Accelerate Time-to-Market (Without Sacrificing Quality)

What is Time-to-Market?

Time-to-market (TTM) is the time it takes from the initial product idea to its launch. It includes all phases of product development and marks the beginning of a product’s life cycle. A short TTM gives companies a clear advantage. It allows them to respond to customer needs faster, achieve a first-mover advantage, save certain costs, see a quicker return on investment and gain a lead on the competition. However, a key risk of a fast time-to-market is compromised product quality. When speed becomes the sole focus, teams may skip critical steps in validation, testing, or customer feedback. That's why a systematic, focused approach to accelerating time-to-market is critical.

How H&Z Helps Accelerate Time-to-Market

H&Z supports clients across industries with holistic solutions that reduce time-to-market while maintaining product quality. We use five key levers to achieve this:

1. End-to-End Requirements Management

Many delays happen because of unclear or shifting customer requirements. We help clients establish early during the design phase in understanding and decoding what customers actually want. This involves structured requirements engineering, customer clinics, and collaboration between engineers, buyers, and suppliers. With a clear and realistic requirements profile in place from day one, friction and costly rework are significantly reduced. For instance, a commercial vehicle manufacturer would avoid costly redesign loops by clarifying early on that “easy cabin access” meant a lower step height, not wider doors. Requirements need to be codified so they can be tracked and traced throughout the entire product development process right up until final testing to ensure all targets are met.

2. Digital Prototypes and Simulations

Physical prototypes are expensive and time-consuming. We help organisations shift to digital validation environments, allowing them to validate and test ideas much earlier in the process. Digital simulation cuts the time spent on and number of development cycles by up to 50% and reduces error costs. It also helps align teams around a shared digital model of the product.

3. Agile Development and Scaled Agile Structures

Traditional project models often struggle to keep pace with change. We help companies adopt agile methods in software and hardware development.. This means greater flexibility and faster decision making. This approach has proven particularly effective in the machinery sector, where customer specifications often evolve mid-project. By breaking the development process into shorter cycles with regular feedback loops, companies can spot and address issues early and avoid lengthy rework phases later on.

4. Hardware/Software Integration and Synchronisation

Many modern products are defined as much by software as by hardware. Yet many development organisations are still hardware-first. We help clients design their processes so that software and hardware development are aligned. We ensure that hardware and software components interact early in the development process and with a structured rhythm (i.e. “takt”), rather than treating them as separate tracks that are forced to fit together later. In the automotive sector, this approach can help clients for example align chassis, powertrain and driving logic development, avoiding major delays due to software misalignment.

5. Governance and Centralised Project Management in the R&D Operating Model

A streamlined R&D operating model is essential for a quick TTM. We help clients reduce friction in the system by introducing clear governance structures and project-centricity in the R&D operating model. Weekly decision meetings involving senior leadership ensure that roadblocks are cleared quickly and progress is maintained. A strong R&D operating model means greater focus, even in complex environments.

The H&Z Perspective

Time-to-market is not a sprint. It is a core steering principle for modern product development. But being fast should not mean cutting corners. It means eliminating rework and building systems that support speed with structure. Often, the biggest obstacle to change is the success of the past. At H&Z, we work with clients to challenge these beliefs and build modern product development processes that support engineering efficiency.