: challenges & Innovation; Innovation Management; Product Portfolio; Product Portfolio; Innovation Management; Design: challenges & Innovation
• ISSN: 2212-8271; 2212-8271
• DOI: 10.1016/j.procir.2024.03.036

The advancement of product portfolios is a challenging task for companies. The growing number of variants and a significant increase in interactions between mechatronic products create unprecedented complexities. Currently, there is no holistic approach to cope with this increased complexity and to enable the future robust advancement of the product portfolio. Therefore, a descriptive model for the advancement of product portfolios is required to map elements of the product portfolio in the early phase of product development. This work aims to build upon an initial descriptive model to support the modelling of innovation potential in the advancement of the product portfolio. This research is based on the Design Research Methodology to develop a descriptive support approach. Challenges and potential improvements were collected while synthesizing the initial descriptive model and an observational study with 29 individual product developers. Based on the descriptive study, product profiles were worked out to describe the higher product portfolio levels solution-openly. As an extension of this feature, common characteristics of different products in the product portfolio can be modeled in a summarized manner. The extended descriptive model was initially validated in an expert workshop with eleven participants.