INNOVATION IS ONLY SUCCESSFUL IF IT DELIVERS VALUE TO CUSTOMERS --

STAGE-GATE® PROVIDES THEM THE BIGGEST BANG FOR OUR R&D BUCK

PRECIOUS RESOURCES

Studies show that nearly 46% of R&D budgets are allocated to products that fail in the marketplace or never even make it to market. But the cost of letting  others make the advances in your industry is exponentially higher.  That’s why the conversation at AJ LABS often returns to a single question: “How can we innovate smarter?” The answer comes in the form of the innovation management system, Stage-Gate.

STAGE-GATE

Generating innovative ideas to solve customer problems is only half the battle. Moving these ideas through the development process — keeping constant tabs on goals, schedules,
and budgets — is often where the war is won.

Developed and introduced by Dr. R.G. Cooper of the Product Development Institute, Stage-Gate provides a discipline for moving a new product from idea to launch. Each activity is undertaken in parallel to enhance speed to market. At each stage, vital information about the technical, market, financial, manufacturing, and logistics aspects is gathered.

Not every innovative idea that enters Stage-Gate process is an automatic winner. Some ideas stall early as a strong business case cannot be built. Others fall out at the development stage either due to technical or manufacturing constraints. Technical and business uncertainties are resolved as early as possible. As the level of investment rises, the degree of risk simultaneously falls.