In a competitive market consumers will begin to demand improved product design and features. In MikesBikes Advanced you can choose to undertake product development to modify any of your bikes. You will be able to choose from a number of quality, performance, functionality, and user experience improvements to improve your product’s specification rating.
In addition to product improvements you will be able to invest in Cost Reduction. This value engineering decision develops the various production components and materials to reduce the prime cost of your bike. Reducing cost of production increases the profit margin on each bike produced.
How can I Modify My Products?
In Year 2 (after the first rollover) you are given the opportunity to modify your bike
through a new Development menu under your product decisions:
Through the button list, shown above, you will have the option of investing in a product improvement, a cost reduction, or making no change. Only one option can be chosen each year (decision period).
Product Specification Improvements
All of the five feature upgrades on the product development screen incur a one-off cost to implement (to develop new manufacturing tooling) and will result in an increase in your product’s specifications.
Note: You can compare your product’s spec rating with others in the segment using the Market Summary report. You should also view your Market Research to evaluate which markets prioritize product specs.
Once you select one of the available product improvements additional information on that decision will be displayed:
Note: As shown above, a product improvement will result in an increase in prime cost (cost of production) and SCU (factory capacity) to produce.
Prime Cost Reduction
The Cost Reduction option does not change your product’s spec rating, but instead decreases your product’s prime cost and the required SCU to produce it:
