Support for pontoon boat design and manufacturing
- Client
- Confidential
- Sector
- Manufacturing
- Expertise
- Product Development
CONTEXT
Our customer, a manufacturing company specializing in recreational products, had the opportunity to expand its production capacity. This expansion enabled the group to which it belongs to offer quality pontoons through its American sister company, thus increasing its market share.
CHALLENGES
Our customer needed to design and manufacture a pontoon boat for a sister company in the U.S. on their own premises, while retaining the company’s DNA. Our customer lacked engineering and project management capabilities.
ASSIGNMENT
Design and manufacture locally a new pontoon boat, while preserving the DNA of the American brand.
To seize this opportunity, our customer needed external support by adding a Merkur project manager to its existing team.
RESULTS
3
high-quality prototypes delivered on time
OBJECTIVES AND ACHIEVEMENT
Accompany the customer in the implementation of this project, from product development to production launch.
Accompany the customer in the implementation of this project, from product development to production launch.
- Offer a senior project management resource with outsourced product development expertise in-house.
- Establish product specifications with the customer's sister company and ensure that the number of options is reduced to be more efficient on the assembly line, and reduce costs.
- Draw up functional specifications.
- Draw up a schedule to deliver the first three prototypes by a given date.
- Ensure that the DNA of the sister company is respected in the design and manufacture of the pontoon.
- Follow-up with suppliers.
- Set weekly priorities for engineering teams and tests.
- Support industrialization and production teams throughout the product development process.
TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES
“BOM Builder" to evaluate the cost of options in relation to the customer's perceived value
Quality criteria for supplier part acceptability
Establishment of DFMA criteria and meetings in the product development process
Team management
Change management
Stakeholder management, communication plan
This was a challenging project full of responsibilities that allowed me to participate in the entire product development process, from ideation with the customer to delivery of the product to distributors. Merkur, in close collaboration with our partner, provided technical and strategic assistance throughout the project, ensuring that each stage was completed in line with the planned deliverables to ensure the success of the project.
Geneviève Masson, Eng., Ph.D.
Director, Engineering and Product Development
Merkur
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