Hasta La Ideas

Designer Enric Gili Fort points out that focusing on the front end of getting a new product to market is simply not enough. With all the attention paid to Apple’s cool designs and unique user experience, what’s often overlooked is the role of an efficient supply chain that puts it all together and gets it out to the customer’s hands in time. Here’s a snippet,

So how does this relate to designers? Face it, talking about supply chain and the way a company structures itself to deliver its products is not the best way to get designers’ attention. All these behind the scenes processes and its consequences can cause designers’ eyes to glaze over. “Supply chain” is neither shiny, nor glamorous, does not help win design awards, and is an unsexy term.

But if the designers’ goal is to really help companies to launch successful products, they really will have to start thinking about it next time they present their glossy reports to clients. No doubt clients will ask: “And how will my company launch this product?”

The answer “focus on the user experience” is not enough for a company, it is just the starting point. Companies need a routing plan. They need to find out the best and most creative ways to organize themselves in order to deliver (supply chain). Different products require organizations to structure themselves in different ways (supply chain, again), and innovators have to pay close attention to this if they want to increase the chances of market success.

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