Managing Product Design & Devlpt

Managing Product Design and Development

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Welcome From the Directors

The Master of Product Development grew out of our passion for product development. Walter Herbst spent his entire career building Herbst LaZar Bell, the largest privately held design and product development firm in the country. Rich Lueptow started his career in biomedical product development, but joined Northwestern University 16 years ago, enticed by its excellent reputation. We recognized there were many others like us with a passion for product development. But we realized there was no venue for the fine-tuning of product development skills that so many of our colleagues wanted for themselves and for their organizations. Thus, the Master of Product Development program was born at the Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science.

With our backgrounds in academia and industry and supported by an outstanding corporate advisory board, we have developed an academic program in product development that continues to receive extremely positive reviews. The program has many unique features:

- A curriculum focused on leadership in product development
- An excellent faculty composed of experienced professionals and professors drawn from across Northwestern University
- A convenient two-year part time program
- A hands-on, team-based approach to learning that draws on students' diverse professional and personal backgrounds
- A lifetime learning experience that allows graduates to audit classes for the rest of their lives

We're excited about what has become the premier masters program in the country for product development. If you want to become a leader in product development, the Northwestern University Master of Product Development program will give you the tools, expertise, and confidence to achieve your goals. We invite you to talk to our faculty, staff, students, and alumni to learn for yourself about the exciting opportunities that the Master of Product Development program offers.

Walter B. Herbst, IDSA, and Richard M. Lueptow, PE, ScD


In this program, you will:

- Gain skills in identifying opportunities in the product development process
- Learn a structured process for product development that uses specific phases and criteria to ensure successful product introductions
- Understand issues dealing with cognitive psychology in the design process
- Learn to use appropriate management strategies and supporting metrics to assure optimization of a product development group
- Acquire techniques to enhance creativity as well as manage intellectual capital
- Understand the value of design as strategy
- Learn about end-user focused innovation research and the designer's role in achieving greater success

Program Content

1. Introduction to Product Development
- Understanding the process; "fuzzy front end"
- Creativity; phase gate process with criteria
2. Scenario Planning
- Niche segmentation for tighter targeting
3. Strategy in Design
- Understanding the value of design as a strategy
- Observing and analyzing current trends in the marketplace and why products were designed the way they were
Includes an in depth study of understanding brand as a core value proposition
4. Recognizing Gap Analysis in the Design Process
- Opportunity analysis within the "fuzzy front end"
- Developing breakthrough products
- Ideation and concept selection
- Risks in product development
5. Customer-Focused New Product Research
- Voice of the customer
- Perceiving customer needs for revolutionary vs. evolutionary products
- Market research techniques
- The designer's role in research
- Product identification in a global economy
6. Innovation and Creativity
- Tools, eTools and techniques to improve innovation and creativity
- Processes to accelerate innovation
- Thinking outside and beyond the box
- Leading innovation teams
- Essential ingredients for continuous innovation
- Brainstorming, evaluation and implementation techniques
7. Essentials of Industrial Design
- Cultural views of design
- Developing products for international markets
- The historical impact of industrial design
- Understanding successful and unsuccessful products
8. Human Factors
- Cognitive psychology
- Industrial design as new product driver
- Cultural drivers
- Appreciating the form-function relationship
9. Managing Intellectual Property
- Managing patents, copyrights, secrets and trademarks
- Value transference
- Regulatory issues -- U.S. vs. Europe vs. Asia
- Using intellectual properties with a corporate strategy
10. Communication Challenges in Product Development
- Domestic and international communications for developers
- Interpersonal and team communications
11. Management and Metrics for Product Development
- Managing the team
- Metrics for product development
- Improvement matrices: project planning controls, reviews, best practices