After working at Cedar Point for two seasons I had realized that there was a huge problem with the way the roller coasters operate. I was transferred to Top Thrill Dragster for three days because of the many terminated employees and realized that the roller coaster (which is extremely popular throughout the United States) does not fit the larger population, meaning only petite, skinny people can actually ride. I must admit many people were embarrassed /angered to make it all the way to the front of the platform just to find out they could not fit. This is not just the case with Top Thrill Dragster but also with Millennium Force, which is another huge attraction at the park.
New Product Development
(1) New Product Strategy – to create larger seats that are available to fit into new larger train cars while continuing to use the same wheel dimensions. We do not want to make new wheel dimensions as the tracks would have to either increase or decrease and we want to make modifications to the actual train cars and not build a brand new track structure.
(2) Idea Generation – to create this idea of a larger train car or the seats in the actual train car it would be best to put together a survey and have employees walk the length of the park and ask as many people as possible. I also think it would be wise to ask the employees to take the same survey as they see the guests getting on and off the roller coasters daily. The third group I would prepare a survey from is outsiders; we could set up a website and advertise the website to allow outsiders to answer the same survey of questions.
(3) Idea Screening –How will we make the new roller coasters better and safer while making them bigger? What materials will we use to keep the environment clean? When will we introduce this product? What is our time line? What colors will we use for the new train car and seats? Will we use brand new products or close down the roller coaster and use existing products?
(4) Business Analysis –
a. The demand is great -larger people want to enjoy the roller coasters
b. Surveys - $500,000.00
c. Marketing of the new product - $1.3 million
d. Materials / Labor - $6 million
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e. Admission – Increase by $2.00
f. Profit - $2 million
(5) Development – The new cars will stay the same as the old cars, meaning we will continue to use many different colors with the cars. The seat belts will now be a harness over the chest while utilizing black as the color of choice and the inside of the car will now be a bench seat that is shared between two individuals and again the color of the bench will be black. The name of the ride will be the same.
(6) Test Marketing – By only building one train car of its type we can allow riders of all forms to test out the new seats before we continue in production of the other train cars. We can also put a simulator on Cedar Point’s website and invite people from all over the world to login and take advantage of the simulator and then afterwards they can answer brief questions regarding the simulator.
(7) Commercialization – Finally, the brand new train cars will be available to put into action. This of course will drive sales, increase park attendance and bring many new faces to the park. Because we will be buying all the materials the space we will put together our product will be in the back parking lot and then we can ship them out to the different areas of the park.
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