Dayton Electric Corp.

Concerns a product redesign decision for one of the company's most successful motor products, its rectified power, medium D-C motor, the RPM. A one-year redesign program has proposed a design that comes close to meeting its stated cost and performance goals, but at the expense of abandoning the unique square configuration that gave the RPM motor a technical lead over its competitors. The head of R&D wants to reject the proposal and go back to the drawing board for a three-month crash program. The case discusses Dayton's approach to strategic planning as a company and the motor division's attempts to carry out technical planning in this context. It also covers the technical outlook for AC and DC motors.