Project Management: New Washing Machine Launch

This document presents a comprehensive project plan for launching a new washing machine in the UK market, focusing on Whirlpool as the case study. It details the new product development (NPD) strategy, including the innovation diamond and queuing theory, and justifies the selection of an eight-step marketing-focused approach. The project utilizes the PRINCE2 project management methodology, outlining its financial, social, political, and environmental implications. The plan includes a work breakdown structure (WBS), a Gantt chart, and a discussion of project objectives and scope. The document also addresses time management, data gathering, and reporting techniques, concluding with a reflection on the project's success and recommendations for future improvements.

Running Head: Project Management
project management
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Table of Contents
Introduction...............................................................................................................................................2
Analysis of NPD strategy..........................................................................................................................4
Evidence of Time Management Data Gathering, and Reporting Techniques....................................12
Identifying appropriate project management technique..................................................................12
Project Plan..........................................................................................................................................13
Work Breakdown Structure...............................................................................................................18
Gantt chart...........................................................................................................................................19
Project Awareness regarding social, economic, and environmental issues.........................................20
Financial Benefits of choosing methodology......................................................................................21
Social Implications...............................................................................................................................22
Political Implications...........................................................................................................................22
Environmental Implications...............................................................................................................23
Conclusion................................................................................................................................................24
References................................................................................................................................................26

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Introduction
In this paper, I considered that I am working with a washing machine manufacturing
organization named as Whirlpool. Whirlpool is an international organization which operating in
different countries. Washing machines play an important role nowadays. It makes the life of a
human being easier and effective. In this paper, a new brand of washing machines is taken to
launch it in the growing market of UK. Overall description of the new product development
strategy and social, economic, and environmental issues are provided in this paper. This has been
done under the light of certain theories and concepts of the project and New product
Development Strategy. A washing machine is considered a machine that is used to wash laundry
like clothing and sheets. If there is an aspect of daily life that has changed little in the last some
decades, it is the method of washing clothes (Gopalakrishnan, 2015). Before 25 years, first of all,
clothes were washed, and then dried, and at last iron, before they can be worn. These all
processes of washing clothes consume a lot of efforts and time of human beings due to which
they feel bored and irritated. The main motive of this project is to introduce a new washing
machine with a large number of features like bigger washing capacity, active water, pre-activated
speed perfect, Vario drum, Iron facility, AntiVibration Design, and reload functions. The
combination of all these features makes the launching washing machine successful in the UK
Growing market. Washing machine in the market of UK has obtained great success.
UK Washing Machine Market Trend
Laundry Appliances in the UK has achieved tremendous growth in both value and volume terms.
It happens due to the enhancement of the construction activity in the UK. Stoppage in

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construction growth also slows down the growth of laundry appliances. The growth rate of smart
washing machines in the UK can understand by looking below-mentioned figure:
(Panaretou, 2014)
Washing Machines growth size in the UK estimated 5% till 2018. The growing demand for the
washing machines is expected to provide impetus to the growth of the industry. Washing
machine market growth totally depends on the innovation.
In a similar manner, a new brand of the washing machine is introduced with the highly
innovative features so that monopoly can gain in the existing machine market of US. Washing
machine in the UK market launches with the effective new product development strategy to
maintain its profitability and efficiency. Choice of New product development strategy enables
the success of washing machines in the UK market in a great manner. In this paper, we will

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discuss the complete project plan of the launching new brand of the washing machine in UK
market (Kefalas, 2014). This has been done by considering the different failure and success
criteria of the project. Apart from this various project principles are also applied to accomplish it
with the determined specifications. Project principles in the paper work as guidelines which
provide effective guidance in accomplishing project as per specific timeline and budget schedule.
Analysis of NPD strategy
New Product development is considered the process of introducing a new product in the market.
In addition, it is also known as a process of transformation of a new market opportunity for a
product available for sale. Washing Machine in the UK market can launch by adopting a suitable
new product development strategy. There are a large number of new product development
strategies which are taken into consideration before launching the new brand of the washing
machine in the UK market. Efficiently of new product development strategy enhance the quality
of the washing machine and can satisfy the target consumers in more efficient manner.
Furthermore, it is being observed that there are various alternatives for the approaches which
might be considered for the development of the new product. These approaches can be relied on
team as it focuses on bringing the individuals together from the distinct departments, customer
centric which supports the customers in order to resolve the issues, systematic which ensures that
the process of the development of product moves forward in a systematic way, etc.
There are following new product development approaches which can take into consideration
before selecting the best one for washing machine development:
1. Innovation Diamond

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There are a large number of organizations suffering from the challenges of new product
development and keep them on pace with the dynamics of technology, markets, and competition.
Innovation diamond approach of new product development strategy is a combination of four
different stages which understand by looking the below-mentioned figure (Genç, 2015):
 Product Innovation and Technology strategy for the Business: It is a first and the
foremost stage of the innovation diamond. According to this stage, it is necessary for any
organization to formulate product innovation strategy before planning anything else about
the product. Innovation plan should contain the market entry strategy and different other
necessary information like marketing plan, and target customers, etc. At this stage, it is
necessary for the company to think whether the product which it is going to introduce is a

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new one and a substitute product. It is because strategy formulation for both kinds of the
product will be different from each other.
 Resource Commitment and Portfolio Management: Once the organizations have
developed their innovation strategy, resources committed to the plan can successfully
align with project objectives and goals. Alignment should do effectively so that they can
achieve their project objectives in a successful manner (Hwangbo, 2015). At this stage,
the organization needs to plan the allocation of these resources to pure Research and
Development, incremental development, new products, and product line maintenance. On
the other hand, they need to keep themselves flexible so that market accommodates and
economic changes can adapt effectively.
 Idea-to-launch-system stage: At this stage, most of the organizations mainly utilize the
Cooper's Stage gate method. According to this method, they can serve as the idea-to-
launch framework for taking right actions at the right time at desired manner in the
development process of the project. At every process of this stage, there is a gate that
ensures that all work has been performed in the effective and efficient manner and
executed before proceeding to the next stage. This stage is a combination of various
processes such as killing any projects that don not fulfill the project requirements, thereby
preventing resources from being squandered on losers. This stage plays an important role
in new product development process.
 Climate, Culture, Teams, and Leadership: The last and final stage of the innovation
approach of new product development is the creation of climate, culture, leadership and
teams which play an important role in the success of every new product development
project. Establishment of the right environment for innovation starts with the recognition

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that new product development is just about engineering. It is a cross-functional
undertaking involving finance, sales, marketing, and production to ensure that every
aspect of the new product development is thoroughly vetted. The effective environment
helps the organization in managing the uncertain risk and understanding the risk and
reward relationship works.
All these stages play an important role in the development of a new product. But, innovation
method is not suitable for every company. The success of this method mainly depends on the
nature of the product.
2. Queuing Theory
Queuing theory is another approach to new product development. According to this theory, new
product development is not unlike manufacturing (Wangbenmad, 2014). It is because both
manufacturing and new product development process are economic in nature, both have
significant cost linked to change, and both have work in process. Queuing theory explains that
there are a large number of new product development stages which is necessary to follow for
every organization. These stages are following:
 Define product: The first stage in queuing theory of new product development is product
determination. An accurate description of the product and its features keep the
organizations, and their team focused. By doing this, they can successfully avoid a large
number of pitfalls such as developing a large number of products at once and running out
of resources to produce the product. Product determination gives an idea of their direction
which they need to follow for achieving their project objectives.

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 Identify market requirements: The second stage of the queuing theory is the identification
of market demands and needs. Successful new product development process demands a
deep understanding of the target market and knowledge regarding their wants and needs.
A targeted, purposeful, and strategic approach to new product development will ensure
that product fit in their decided target market. So before launching any product, the
organizations need to keep answers of following questions in their mind:
 What is the target market for which the organizations are going to launch the
product?
 What are the demands and needs of the market?
 How will the product fit into the target market requirements?
 What makes the product different from the existing products?
 What are the benefits of the proposed product to target market individuals?
With the help of all these questions, they can successfully launch their product and can
also focus the requirements of their target market. This facilitates high selling opportunity
which enhances profitability.
 Establish Time Frames: The organizations require huge time to develop and implement
the new product in their target market. It is necessary for the organizations to build their
project timelines before started working on it. This able to maintain the consistency and
productivity of the organizations (Wowak, 2016). Their established time frameworks
should be realistic and thoughtful. Some project objectives might overlap but others
should mutually exclusive.
 Identify Key issues and approaches: The fourth and important stage is identified key
issues and approaches. New product development process is a combination of different

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tasks that is appropriate for customers. These processes of new product development
mainly depend on the nature of the business and idea of the product will determine how
many of these steps they need to follow. These key tasks contain following:
 Generating and screening ideas
 Screening concepts
 Testing concepts
 Evaluate business and market strategy
 Developing and market testing products
 Commercializing and implementing products
In the project of developing new machinery with the advanced and latest features, we follow the
steps of marketing considerations. These steps contain eight different new product development
stages which are following:
 Idea Generation: At this stage, we are performing continuous research to know the
different ideas and opportunities. At this stage, we find an opportunity of Washing
Machine expansion in UK market. After coming to an idea of the washing machinery, we
focus on different business and consumer trends to test the reliability and stability of our
washing machinery idea.
 Idea Screening: At this stage of the new product development, the idea of launching new
washing machine is screened under the light of different concepts. At this stage, the idea
of new washing machine evaluated on the following questions:
 Will the target market customer get significant benefit from the new automatic
washing machine?
 What is the growth and size forecasts of the UK market?

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 What is the expected and current competitive pressure in UK washing machine
market?
 Is chosen advanced technology for manufacturing the washing machines is
suitable and efficient?
 Idea Development and Testing: At this stage of the new product development,
marketing and engineering details for the washing machine is enforced. At this stage, we
develop the washing machine as per desired specifications and is tested the produced
outcome in UK market (Schwalbe, 2015). This will be done through random questioning
and interview of different people. This will be helpful in offering an idea about the
success of washing machine in the UK market.
 Business Analysis: Another stage in the new product development is business analysis.
At this stage selling prices based on customer feedback and competition is determined for
newly produced machinery. This stage gives a significant understanding about the
estimated profitability which can earn through selling the produced machinery in UK
market.
 Market Testing and Beta Testing: This is another stage in the product development
process. At this stage, physical prototype and mock-up are produced. At this stage,
following steps are followed to test the produced washing machine:
 Test the produced washing machine in typical usage situations
 Conduct interviews of focus group or introduce a trade show to introduce new
machine in UK market
 Make adjustments where necessary

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 Produce an initial run of the washing machine to test it in UK market for customer
acceptance.
 Technical Implementation: At this stage following steps are produced to evaluate the
technicality of the produced washing machine:
 Establish a system of maintaining quality
 Estimate required resources
 Estimate publication requirement
 Planning of engineering operations (Mac Chang, 2014)
 Scheduling of departments
 Establish collaboration with supplier
 Plan logistics
 Evaluation of program
 Contingency planning
 Commercialization: This is the stage of the new product Development. At this stage,
following acts are performed:
 Launch the new produced automatic washing machine in UK market.
 Conduct and develop marketing strategies for its promotion in UK market
 Fill the pipeline of the distribution network with produced washing machine
 New Product Pricing: This is the last and important stage of the new product
development. At this stage following acts are performed:
 Influence of washing machine on the entire portfolio of washing machine market
 External and internal value analysis
 Analysis of competitive and alternative technologies