From market intelligence to patent landscaping to stage-gate and decision making via a
hands-on case study – learn the full lifecycle of nonwoven product development.

This course integrates relationships, perspectives, and team dependencies between market research, product design, materials, purchasing, manufacturing, and business disciplines.

Following the in-class portion of the course where attendees will learn about critical product development methodologies and tools to help ensure success, the hands-on segment of the training will highlight the utility of the stage-gate process. Attendees will spend time in NWI’s state-of-the-art facility, which includes technology for taking a product from the lab to pilot scale and final testing. The hands-on exemplar will provide attendees the opportunity to work through options for creating a new wipe product that is more sustainable by examining tradeoffs such as increasing the bio-content versus creating a fully compostable product. In doing so, emphasis will be placed on how to effectively utilize the stage-gate process to explore feasibility in terms of material availability, manufacturing readiness level, and costs.

Improve your decision-making with expert insights on:

• Product development – stage gate
• Intellectual property considerations
• Market research & marketing strategy
• Innovation culture & practice
• Commercialization
• Sustainability & circularity
• Design of experiment
• Laboratory – hands-on
• Prototype and consumer testing

Who should attend? 

• Research & Development
• Sales & Marketing
• Finance & Purchasing

Expert Instructors:

Behnam Pourdeyhimi, Ph.D., Professor and Executive Director, The Nonwovens Institute (NWI) at NC State University

Tom Daugherty, Deputy Director, The Nonwovens Institute (NWI), former Procter & Gamble

Benoit Maze, Ph.D., Director of Simulation, The Nonwovens Institute (NWI)

David Nelson, Director, Industry Engagement and Education, The Nonwovens Institute (NWI), former 3M