Commenting on their achievements, team member John Wilson noted, “Our team’s success can be contributed to the six people ready and willing to work hard on our project and to our advisor’s ability to monitor our progress, without interfering with the final decisions of the group.”

Taking on a confidential project gave them a unique twist to the IPD experience. Although they could not disclose specifics of their project to the other students or faculty, they could share the experience of new product development. The team did not feel that the confidentiality hindered their process in any way. In fact, Korey Fox said that the confidentiality added to their feeling of “ownership of the project.”

The only aspect of IPD that the team was not able to participate in was the peer-reviewed presentations. However, they didn’t feel as though they were “missing out” on the experience. Regarding their final presentation team member Frank Cygler stated “The people who would best be able to critique us were present - Dr. Wei and all of our mentors from the Sponsor (Company).” Matthew Cullin concurred, “We presented to a very small group of individuals who were already familiar with the details of the project. This allowed us to skip the formalities and give a more technical presentation. On the downside, we didn’t get to show off how smart we are.”

Although their team isn’t able to share the details of their specific project, they can share the details of a successful product development process. Frank Cygler notes that both future IPD students and sponsors can benefit from the process this successful team learned:

~Make sure the scope of the project is clearly defined –“with staggering clarity.”
~Identify key problems, and find the right people to help you right away.
~Collaborate and discuss all your material. That’s when the proverbial light bulb comes on!
~Make sure your team is ready to handle the financial aspects…or start learning now.

IPD is all about innovation, creativity and entrepreneurial spirit. This multi-disciplinary project team approach brings together the design, business, and engineering functions of product development and process improvement. Once learned, the process can be applied to any project. Although this team had a confidential project that they were not able to disclose to their peers, they were an important part of the IPD program. Their experience with their project allowed them to interact with other students about how the process of product development works most effectively.