COURSE NUMBER: MBA290N.1
This course is cross-listed with Mechanical
Engineering
COURSE TITLE: Managing the New Product Development Process
UNITS OF CREDIT: 3
INSTRUCTORS: Mark Martin
E-MAIL ADDRESSES: mark.martin@design4x.com
CLASS WEB PAGE LOCATIONS: https://bspace.berkeley.edu/
MEETING DAY(S)/TIME: Monday and Wednesday, 4:30 – 6:00PM
PREREQUISITE(S): None
CLASS FORMAT: This class entails the execution of a major
project -- developing a product or service from idea through first pass
prototype in a cross-disciplinary team of business and engineering students.
Teams are coached by faculty and by designers from local firms. In-class time
entails a mixture of lectures, case discussions, guest speakers and group
project work.
Some of the companies that have taken advantage of this
class to more deeply understand their customers and users and to further
develop their products and services include Revolution Foods (class of ’06) and
PACTApparel (class of ’08). Alumni of the class cite the opportunity to
work in a fully cross-functional team as a major benefit of this class.
The project requires a significant commitment to meet
with one’s project team, but regular lab sessions in class provide some amount
of time for team work.
REQUIRED READINGS:
Our textbook will be Product Design and Development (3rd
Edition) by Karl Ulrich and Steve Eppinger -- a very
practically oriented text that takes the reader through the product development
process step-by-step. We will supplement the book with a course reader
consisting of a small number of cases.
BASIS FOR FINAL GRADE:
Class participation, a set of small assignments and the
design project will form the basis for the class grade. A panel of local design
experts will be invited to judge your final projects.
ABSTRACT OF COURSE'S CONTENT AND OBJECTIVES:
The course is a Management of Technology course offered
jointly by the College of Engineering and the Haas School. We aim to have half
MBA students and half Engineering students in the class, and facilitate
students to form mixed teams for the development of their products. The course
is introductory in nature, aimed at those who have not experienced a full
product development cycle on a cross-disciplinary team in the past.
The focus of the course is management of new product or
service development processes, from product definition through first-pass
prototype. Using a project in which students will be asked to design and
develop a product or service of their choosing, we will teach processes for
collecting customer and user needs data, prioritizing that data, developing a
product specification, sketching and building product prototypes, and
interacting with the customer during product development. The course is
intended as a very hands-on experience in the product development process.
(Note for those of you thinking about products or services you would like to develop you must be willing to share what you are doing on your project with the class, and you must be able to complete a first pass prototype within the 15-week semester).