Archive for 'October 2011'

The Apple Tastes Better When Savored Slowly

October 27, 2011 2:15 PM by Linda Rae

Here’s my last blog post – for now – in my series of recent posts on creating enduring products:




Lesson: Make sure that first bite isn’t more than you can chew.

I’ll tell you something we don’t necessarily broadcast to the outside world:  the first two product concepts for our very successful Model 4200-SCS platform, which were based in part on input from customer focus groups, didn’t receive top management approval. Quite simply, their scope was too large to succeed in a reasonable time—it was just too big of a bite. Despite the undeniable value of their insights, customers in focus groups often have no concept of what it takes to bring a sophisticated system of this type to market.




During concept development, it’s critical to invest your energy in making sure you have a complete and compelling narrative to present to top management and that it’s presented in such a way that they can readily see how it will be carried through to completion. The development team’s early mistake was thinking about it like engineers (the “coolness” and technology of the measurements involved) rather than like top managers (is this a do-able product in a reasonable timeframe?).




The development team spent a lot of time “descoping” the project, whittling it down to a manageable level of technical risk. However, what finally convinced top managers that the Model 4200-SCS represented a viable product concept was our technical and marketing people taking them on the road with them. The conversation took place between Keithley’s technical people and the people who would actually be using the product—top management was a “fly on the wall,” silently absorbing what the lab managers needed and wanted from a product of this type. Over the years, we’ve often found that nothing beats a face-to-face meeting between management and customers for communicating the potential of a new product.



Patience is More than a Virtue. It’s Hard.

October 11, 2011 2:40 PM by Linda Rae

When I wrote earlier blog posts about creating enduring product ideas, I thought about it in general terms.  But when I began thinking about creating products in the semiconductor industry in particular, I realized it takes special, shall we say, fortitude to be a product developer in this sector.




Lesson: If you’re developing solutions for a cyclical industry like the semiconductor industry, be prepared to be persistent through its ups and downs.




In a traditional business model, R&D spending is based on the revenues a product is producing; that means too many companies tend to cut back on their development investments when there’s an industry downturn. However, companies that abruptly turn off the “money spigot” when there’s a cyclical downturn simply aren’t in a position to profit from the next market upturn when it arrives. Still worse, they’ve lost credibility with their customers by not being prepared to address their new needs.




One of the things Keithley does, in addition to long-term planning, is to focus on short-term, fast-response projects, so that when we spot an industry trend, such as organic solar cells, that requires specific measurement capabilities, we can address that opportunity very quickly.