A Quantitative Approach to the Process Modeling and Planning in Concurrent Engineering

2002 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 97-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hong-Sen Yan ◽  
Zheng Wang ◽  
Min Jiang

This paper deals with the quantitative modeling and planning of the product development process in concurrent engineering (CE). CE requires that product design and its related process design be carried out concurrently. Many existing CE models highlight the impact of the upstream design on the downstream design. While in our research, a quantitative model of the product development process in CE based on the network of product-process design activity pairs is presented to describe both the impact of the upstream product design on the downstream process design and the process design's ability of discovering the faults in the product design. Based on this model, a method is presented to determine the appropriate concurrency degree between the product and process design activities and estimate the mean duration of product-process design activity pair. Then an approach is proposed to solve the integrated optimization problem of both the allocation of resources and the planning of the product development process in CE. Its objective is to allocate the resources for the product development project reasonably to complete it before the due date, minimize its lead-time and keep the average resource utilization rate above a given level. Unlike other project scheduling problems with pre-determined numbers of the resources allocated for the project, in our research, the numbers of the resources allocated for the project are determined along with the project planning. To solve the problem, a branch-and-bound algorithm is proposed and a heuristic rule is introduced to improve its efficiency. The computational result of an example from an automobile factory shows the effectiveness of the algorithm.

Author(s):  
Amanda Bligh ◽  
Manbir Sodhi

Even though the literature on product and process development is extensive, not much attention has been devoted to categorizing the product development process itself. Existing work on product development processes such as Total Design, Integrated Product and Process Design among others advocate common approaches that should be followed throughout the organization, without any consideration of product characteristics. In this paper we review several existing development methodologies. Extensions of these are categorized by their applicability to different classes of products. We propose that development processes should be matched to product attributes and organization goals. Towards this end, we associate development processes along with their components such as House of Quality, Robust Design, TRIZ etc. with goals such as time to market, customer needs satisfaction, intellectual property generation, protection and exploitation, quality, product cost and others. We examine the impact of this association on the development process itself and propose guidelines for constructing specific processes associated with one or more goals. Tools and benchmarks for various applications are discussed, along with some case studies on the design of different development processes.


2013 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amran Rasli ◽  
Saif ur Rehman Khan ◽  
Tan Owee Kowang

Taking into account the customers, supplier and organization involvement in the new product development (NPD), this article focuses on the synthesis, evaluation, and selection of various sub-factors of concurrent engineering involved in new product development process. The aim of this study was to provide the reliability and validity of six sub-factors of concurrent engineering model of the 49-item questionnaire and to analyze its association with concurrent engineering and new product development process in a sample of 35 manufacturing and services organization located in Johor, Malaysia. Methods: A self reported survey was conducted in 35 manufacturing and services organization located in Johor, Malaysia. Results: Appropriate internal consistencies of the six sub-scales: customers relationship, team development, continuity, tools and techniques, suppliers involvement and corporate focus and their association with concurrent engineering, were obtained. Zero-order correlation and regressions analysis replicated the theoretically assumed structure of the effective concurrent engineering (ECE). Evidence of criterion validity was obtained from cross-correlations of the scales and from their linear and multiple regression analysis. Finally, all seven scales were associated with a highly significant ratio of concurrent engineering as predicted by fundamental theory. Conclusion: Based on the results of this study the seven version of the model, questionnaire is considered a reliable and valid instrument for measuring association in developing the new complex product development process.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 531-540
Author(s):  
Albert Albers ◽  
Miriam Wilmsen ◽  
Kilian Gericke

AbstractThe implementation of agile frameworks, such as SAFe, in large companies causes conflicts between the overall product development process with a rigid linkage to the calendar cycles and the continuous agile project planning. To resolve these conflicts, adaptive processes can be used to support the creation of realistic target-processes, i.e. project plans, while stabilizing process quality and simplifying process management. This enables the usage of standardisation methods and module sets for design processes.The objective of this contribution is to support project managers to create realistic target-processes through the usage of target-process module sets. These target-process module sets also aim to stabilize process quality and to simplify process management. This contribution provides an approach for the development and application of target-process module sets, in accordance to previously gathered requirements and evaluates the approach within a case study with project managers at AUDI AG (N=21) and an interview study with process authors (N=4) from three different companies.


2014 ◽  
Vol 1061-1062 ◽  
pp. 1233-1237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pâmela Teixeira Fernandes ◽  
Osíris Canciglieri ◽  
Ângelo Márcio Oliveira Sant’Anna

This paper presents the findings of research exploring how designers could to evaluate and insert sustainability requirements in product design during the initial stages of the product development process. It describes the process of development of the method for sustainability consumable goods based from a literature review and explores its application in the development of packaging for cosmetic. The results show that the use of the method may be a promising solution for sustainable projects, providing the insertion of the reasoning for the inclusion of product development oriented to sustainability as a complement to traditional project requirements that existing in the models of product development.


Author(s):  
Hans Ottosson ◽  
Emma Hirschi ◽  
Christopher A. Mattson ◽  
Eric Dahlin

In this paper we present a starting point for designing for and/or assessing the social impact of engineered products. The starting point is a set of tables comprising products, their general functional characteristics, and the accompanying social impacts. We have constructed these tables by first extracting a set of social impact categories from the literature, then 65 products were qualitatively reviewed to find their social impact. The resulting product impact tables can be used at either the beginning of the product development process to decide what social impact to design for and discover product functions that lead to it, or later to qualitatively assess the social impact of a product being designed and/or to assess the impact of an existing product.


Author(s):  
Jieun Kwon ◽  
Barry Kudrowitz

Abstract Idea visualization is a critical tool in a product development process. From early idea sketches to 3D prototyping, designers often visualize ideas for themselves and others in the process of feedback and refinement. The viewers of these ideas (clients, investors, collaborators, and consumers) rely on these visual presentations to evaluate the potential of a designer’s idea. Although sketching ideas is common practice in the product design industry, little is known about the extent to which presentation quality influences viewers’ evaluations of ideas. This paper examines the power of product sketch quality on perceived idea evaluation. In the present study, a total of 400 participants were asked to evaluate a set of product ideas presented with and without a sketch. The results show that when product sketches were presented, the participants were heavily influenced by the sketch quality when evaluating the value of the idea, and the concept ratings were somewhat different when sketches were not present. The results imply that viewers’ perceptions of idea worthiness are possibly dependent on how an idea is visually presented.


2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 210-221
Author(s):  
Gyesik Oh ◽  
Yoo Suk Hong

Many companies adopt concurrent engineering in their product-development projects in order to reduce time to market. Concurrent engineering requires careful management, since the uncertainty of transferred information leads to rework and renders a development process complex. Most of the existing studies on concurrent engineering have analyzed overlapping between two activities. The present study expanded the research scope by modeling the developmental process of the concurrent execution of multiple activities as the result of management decisions, the overlapping ratio, and the information transfer frequency. When multiple activities are overlapped, it is more difficult to model a development process, since the uncertainty of cascaded information has impacts on many activities. The quantitative model developed in the present study provides insights into the uncertainty of information and the product-development process. Based on the generalized process model for multiple-activity overlapping, the optimal decision to minimize project duration was considered. As a solution to the dilemma of the high computational burden of considering all feasible decision sets, this paper proposes a myopic heuristic. The project management heuristic proposed in this paper is intended to assist managers in the decision-making process, as well as reducing the intermediate deadlines in project main plan.


2001 ◽  
Vol 05 (04) ◽  
pp. 517-542 ◽  
Author(s):  
NEIL ALDERMAN ◽  
ALFRED THWAITES ◽  
DAVID MAFFIN

Many current models of the product development process pay insufficient attention to the impact of project-level influences. This paper looks at the case of the engineering industry in which product development is seen to proceed in two very distinct ways: the traditional process in which development takes place "off-line", and the contract process in which development takes place as part of a contract to manufacture a product for a specific customer. Drawing on two recent studies of engineering product development projects, the paper looks at how project-level influences lead to differences in project organisation and management in terms of the particular project structure adopted and in the involvement of different disciplines, internal and external to the company. This has implications for the way in which companies should interpret generic prescriptions regarding product development.


Author(s):  
Tianyi Cai ◽  
Theodor Freiheit

Lean value creation requires a value-adding network of lean activities across the whole Product Development Process (PDP). Management needs to allocate resources and properly control the process to create the value that stakeholders desire. Leading companies in industry have successfully applied Set-Based Concurrent Engineering (SBCE) for lean PDP. In SBCE, designers propose several feasible solutions and develop them relatively independently and in parallel, and then gradually narrow the sets of solutions based on updated project feedback at each stage-gate design review. As an important lean concept with many advantages, SBCE has constraints that can jeopardize lean value creation. For instance, it is unclear how resources are allocated to each stage, different functional teams, and different value creation activities related to different kinds of value, which can cause waste of talent, time, and money. This paper focuses on how resources can be allocated to SBCE by viewing product development activities as value creation cells. Under management control, lean value creation activities use knowledge and other resources to produce valuable design solutions. A mathematical feedback control model is proposed to illustrate how management can invest resources for the value creation process. This model can be used to explore resource allocation to functional teams and processes according to a holistic value creation project development strategy and the optimal creation of lean value.


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