Over the past 30 years, design practice has changed enormously, and so has the process of developing new products. In many cases the very nature of new products has changed.

Four successive waves of knowledge and skill acquisition are changing the nature of competition in product development, particularly in the consumer-electronics segment. Much of the ability to differentiate products has moved from engineering and manufacturing to design and its various disciplines. Two waves of change are well established or mature (manufacturing quality and product-design quality); a third is unevenly advanced ( interaction-design quality); and a fourth is just emerging (service-design quality).

compete at world levels with European, Japanese, and U.S. firms. As manufacturing booms in mainland China, the Chinese too are learning quality management. India, Brazil, and Eastern Europe are also improving manufacturing quality.

What this means is that competing on the basis of quality (of having a better-made product) is increasingly difficult. In a sense quality has become a commodity. In practice much of manufacturing is outsourced to plants in Taipei and Shanghai. While quality management remains crucial, the field of competition has moved on—to product design and beyond—to ensuring that what is manufactured is right for its audience (another view of “quality management”).

Curve 1: Manufacturing Quality

The foundation skill for product development is managing manufacturing quality. At one time “Made in USA” suggested that a product was better than something made in other countries. Japan worked hard to improve quality and went from laggard to leader; eventually, U.S. companies responded to the Japanese competition. In the 1980s total quality management (TQM) was the mantra. In the 1990s Six Sigma methods became pervasive. Today statistical process control can reduce defects to almost zero, ensuring the quality of manufacturing output. These skills are now understood throughout the world. Leading Korean and Taiwanese firms

Curve 2: Product-design Quality Close behind managing manufacturing quality is product design, another foundation skill. Apple and Sony have long traditions of great product design. Samsung, long a fast follower of Sony, embarked on a 10-year effort to develop world-class product-design capabilities. In the past few years, Chinese companies have begun to show signs of “getting” design. China is awash in foreign design consultants. And it has more than 600 design schools of its own. The AIGA (a leading U.S. design-profes-sional organization) has even opened an office in Beijing. And some Chinese outsource manufacturing firms are beginning to offer design services