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The real competitive edge: Timex, Flextronics say product development is job one. (plan).

Article Excerpt
Timex Corp. has long been known for building watches that "take a licking and keep on ticking." But these days, Timex's biggest challenge is producing new watches fast enough to keep up with consumers' ever-changing tastes.

"Today more than ever, a watch is more than just something that keeps time," says James Jackson, engineering systems manager for Timex, which is based in Middlebury, Conn. Indeed, watches have become fashion statements, not to mention multifunction devices.

"We have kids watches, youth watches, jewelry watches, fashion watches, easy reader watches, sports watches, pager watches, Internet watches, and just plain old watches," Jackson says, ticking off a very small part of the Timex product portfolio. "What consumers think is fashionable--even in terms of the electronics that go inside a watch--changes very rapidly," he adds. "That is why we emphasize speed in our product development process. If we aren't successful at product development, the rest of our business strategies really don't matter."

Timex is not alone in this dilemma. Manufacturers of all types--from the major automakers to producers of foods and beverages--are feeling pressure to get new products to market faster, and with good reason. "We have seen studies that show that 80 percent of the market share goes to the first two companies that introduce a new product," says John Gaydac, a sales executive in the product life-cycle management (PLM) division of IBM, Armonk, N.Y.

With the length of product life cycles now rivaling the lifespan of the average fruit fly, the third company to introduce a product will be hard pressed to turn a profit before that item becomes obsolete. It's not surprising then that a growing list of manufacturers are designating product development as Job One.

After years of hearing both industry analysts and software vendors preach about the strategic value of supply chain and customer relationship management, "We are starting to see a renewed emphasis on product development," says Jack Maynard, a research director with Boston-based analyst firm Aberdeen Group. "Manufacturers realize that competitive advantage comes from having products that people want to buy."

A welcome revelation

This is a welcome revelation for developers of PLM software, a broad class of applications that are supposed to...

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