The efficient approach we suggest is to use the above tools when they are optimum in the course of the research and development steps. The right tool is the tool that gives the most information in the shortest time frame. By continuously keeping in mind the above three tools and by alternately selecting them, product development can be very fast and lead to numerous new ideas.

At each iteration, knowledge increases and opens the door to new ideas.

To be concrete, let’s start with an example: the design of an innovative 10kW power supply topology.

A new circuit can be imagined by crossing the product requirements, the knowledge of the engineers and by parsing a lot of literature in order to avoid re-inventing the wheel. Once it is done, the analytical model is understood but not verified. A computer simulation can be useful to check that the circuit works as expected. If necessary, the analytical model can be corrected. When confident about the result, a prototype can be elaborated. When bringing-up the prototype, the computer simulation model can be refined for the next product development.