Data and Information Flow Design in Product Development

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify measure and prioritise the perceived importance of supply chain issues within the automotive industry related to information flow during product development (PD). Design/methodology/approach – This study analyses empirical data captured from semi-structure interviews with 15 multinational companies operating in the automotive sector. Data collected are analysed using a standard methodology identified from the literature. The individual issues captured are classified against 14 clusters that represent the core and the fundamental supply chain issues of information flow. Findings – This study showed that half of the issues captured are related to the inadequate information systems used. The cluster that had the majority of individual issues is related to suppliers that are not directly connected with their customers through an enterprise system. However it was identified that two fundamental clusters justify the decision of not being directly connected. Implementing and maintaining multiple enterprise systems can be a big overhead for multinational companies working with a high number of customers. Originality/value – Although several studies have proved the benefits that can be obtained through supply chain collaboration, there are relatively little empirical studies that seek to explore the understanding of supply chain issues in regards to information flow especially during PD. By identifying, measuring and prioritising the importance of supply chain issues this study provides researchers and practitioners guidance in developing better tools and defining more efficient processes.

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An Investigation of Catalogued Product Development Information at a Major Consumer Products Company

Volume 4: 13th International Conference on Design Theory and Methodology ◽

10.1115/detc2001/dtm-21690 ◽

2001 ◽

Author(s):

Timothy J. Hoffman ◽

Steven B. Shooter ◽

Simon Szykman ◽

Steven J. Fenves

Keyword(s):

Product Development ◽

Product Design ◽

Information Flow ◽

Flow Model ◽

Consumer Products ◽

Design Information ◽

Storage And Retrieval ◽

Documentation Quality ◽

Front End ◽

Information Flow Model

Abstract A study of product development practices at a major consumer product manufacturer, referred to as Company X, was undertaken to compare its methods to an earlier effort in modeling the flow of information in product design, referred to as the Design Information Flow Model. The model considers the recognized need in industry for the seamless capture, storage, and retrieval of design information. The research at Company X focused on the front end of product design, that is, the conceptual phase. It was learned that design, as defined by the Information Flow Model, is well represented at the front end of the company’s design process. However, this validation effort succeeded in uncovering certain voids, particularly in later states of the model. It was also learned that product documentation quality and quantity at Company X vary from project to project, indicating an important aspect to consider in our efforts to enhance computer-aided product design is the user.

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Integral PLM Solution to Product Development Challenges and Supporting Technologies

Volume 4: Fatigue and Fracture; Fluids Engineering; Heat Transfer; Mechatronics; Micro and Nano Technology; Optical Engineering; Robotics; Systems Engineering; Industrial Applications ◽

10.1115/esda2008-59604 ◽

2008 ◽

Author(s):

Michael A. Reitman

Keyword(s):

Product Development ◽

Information Flow ◽

Waste Product ◽

Product Lifecycle Management ◽

Multiple Point ◽

Development System ◽

Digital Product ◽

Main Challenge ◽

Development Processes ◽

Product Development Processes

Product development today is more complex and more difficult than ever. Manufacturers face significant challenges understanding the full impact of changes proposed at various stages of development, and demand for collaboration is at an all-time high. At the same time Product Development differs from Manufacturing in that the objective is to create a digitally validated representation of the product and manufacturing processes, rather than physical product. The flow of digital product and process information between the different stakeholders involved in product development is critical to the performance of product development processes. The main challenge is to create and communicate this information with minimum waste. Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) offers the solution from planning to support, across all applicable departments, and throughout the entire supply chain. By working with complete digital product representations, teams can quickly experiment, make changes, perform what-if scenarios, refine designs, and more. Technologies supporting product development processes notably define and impact the information flow. When product development technologies involve multiple point solutions that manage independent views of the digital Product (i.e., the MCAD view, the BOM view, the cost view) it is nearly impossible for various users to piece together a consistent picture or maintain integrity between the views. Product development environment with multiple disconnected tools and databases that house different information product is still common. There are many barriers to information transfer and availability — and as a result there is little information flow. At a high level, an integral product development system, a single source of truth for product data whose components are designed to work together seamlessly, can greatly streamline information flow. Information fidelity is not compromised, and as a result information flows rapidly and consistently. PTC’s Product Development System (PDS) represents such integrated PLM solution that manages interdependencies across all forms of product information, so that everyone on the team can easily understand how their input impacts the overall product. There are key process principles or initiatives that a company may choose to focus on to reduce waste in product development: front loading, visual planning and tracking, standardizing work, systematic knowledge capture and reuse, closer manufacturing and supplier partnering, and improving the efficiency of review or collaboration activities. This lecture is going to focus on making the connection with relevant technologies that can play a critical supporting role, and on software components of Product Development System representing corresponding technology enablers.

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Measurement of Integration between NPD and Marketing Employees: Case of a Software Product Development Company

Journal of Technology Management for Growing Economies ◽

10.15415/jtmge.2010.12014 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 1 (2) ◽

pp. 87-103 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Mary Mathew ◽

Manasi Joglekar ◽

Pradeep Desai

Keyword(s):

Product Development ◽

New Product Development ◽

Information Flow ◽

New Product ◽

Current Level ◽

Concerted Effort ◽

Software Products ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Software Product ◽

The Relationship

The relationship between marketing and new product development (NPD) is of great significance. It has been widely accepted that it also affects the success of the project or product to a large extent. But yet, this integration is not an easy task and presents lots of challenges to an organization. One of the major barriers is considered to be differences in the perceptions of marketing and NPD employees about each others’ tasks and the way they are supposed to cooperate. The study described in this paper is aimed at diagnosing these differences for a particular software products organization. The study has tried to capture these differences for integration behaviors between marketing and new product development (NPD) employees engaged in software product development. The study revealed that there was a significant difference between perception of marketing and new product development (NPD) employees over the current level of information flow from marketing to NPD as well the improvement required in the same. The priorities of marketing and NPD employees for improvement also seem to be quite different which is a serious concern as it can lead to lack of concerted effort in a particular direction. The paper describes these findings on the integration behaviours between marketing and NPD employees.

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Knowledge Modelling of E-Maintenance in Industrial Robotics

Advanced Engineering Forum ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/aef.8-9.603 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 8-9 ◽

pp. 603-610

Author(s):

Adrian Chioreanu ◽

Stelian Brad ◽

Emilia Brad

Keyword(s):

Product Development ◽

Information Flow ◽

Value Added ◽

Knowledge Modelling ◽

System Complexity ◽

Industrial Robotics ◽

Representation Model ◽

The World

Nowadays providers of maintenance and support related to industrial robotics are facing major challenges. Equipment producers around the world are urged to make significant efforts in order to provide high value added services in addition to their traditional product development and manufacturing business. A focal problem with maintenance as well as support of industrial robotics is the need to manage the ever-increasing information flow and system complexity of production cells that incorporate equipment from different producers. In this context, a novel ontology-based representation model is developed for the sharing and use of maintenance knowledge in the robotic field.

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Analyzing fuzziness in product quality and reliability information-flow during time-driven product-development-process

Annual Reliability and Maintainability Symposium. 2002 Proceedings (Cat. No.02CH37318) ◽

10.1109/rams.2002.981693 ◽

2003 ◽

Author(s):

Yuan Lu ◽

A.C. Brombacher ◽

E. Den Ouden ◽

P.M.W. Korvers

Keyword(s):

Product Development ◽

Product Quality ◽

Information Flow ◽

Development Process ◽

Product Development Process ◽

Quality And Reliability

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Analysis of enterprise supply chain communication networks in engineering product development

The International Journal of Logistics Management ◽

10.1108/ijlm-12-2014-0204 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 28 (1) ◽

pp. 47-74 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Richard Addo-Tenkorang ◽

Petri T. Helo

Keyword(s):

Supply Chain ◽

Product Development ◽

Competitive Advantage ◽

Engineering Design ◽

Information Flow ◽

Systems Design ◽

Design Teams ◽

Content Type ◽

Flow Processes ◽

Complex Engineering

Purpose For decades now, industrial manufacturers’ complex product development (CPD) activities have seen various improvement approaches as well as product development (PD) support processes all in the quest to achieve shorter PD lead-times and higher return on investments. CPD process improvements, in terms of complex engineering design and delivery, still lack a lot more variance to be addressed on the “better, faster and cheaper” paradigm for efficient communication and information exchange flow processes. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach This paper presents employing social network theory analysis and statistical Pearson (r) correlation analysis in a triangulation approach to a proposed optimum conceptual information technology systems’ architecture and a “best practice” information flow process toward enhancing an industrial sustainable competitive advantage. Closed-end questionnaires were used to collect data for the scale or level of communication network from a sample size of eight Ship Power supply chain network complex engineering design and delivery systems-design teams with at least five members from each team. Findings Two extremely interesting findings and observations were identified from the analysis carried out (isolates and close-harmonic analysis) as well as the findings from the hypotheses’ testing. These essential analyses of the engineering systems-design teams were conducted by using the triangulation or mixed-method described in the abstract methodology identified above. Originality/value Effective and efficient real-time communication is seen as the vehicle for effective organization management. Although there may be some studies on effective technical communication in organizational and enterprise supply chain management settings, this research identifies a new robust and extensive analysis and feasible solutions to most of the communication bottlenecks and inefficient socio-industrial information flow processes, which need enhancement for industrial competitive advantage. Furthermore, the contribution of this paper further enhances the level 4 implementation aspect of the supply chain operation reference model in a replicable industry-specific perspective.

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