Transforming the Product Development Process to Rapidly Create Essential Value: Yusuke Nii

In October 2021, Panasonic Corporation's Living Appliances and Solutions Company transformed its product development process from a waterfall to a project style, and it launched the Micro Enterprise (ME) system, which enables rapid development of essential value for our customers.

As the ME leader for rice cookers, I lead my project team, which consists of people from various job functions, to achieve medium- to long-term business growth. Through our research, we have determined that the essential value that consumers expect from a rice cooker is the ability to cook rice easily and deliciously. Therefore, we have developed core technologies that make this value a reality and established an entirely new cooking technique. This new technology from our ME will be incorporated in the mass production design and commercialized by 2025.

The advantage of the ME system is the flat relationship among leaders and members, as well as an open culture that encourages better and faster communication. The perspective of other ME leaders from outside our own ME is very helpful in making us aware of our weaknesses. Bringing the expertise I gained through the ME system back to the business division, in July I assumed responsibility for a new organization dedicated to the advanced development of a variety of core technologies. Leading a project team representing all job functions from the engineering departments, I promote the accumulation of technologies from the prototype stage of core technologies for their rapid commercialization in a year or two.

My motto is "Do the right thing," and I truly identify with the idea of Builds Trust as stated in the PLP. Good relationships, communication, and building trust form the foundation of all the business we do. In addition, Ownership and Evolution are critical elements for leaders. Team leaders and organizational heads need to do their jobs with the mindset of a manager responsible for their own work, and they need to keep evolving themselves. With this foundation, we must undertake Drives Vision and enhance Customer Focus to identify the essential values that customers really want. We then need to transform our vision into a roadmap through Strategic Thinking and Behavior and put it into practice through the Best Work Processes. As we work on this as a team, Harmonizes Wisdom, Welcomes Uniqueness and Differences, People First, and Drives Results have paramount importance. Viewed in this way, I was able to understand that the PLP is the very process of product development and value creation.

We want to develop appropriate core technologies so that we can create the technology-based essential value of rice cookers. A family table filled with delicious food is full of smiles. In this sense, cooking appliances can help people live their best. This motivates me as an engineer and is the source of my passion for creating value. I will strive to develop people and my team, and work with them to create products that make enthusiastic fans of Panasonic.