Nanyang Optical: Beyond Product Design – From Idea to Launch By Wee Beng Geok & Nigel Goodwin

Abstract

This case illustrates the process and challenges of designing a new product and then making it a reality.

Yang Wah Kiang had innovative ideas for spectacle frames and created two unique new product designs. But Yang was not just a product designer – he was also a practical, hands-on entrepreneur who owned and operated a medium-sized company. He was not content to leave his ideas on the drawing board; instead, he would do whatever it would take to make his designs become real products, ready for the market.

Yang was the managing director of Nanyang Optical, one of Singapore's largest optical retailers. In June 2006, he was ready to test his new eyewear designs in the retail market. Over the years, he had worked on a number of new concepts for spectacle frames, which he felt would offer unique value to consumers. His burning ambition was to test these new frame innovations in the international eyewear market.

In 2002, he and his Australian Chinese business partner set up a product design studio in Shenzhen, China. They spent the next three years designing and developing two new types of eyeglasses based on the new frame design concepts. When the prototypes were ready, Yang collaborated with French fashion designers who created contemporary styles, branding and packaging. The new frames were branded as Urband and Link. He and his French partners would work together to launch and eventually sell the frames, first in Europe and later in North America and Asia-Pacific.

Yang's next challenge was to produce enough of these frames to meet the orders that had already begun to flow in. Although outsourced manufacturing was a common practice in the eyewear industry, Yang was having difficulties finding outsourcing factories that could produce the frames at an acceptable level of quality. This was due to the uniqueness of the frame design and construction.

The case examines a myriad of product development, manufacturing and launch issues. It does this from two perspectives: that of a product designer and that of an entrepreneur and business owner. Thus, the issues are both creative and practical.

This case was commissioned by the DesignSingapore Council at the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts.
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Issues: New product development from idea to market; entrepreneurship in small and medium-sized companies; combining creative processes like innovation and product development with practical/business processes like production, product launch and outsourcing.

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