Terminology in the EMS World
One company’s first article may be another company’s NPI.
We have a bit of a communication issue in the EMS-OEM relationship, and possibly even within our own companies, particularly in the area of new product development
You may not be aware of this unless you have conducted a deep dive into the daily exchanges between your employees and customers, or taken the initiative to clarify what language (terms) you’ll use to describe the various stages of a new product and the actions that need to be taken.
Communication, or a lack thereof, is at the root of much of the dysfunction between the EMS provider and the customer. I have seen these issues throughout my time in the industry.
Terms and definitions related to early-stage product development and launch can confuse customers and suppliers, and even people within the same company.
For example, here are just a few of the terms I have seen used interchangeably by technologists within the same company:
- New product introduction (NPI)
- First article
- Prototype
- Incubation
- Quick turn
- Product commercialization
- New product launch
- Product realization
These terms are not synonymous. If an engineer or purchasing manager wants to communicate specific elements of a new product’s life-cycle stage, each term carries different meanings and requires different actions.
It isn’t my intent to tell you how to define these terms. I simply want to draw your attention to a potential communication breakdown, both inward (within your own company) and outward (to customers).
If this is a problem in your factory, it should be easy to clarify which terms you use, both internally and externally, and what actions accompany each definition.
Review communications between your company and your customers, as well as your company’s interoffice communications regarding NPI.
You may find yourself agreeing with Mandy Patinkin’s character in The Princess Bride: “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”End of article content
Jake Kulp is founder of JHK Technical Solutions; jkulp@cox.net. He assists OEMs and EMS companies with optimizing demand creation offerings and deciding when and where to outsource manufacturing. He previously spent nearly 40 years in executive roles in sales and business development at MC Assembly, Suntron, FlexTek, EMS, and AMP Inc.