Alcoa Electrical and Electronic Solutions
Engineering Director, Global Components and New Business
Development
PD-Trak has enabled our organization to rapidly define and
launch a phase gate process that has led to a very organized and
disciplined product development process in a short period of time and
minimal cost. I have been in NPD with four major companies ranging from
$1B to $17B in sales and have found the PD-Trak tool to be the overall
best tool that I have used. The shear simplicity of the tool along with
the exceptional functionality has led our organization to be able to
implement, modify and train our associates faster than any other
organization I have been with in the past. The tool is simple enough to
be used in our gate reviews to answer senior executive questions
regarding technical, financial and marketing questions real time. This
has demonstrated our organized and disciplined approach to product
development to our leadership team. The document retention capability of
the tool has enabled our team members globally to upload key information
around the clock and allowed our associates to go to one spot to get an
update of the project and pull key information. This greatly enhances
our ability to be prepared for customer opportunities. In addition, the
portfolio and resource management capability of the tool has enabled us
to look into the near and longer term future of our product development
activity to quantify our needs and highlight weaknesses that need to be
addressed with regard to resources, capital or expenses.
Taco, Inc.
Director
PD Trak has many benefits but most importantly it
allows organizations to get their hands around their New Product
Development Programs. What I find
most rewarding from a personal note, is seeing Project Managers really
beginning to appreciate the financial aspects of their project.
PD Trak constantly reminds the
Project Manager and the team that meeting financial targets are critical
to ensure a successful product launch.
Emerson Therm-O-Disc, Inc.
Director
Therm-O-Disc was looking for a portfolio management
software package that supported our objective to create a more robust
portfolio/resource management process.
We found that system in PD-Trak.
It’s simple, yet elegant and efficient design was perfectly
suited to our needs. The
flexibility of the system allowed us to configure it so that it aligned
with our existing NPD process.
PD-Trak also creates easy-to-use graphical tools that help us
understand our current portfolio, and do “what-if” scenarios to help us
define the best course of action.
Our management reviews now have the structure and the data we
need to make better decisions on how (and where) to allocate our
resources.
PD-Trak’s flexibility and effectiveness has
actually exceeded our expectations, so much so that we recently expanded
its use to include our global portfolio of company-critical projects and
resources.
Wagner Spray Tech
Vice
President of Product Development
We have been using PD-Trak for almost two years
now, and we couldn’t be more pleased with the results.
PD-Trak has facilitated a more disciplined and methodical
approach to our product development activities and improved the project
management capabilities of our teams.
The system offers strong guidance, but also allows flexibility
for organizational customization.
The resource and portfolio management functions have helped
ensure we are moving forward only the most impactful and financially
viable projects. Finally,
the responsiveness of the PD-Trak team throughout the entire process has
been very impressive. I
highly recommend that any organization that is looking for a more
disciplined and productive product development process seriously
consider the PD-Trak system.
Particle Measuring Systems
Vice
President of Engineering
When I took over the engineering department at
Particle Measuring Systems I wanted to bring more structure to our
development process and improve communication about our development
projects throughout the entire company.
We had used what I call an “experience-based” process that
depends on having experienced project managers and managing a project
without the benefit of a well-defined process or task list.
Implementing a phase gate system provides a well defined process
and everyone knows exactly what is expected.
PD-Trak has been a huge help in implementing the
new process. We have used
the “standard” process with only minor modifications.
This has provided a very good starting point and was much easier
than having to build a process from scratch.
For companies that already have a well-defined process, it is
relatively simple to modify PD-Trak to accommodate their process.
The tool is very easy to use.
Most anyone with any familiarity with a Windows-based program and
a phase-gate system can begin to use the system with little or no
training. The documentation
is very useful and can provide answers to most questions.
When I have had questions, I have always gotten very timely
responses. Training will
help utilize the more sophisticated features, and Pete Cornish has been
has been very helpful in this regard.
I would strongly recommend PD Trak to any company
that has small- to mid-size projects and wants to start or strengthen a
phase-gate process, improve communication, do resource planning, or
product planning.
IAG, New Zealand
Product Development Manager
PD-Trak has been a very useful tool to support the development of a
structured product innovation process. The tools available in the Help
Menu are extensive and provide a wealth of information from the "How to
Use PD-Trak" to methods and tools for implementation of product
innovation processes in the business. The
PD-Trak voting capability is structured to allow teams to review and
evaluate the product idea from concept definition through to the launch.
The design and management of project resources and financials can
be linked to MS Project. We found
that the product is excellent as both a communication and a management
tool for members of the organization needing a quick status update as
well as the distribution of responsibilities to teams engaged at each
stage in the development cycle. 
