Abstract
The article summarizes the results of the program post mortem and also describes team interplay on a recently completed work in a company. This development phase was meant to ensure building a safe product. It was phase 2 of a 4-phase New Product Development (NPD) program for a complex small programmable, electro-mechanical-chemical device. This phase was initiated following the failure of phase 1 of NPD as it ended with the product failing and an individual sustaining some injuries. Phase 1 dealt with proof of concept, essentially trying to prove the theory behind air bursting technology. The Product Development Team (PDT) compared what was planned with what actually happened. An analysis was then carried out for the project’s successes as well as the mistakes that were made. The PDT suggested ideas for improvements that could be incorporated during phase 3 (engineering development of the product) of this program. A number of lessons learned from phase 2 (that is, affirmation of product safety) would benefit future phases (phases 3 and 4) and also other new product development initiatives in terms of realizing significant time and cost savings. Phase 4 deals with low rate initial production.