Empirical Aspects on Defining Product Data for Rapid Productisation

Purpose – Emerging customer needs are calling for companies to quickly create new solutions in business front-end e.g. in sales situation. However, bypassing predefined product development processes and thus product definition turns to be problematic and leads later problems in product management. The main objective is to study what kind of special issues is related on defining product data when rapidly productising products. Design/methodology/approach – This is a qualitative case study including three descriptive company cases. The study is conducted to show special characteristics that occur when rapidly defining products and their product data. Findings – The results indicate that the practices to carry out rapid productisation (RP) are very company specific. However, three common forms for RP can be recognised. It can be concluded that product data management needs in the productisation process are dependent on product structure and an original customer order point (COP) of the products. This study analyses the link between COP and the type of module added in rapid productisation and how it affects the product data handled. Practical implications – By focusing the relevant product data companies can hasten rapid productisation and ensure sufficient product management during order-delivery process. Originality – The concept of rapid productisation itself is quite novel although acute issue in practice. This research gives empirical insight about essential product data aspects when rapidly productising a new item.