Preface only could learn basic techniques in product development but also the philosophy and the practical application in industry. Gradually product development(PD)was developed as an academic discipline and Bachelor and Masterate degree programmes in product development were introduced for all industries at Massey University. Allan Anderson was involved in much of this development over the years. Dick Earle's expertise is in process development. particularly in the New Zealand meat industry, and he developed the combination of product design and process development in a new venture producing pharmaceutical industrial products At the same time, particularly in the last 20 years, there has been deal f research in other industries on product development, and te ecognised as a particular industrial research discipline. The book has been built on this research and also the research at Massey University and with the food industries in New Zealand, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Canada and Australia. We need to thank the hundreds of undergraduate students for their work in their product development projects with industrial companies, the postgraduate students in their research on the activities and techniques in product development, and in particular the people in the companies who collaborated in these projects. Examples from some of these projects are used in the chapters. The staff at Massey University involved in product development the Food Technology Department, Food Technology Research Centre and the Department of Consumer Technology, built up the multidisciplinary,consumer directed, systematic PD Process used throughout the book Part I starts by looking at the different categories of new food products. It then identifies past reasons for product success and product failure, and asks the reader to identify some of the specific reasons for product success and product failure in their company. This is to stimulate thoughts on PD in particular companies and to lay the basis for studying the core elements in PD and relating these to the problems of PD management. It ends by identifying specific aspects of product development in the food industry Part II in four chapters studies the core elements of product development: 1. Developing an innovation strategy 2. PD Process(es) 3. Knowledge base for product development 4. Consumer in product developmen Product development at both the programme and the project levels needs to be based on the business strategy. It is the responsibility of top management and they need to set the strategies for the product development programme for the present and future years, and also the aims for the individual projects. Top management needs to ensure that there are systematic PD Processes for the different levels of innovation and types of products. Having set the strategy and the PD Process, they need to ensure that there is the necessary product, rocessing, distribution and marketing knowledge in the company, and also the ability to create new knowledge in design, development and commercialisationonly could learn basic techniques in product development but also the philosophy and the practical application in industry. Gradually product development (PD) was developed as an academic discipline and Bachelor and Masterate degree programmes in product development were introduced for all industries at Massey University. Allan Anderson was involved in much of this development over the years. Dick Earle’s expertise is in process development, particularly in the New Zealand meat industry, and he developed the combination of product design and process development in a new venture producing pharmaceutical industrial products. At the same time, particularly in the last 20 years, there has been a great deal of research in other industries on product development, and today it is recognised as a particular industrial research discipline. The book has been built on this research and also the research at Massey University and with the food industries in New Zealand, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Canada and Australia. We need to thank the hundreds of undergraduate students for their work in their product development projects with industrial companies, the postgraduate students in their research on the activities and techniques in product development, and in particular the people in the companies who collaborated in these projects. Examples from some of these projects are used in the chapters. The staff at Massey University involved in product development in the Food Technology Department, Food Technology Research Centre and the Department of Consumer Technology, built up the multidisciplinary, consumer directed, systematic PD Process used throughout the book. Part I starts by looking at the different categories of new food products. It then identifies past reasons for product success and product failure, and asks the reader to identify some of the specific reasons for product success and product failure in their company. This is to stimulate thoughts on PD in particular companies and to lay the basis for studying the core elements in PD and relating these to the problems of PD management. It ends by identifying specific aspects of product development in the food industry. Part II in four chapters studies the core elements of product development: 1. Developing an innovation strategy 2. PD Process(es) 3. Knowledge base for product development 4. Consumer in product development. Product development at both the programme and the project levels needs to be based on the business strategy. It is the responsibility of top management and they need to set the strategies for the product development programme for the present and future years, and also the aims for the individual projects. Top management needs to ensure that there are systematic PD Processes for the different levels of innovation and types of products. Having set the strategy and the PD Process, they need to ensure that there is the necessary product, processing, distribution and marketing knowledge in the company, and also the ability to create new knowledge in design, development and commercialisation. x Preface