Managing Risk in the Introduction of New Technology in Products

In this paper interviews with staff involved in product development from four different companies is presented. The objective is to find out how the companies manage the technical risk of introducing new technology in products and how they prepare for meeting changing requirements from customers. The companies originates from aerospace, automotive and production engineering. Based on the results of the first study, a case study was carried out at the aerospace company. The studies shows that, the introduction of new technology varies with the risk of failure in the validation of the products. Companies that easily can revert back to the former technology is more risk taking. The types of products and the companies’ place in the supply chain has an impact on technology introduction and requirements handling. The companies have strategies for developing requirement specifications prior to the start of the project. This is most elaborate at the aerospace company where a thorough concept evaluation clarify possible variations in requirements