Examines the dramatic change of commercial aircraft manufacturing from the traditional product development method dominated by military heritage and product superiority at the expense of cost and time‐to‐market. Losses by airlines in the 1990s highlighted economic difficulties and left airlines unable to grow and purchase new commercial aircraft. Describes the challenge faced by British Aerospace Regional Aircraft to develop a business‐wide simultaneous engineering programme to improve the managing of engineering products; outlines in detail the goal‐directed product management approach used and describes why this approach was successful.
Focuses on Renishaw plc, a small UK engineering organization which is the world′s leading metrology probe supplier. Describes the company philosophy and practice, particularly its concurrent engineering programme which is built on from major‐building blocks: design for manufacture, multifuntional project teams, tools and techniques and developing composite engineers.
The success of product development teams rests on their ability to think like their customers. A “Customer $APPEALS” model provides a proven framework for defining customer wants and needs, setting development priorities, and measuring customer satisfaction.
A survey of 108 UK industrial companies compares attitudes towards new products with company performance. The research, carried out at Bradford University Management Centre, uses a range of performance measures to examine the product development process and factors that influence the success and failure of projects. The findings indicate where a change of attitude can reduce “time to market”, increase the number of products launched and improve sales growth. Discusses profiles of two companies, Edward Macbean and On Demand Information, together with a new map of the product development environment.
Market presence, quality and costs are primarily decided during product development – improved in the last 15 years by the implementation of basic concurrent engineering and now further extended by enhanced quality function deployment (EQFD). Another key improvement is extended reusability, which enables greater product variety, while staying higher on learning curves. Reusability is best planned and managed by using a reusability matrix which is responsive to the voices of the customers and fully integrated into the total development process. Outlines the integration of the reusability planning and the required interface management into EQFD, and thus the integration into total quality development.
At present manufacturing strategy research is focused on the interaction between the manufacturing and marketing functions to the exclusion of product design. As product design aims to meet the needs of customers, market knowledge is vital to determine the products to design. However, without both market and product knowledge it is impossible to provide optimum manufacturing facilities. Thus product design should be considered as an essential aspect during the formulation of manufacturing strategy. Typically the validity of a manufacturing strategy is measured using a series of strategic product, order‐winning criteria. Initially discusses the effects of product design in relation to those strategic criteria and subsequently highlights the need to treat design as a manufacturing strategy content variable via a case study conducted within a medium‐sized, multi‐product batch manufacturing company.
Contends that, while the importance of time to product development processes has been underscored by many commentators, it is not until “time” is divided into component elements that the scope for improvement becomes manifest. Since time equals money, effective time management is of self‐evident importance. Outlines areas of management focus, through which time is a common thread. Analyses the constituents of time‐to‐market in terms of their capacity to measure temporal processes and reduce their costs. Proposes a structure to support the changes necessary for such reductions, and delineates the benefits accruing from reduced time‐to‐market.
For any company, the management of the new product development process is critical to maintaining its market share and competitive advantage. The consequences of designs which are incompatible with key business processes of a company are more severe now than ever before. Focuses on the importance of recognizing that the design process has more to contribute to a manufacturing business than the technological progress it helps to bring about. To this end, for some years now, the principles of design for manufacture have been applied right across the industry, but these have invariably concentrated on making the manufacturing processes simpler, more consistent, user‐friendly and cheaper to operate. This philosophy needs to be extended much further so that the design process takes full account of the requirements of the total supply chain to ensure maximum flexibility and responsiveness to customer demands at a minimum total cost to the business.
Virtual reality (VR) has recently become established as a suite of technologies capable of serving many companies′ future needs in design practice, training and organizational communication. Two years after the launch of a major British collaborative project involving 17 blue‐chip companies, VR is set to become adopted by many as their “information technology of choice” for the next century – some even aiming to establish in‐house facilities before the end of 1996. Proposes that, properly implemented, VR is capable of giving personnel at all company levels, who have a wide variety of educational backgrounds or skills, intuitive access to complex, computer‐mediated processes. Discusses some of the practical solutions to a commercially‐driven selection of demonstrator projects, while attempting to dispel some of the myths associated with VR, such as the necessity to don head‐mounted displays and instrumented gloves.
Discusses the implementation of engineering data management (EDM) which is one of the more recent technologies to be considered by enterprises needing to be more responsive to business pressures. Highlights the considerations for a successful implementation stressing the need for companies to learn from the mistakes and success of others. Only a timely and efficient implementation will realize the benefits of EDM.
Shares the experiences and successes of adopting concurrent engineering. Highlights the criticality of team selection, building and empowerment. Suggests that the concept of a team should not be restricted to an internal group but ought to include customers and suppliers.
Identifies key elements of eco‐design and discusses how they could be implemented. Special attention is given to tools for eco‐design. Describes a case in which these elements were implemented and draws further conclusions.
This publication contains reprint articles for which IEEE does not hold copyright. Full text is not available on IEEE Xplore for these articles.
Regardless of the industry, the changes in the marketplace that are affecting most companies are the same. Outlines the main points of a speech by George Stalk of the Boston Consulting Group to the 1994 International Conference on Strategic Manufacturing – the building‐blocks of corporate strategy are not products and markets but business processes; and competitive success depends on transforming a company′s key processes into hard‐to‐imitate strategic capabilities by providing superior value.
Presents the ideas of marketing guru Regis McKenna, speaking at the International Conference on Best Product Development Practices for Defining Customer Needs in New Orleans. Identifies a number of strategic best practices which characterize today′s champions.
Describes the FAST concurrent engineering (CE) implementation methodology that has been developed by the authors at Cranfield University, through research and consultancy activities. The methodology is presented in a paper‐based work‐book and describes three stages a company could proceed through to take it from an initial interest in CE, to the successful implementation of a pilot CE product development project and then expansion. The focus is on the introduction of multidisciplinary product development teams as the main vehicle for radically improving product development performance.
Discusses the crucial integration of engineering and production knowledge which is the objective behind the SCOPES (Systematic Concurrent design of Products, Equipments and control Systems) project. Presents the results of this three‐year project to develop a suite of integrated software modules which enable design support on the downstream functions associated with the assembly of mechanical and electromechanical products throughout the design process. Provides an outline of overall system architecture and the specifications of the individual modules – product design, assembly planning, resource planning, simulation, scheduling and flow control shopfloor control and monitoring – which make up the SCOPES solution.
Reports on CCL′s product development technique, using a product champion, who should have a market‐led view and a commitment to take the project through from development to peak of production. Suggests that early trial has an influence on the success of a new product and details the various steps needed to achieve this. Presents a case study of a new development by an international company undertaken in collaboration with CCL, using a product champion.
Design for manufacture (DFM) is accepted as an important tool to improve manufacturing competitiveness. Reports on the results of the first phase of a study conducted by Cranfield University to establish the user requirements for “design for manufacture” within a complex design and manufacture supply chain.
Gives advice for those embarking on the QFD path. Specifies what it is and is not, and what it can do if deployed in the proper manner. States that it is important to pick the right leader and lists the factors that lead to QFD team success. Emphasizes the importance of senior management participation and suggests what is needed to make it work.
