New Product Development Page 1 Teddy Concurrent Engineering by Teddy Sjafrizal

WHAT IS ABOUT ? simultaneous synchronized parallel coexisting

Concurrent Engineering The increased globalization of industry is causing an acceleration in the pace of product change This trend is forcing engineers and engineering managers to respond with products that have increasingly lower costs, better quality and shorter development times.

Concurrent Engineering The simplest definition of Concurrent Engineering (CE) is the simultaneous development of product and process “Concurrent engineering is a systematic approach to the integrated, concurrent design of products and their related processes, including manufacturing and support. This approach is intended to cause developers, from the outset, to consider all elements of the product life cycle from conception through disposal, including quality, cost, schedule and user requirements." (IDA)

Concurrent Engineering “Concurrent engineering is a structured product development process which allows the simultaneous development of market, product, and processes and focuses on market penetration.” (DOD)

Concurrent Engineering There are three primary reasons that caused the design process to evolve into a concurrent process : 1.Rapid Pace Of Technology Time-to-market, which is a term used to identify the time between the initial idea to the time the first customer product is shipped, became the competitive strategy and rallying point for many companies. The luxury of long product and process development cycles was doomed.

Concurrent Engineering 2. Forced Design Cycle Compression Product inputs from other functions that might cause a slip in the design schedule were often ignored. Thus, as marketers learned more about the customers' needs and expectations, and manufacturing engineers learned more about the cost to produce the product and manufacturability issues, few of their recommendations could be incorporated into the design under development.

Concurrent Engineering 3.Emerging Information Technology And Methodologies The information technology and the structured methodology foundation required to reshape the development process into a concurrent engineering process was emerging

Key Elements of Concurrent Engineering

(1) Collaboration Collaboration means to work together or to cooperate with. Thus, in establishing a concurrent engineering environment the infrastructure that drives the behavioral change towards collaborative activities is key. The infrastructure such as reward systems, goal setting, individual recognition, functional measurements, etc. are of major importance in supporting a collaborative environment. Individuals and their willingness to collaborate both within the company and outside the company are a major factor in determining the success of the concurrent engineering process.

(2) Technology 1.Simulation technologies for electronic designs, mechanical designs and manufacturing processes are predictive in nature. These predictions allow problems to be anticipated electronically at a stage when corrections are simple and easy to make. 2.It's a communication technology that allows many functions to share information on a regular basis. For example, team members can review data, run their own independent analysis, interpret the results and feed this information back to design.

Technology 3. It provides the communication network that allows the linking of external collaborators. Typically this is done with suppliers who provide feedback on manufacturability and lower cost alternatives that might better suit their processes. 4. Information technology allows the creation of data libraries. These libraries allow the passing of learning and complex accumulations of detailed design data (especially in the area of electronic components) from one product to the next, thus allowing the investment in one product to be leveraged into subsequent products.

Technology 5.Information technology provides rapid modeling. Electronic models allow the early review of products, and physical models can be built quickly when the information is transferred electronically to rapid prototyping equipment.

Technology 6.For some companies their customers are connected electronically. This is a direct method of market analysis and customers can suggest design improvements. This often results in a product competitive advantage. Additionally it allows the development of a better customer relationship through collaborative product development.

Process Process in concurrent engineering involves both the broader level of the full development cycle, as well as the detailed level of specific processes and specific design methodologies. Additionally, it identifies the detailed steps behind the concurrent nature of product and process development.

Traditional Process = Linear Vs Concurrent Engineering = Team collaboration

Creative Development The idea of convergence is an important part of concurrent engineering. During the development process, both products and processes are rapidly changing while converging towards a distinct product and a distinct set of processes. During this convergence, learning is being factored into the product and set of processes until a product and set of processes emerge that can produce a highly competitive business result.

Creative Development Convergence helps to keep the level of effort and required learning in synchronization. If convergence happens too quickly in one area the results can be very limiting. For example, early in the development cycle, multiple concepts are needed. However, detailed design done at this stage would be very damaging since it would discourage team creativity and preset many ideas before the proper customer research and process analysis have taken place

Creative Development Engineers should recognize the sequence of acquiring knowledge which requires many inputs, and the constructing of these inputs into product alternatives for the purpose of refining the original inputs or obtaining additional ones

Creative Development During the development process many inputs are given,many sources of knowledge and information are available, and many tools& methodologies are providedto t he engineer. The concurrent engineering process is intended to utilize th ese multiple sources and inputs in a constructive fashion

Concurrent Design Process

HOW TO DEPLOY CE ? Focused, multi-day workshop with collaborative approach to create realistic, achievable designs: – Develop early consensus about project priorities – Create project vision & design goals – Initiate an integrated design process – Form a strong, inclusive project team – Agree on project schedule and budget

HOW TO DEPLOY CE ? Collocate if possible: - Leverage IT – “Virtual” Collocation – VOIP, Videoconference, Skype, etc. Historical Examples – Broadly experienced leadership Learn about other “teams” – Understand each others pain Benefits of Cross-Training – Improves Collective Intuition!

Summary Concurrent Engineering: Simultaneous development of product and process. Most important aspect is communication and formation of teams Management support is vitally important Don’t be afraid to change current processes and technologies