The process of new product development involves a number of steps which follow a design and detailed engineering process. Detailed design is very fundamental to new product manufacturing and, therefore, product design service has a critical role in industrial product design. The product design steps are iterated a number of times until the final product goes into production.

Product engineers follow several important steps, involving cross-disciplinary approach, for such detailed engineering and design process. Once the objectives of the process are well established, synthesis and analysis of ideas for product design takes place. This is followed by construction and testing of the new product and eventually evaluation based on per-defined criteria based on the application of product and environment in which it would be used.

The design engineers start with research and research stage uses significant amount of time but plays an important foundation role for future product development. Idea generation and conceptualization for identifying possible solutions is the next stage of detailed engineering design process. Feasibility study and assessment for the ideas formed in the conceptualization stage is the next logical stage in the process. The costs are worked out and assessment based on several other factors is done to understand whether a product around a certain idea can be eventually designed and developed.

Once the idea passes the feasibility assessment, design requirements are established and they regulate most of the project design process. Eventually the detailed design phase is started but not before a preliminary design with schematics, diagrams, and, in general, overall system configuration and general framework is established. In the detailed design phase solid product models and drawings are made based on a vast array of specifications. With advancement of computing capabilities, computer aided design is increasingly being used efficiently to optimize the product design and also to analyze stress etc. under different stimuli and also compatibility pertaining to different specifications. Some of the specifications in detailed design are about requirements such as that of testing requirements, material and reliability requirements, packaging requirements etc. Some other specifications are concerning parameters around operating and environmental stimuli (for example, the environment in which the desired product is supposed to be used), dimensions, maintenance and test-ability, design life, etc.

Production planning is the next phase of the design and detailed engineering process. This involves planning for industrial scale production. All factors necessary for such large scale production are investigated. For example, work is done towards understanding which tools would be necessary for the desired scale of production, towards selection of required material and identifying procurement etc. Further, more often than not, large scale production involves several integrate processes. Therefore, optimally selecting the necessary production processes and determining the most effective sequence of operation for smooth large scale production are also critical part of this stage. By this stage, a working prototype is developed and tested under varied conditions.

Finally, after planning, production starts under well defined regulations and with routine tests of the tools, machinery and the manufactured products.

Eventually, with better design and detailed engineering approach, products with optimal functionality can be developed for usage.