Before beginning the process of a prodcut redesign what sorts of questions should you ask yourself and the consumer through survey efforts with regards to the current offering? Do you employ focus groups, Zoomerang studies on line, visit the consumer where they live, use the product yourself, and what sorts of questions need to be asked to open up opportunities for increased market share?
How and why to make something better is always a great topic; Depending on the buy-in/cooperation of the client (unless this is an in-house effort), we like to start by pushing the client to help define the objectives of the redesign. Data is probably available from the client (market share drop due to outdated product, customer complaints and/or recommendations, recalls, internal communiques, etc). Once you can establish some of the known issues, we find observational research (at the home, at the place of use, etc) to be of most value, coupled with personal use (if we qualify as target users). If budgets and time permit, online questionnaires and focus groups can be valuable but tend to be limited in the objectivity of the results…the same goes for product manager input unless they are truly an expert on the topic.
Sometimes a redesign is not the answer - if after observing users you don’t find consumer issues but you DO find manufacturing, marketing or management problems, then it can be a mine field to inform the client. 
Happy holidays - and I hope you uncover nuggets of gold in your findings!