Concurrent engineering is an imperative concept in the world of product development. With the globalisation of industry, the market has been demanding higher quality products at lower costs, delivered at faster pace. With most companies today accepting the concurrent engineering approach as a formula for product development success, this approach is becoming ever more popular and dominating over the slower sequential product development method. Fast changes in technology, forced design cycle time reduction, emergence of new information technology and methodologies, as well as other aspects such as organisational and behavioural basis caused the sequential design process to progress into a concurrent engineering approach. The basic concept behind the concurrent engineering approach is that all parts of the design, manufacture, production, management, finance, and marketing of the product are usually involved in the early stages of a product’s design cycle, enabling faster product development through extensive use of simulation. Its key approach is to get the right data for the right person at the right time. There are forces that govern changes in the product development, and these forces must be steered towards prompt response to competition and higher productivity in order for companies to exist and successfully expand in the global market place. Concurrent engineering is made up of four key dimensions, one of them the communication infrastructure dimension, which is the focus of this study. This study defines the information infrastructure dimension, and some of the tools and technologies that support communication and collaboration. It then discusses how to employ the concurrent engineering approach from a communication infrastructure dimension point of view, starting with assessing the current product development process and eventually envisioning the path to take to a successful concurrent engineering environment. Communication infrastructure technologies and tools can be seen as central to a company’s implementation of concurrent engineering, as shown in the case studies covered in this work.

Concurrent engineering is an imperative concept in the world of product development. With the globalisation of industry, the market has been demanding higher quality products at lower costs, delivered at faster pace. With most companies today accepting the concurrent engineering approach as a formula for product development success, this approach is becoming ever more popular and dominating over the slower sequential product development method. Fast changes in technology, forced design cycle time reduction, emergence of new information technology and methodologies, as well as other aspects such as organisational and behavioural basis caused the sequential design process to progress into a concurrent engineering approach. The basic concept behind the concurrent engineering approach is that all parts of the design, manufacture, production, management, finance, and marketing of the product are usually involved in the early stages of a product’s design cycle, enabling faster product development through extensive use of simulation. Its key approach is to get the right data for the right person at the right time. There are forces that govern changes in the product development, and these forces must be steered towards prompt response to competition and higher productivity in order for companies to exist and successfully expand in the global market place. Concurrent engineering is made up of four key dimensions, one of them the communication infrastructure dimension, which is the focus of this study. This study defines the information infrastructure dimension, and some of the tools and technologies that support communication and collaboration. It then discusses how to employ the concurrent engineering approach from a communication infrastructure dimension point of view, starting with assessing the current product development process and eventually envisioning the path to take to a successful concurrent engineering environment. Communication infrastructure technologies and tools can be seen as central to a company’s implementation of concurrent engineering, as shown in the case studies covered in this work.

Concurrent engineering is an imperative concept in the world of product development. With the globalisation of industry, the market has been demanding higher quality products at lower costs, delivered at faster pace. With most companies today accepting the concurrent engineering approach as a formula for product development success, this approach is becoming ever more popular and dominating over the slower sequential product development method. Fast changes in technology, forced design cycle time reduction, emergence of new information technology and methodologies, as well as other aspects such as organisational and behavioural basis caused the sequential design process to progress into a concurrent engineering approach. The basic concept behind the concurrent engineering approach is that all parts of the design, manufacture, production, management, finance, and marketing of the product are usually involved in the early stages of a product’s design cycle, enabling faster product development through extensive use of simulation. Its key approach is to get the right data for the right person at the right time. There are forces that govern changes in the product development, and these forces must be steered towards prompt response to competition and higher productivity in order for companies to exist and successfully expand in the global market place. Concurrent engineering is made up of four key dimensions, one of them the communication infrastructure dimension, which is the focus of this study. This study defines the information infrastructure dimension, and some of the tools and technologies that support communication and collaboration. It then discusses how to employ the concurrent engineering approach from a communication infrastructure dimension point of view, starting with assessing the current product development process and eventually envisioning the path to take to a successful concurrent engineering environment. Communication infrastructure technologies and tools can be seen as central to a company’s implementation of concurrent engineering, as shown in the case studies covered in this work.

Concurrent engineering is an imperative concept in the world of product development. With the globalisation of industry, the market has been demanding higher quality products at lower costs, delivered at faster pace. With most companies today accepting the concurrent engineering approach as a formula for product development success, this approach is becoming ever more popular and dominating over the slower sequential product development method. Fast changes in technology, forced design cycle time reduction, emergence of new information technology and methodologies, as well as other aspects such as organisational and behavioural basis caused the sequential design process to progress into a concurrent engineering approach. The basic concept behind the concurrent engineering approach is that all parts of the design, manufacture, production, management, finance, and marketing of the product are usually involved in the early stages of a product’s design cycle, enabling faster product development through extensive use of simulation. Its key approach is to get the right data for the right person at the right time. There are forces that govern changes in the product development, and these forces must be steered towards prompt response to competition and higher productivity in order for companies to exist and successfully expand in the global market place. Concurrent engineering is made up of four key dimensions, one of them the communication infrastructure dimension, which is the focus of this study. This study defines the information infrastructure dimension, and some of the tools and technologies that support communication and collaboration. It then discusses how to employ the concurrent engineering approach from a communication infrastructure dimension point of view, starting with assessing the current product development process and eventually envisioning the path to take to a successful concurrent engineering environment. Communication infrastructure technologies and tools can be seen as central to a company’s implementation of concurrent engineering, as shown in the case studies covered in this work.

<p>The purpose of this thesis is to identify and analyze relevant dimensions of cooperation between design and production related to product development. The study also focuses on suggesting improvements of the co-operation dimensions between production departments and the product development departments in the Product Development Process (PDP) at Siemens Industrial Turbomachinery AB (SIT AB). SIT AB produces gas and steam turbines. Their increasing production pace and increasing number of product development projects have highlighted the importance of improved co-operations between departments within the company.</p><p>We have developed an analysis model including the dimensions of co-operation we found relevant for the study. These are Timing of Upstream – Downstream Activities; Richness & Quality of Information; Frequency of Information Transmission; Direction of Communication; Formalization of Communication; Organizational Support; Goal Optimization; Attitudes in Cross-functional Teams; and Understanding of Tasks.</p><p>For product development SIT AB follows an extensive process; the PDP. This is a sequential process where all activities are performed in sequence and therefore it obstructs the implementation of Concurrent Engineering. Concurrent Engineering aims to shorten development time and to consider the total job as a whole by performing independent activities in parallel. Hence, we argue that SIT AB should work toward a more integrated process with more parallel activities.</p><p>The performance in all the dimensions of co-operation differ between large and small projects since the co-operation in large projects work much better than in small projects due to better followed process description; more face-to-face discussions; a better balance between informal and formal communication; and more focus on project goals and team building.</p><p>The improvement proposals are presented in a separate chapter as actions classified according to the potential impact on the organization and the estimated difficulty to implement them. The proposals include for example: training more project managers; initiate work shop practice for design engineers; and give more and better explanations of decisions and actions.</p> / <p>Syftet med det här examensarbetet är att identifiera och analysera relevanta dimensioner av samarbete mellan produktion och konstruktion i samband med produktutveckling. Syftet är också att föreslå förbättringar i samarbetet mellan produktions- och konstruktionsavdelningarna i produktutvecklingsprocessen (PDP) på Siemens Industrial Turbomachinery AB (SIT AB). SIT AB producerar ång- och gasturbiner. Betydelsen av ett gott samarbete mellan avdelningar i organisationen har belysts i samband med att produktionstaken de senaste åren har ökat och fler produktutvecklingsprojekt har initierat.</p><p>Vi har utvecklat en analysmodell som innehåller de dimensioner av samarbete som vi anser är relevanta för området. Dessa är: timing av uppströms – nedströms aktiviteter, rikhet & kvalitet på information, frekvens av informationsöverföring, riktning på kommunikation, formalisering av kommunikation, organisatoriskt support, måloptimering, attityder i tvärfunktionella team samt förståelse för uppgifter.</p><p>Vid produktutveckling följer SIT AB den omfattande processen PDP. PDP är en sekventiell process där alla aktiviteter utförs i en sekvens vilket motverkar implementeringen av Concurrent Engineering. Concurrent Engineering syftar till att korta utvecklingstiden för produkter och beakta arbetet ur ett helhetsperspektiv bland annat genom utförande av oberoende aktiviteter parallellt. Därför anser vi att SIT AB ska arbeta mot en mer integrerad process med fler parallella aktiviteter.</p><p>Det är stor skillnad på prestationen i samarbetsdimensionerna mellan stora och små projekt. Stora projekt fungerar mycket bättre än små vilket kan relateras till att stora projekt följer processbeskrivningarna bättre, har en bättre balans mellan informell och formell kommunikation, och fokuserar mer på projektmål och sammansvetsade projektgrupper. Förbättringsförslagen är presenterade som konkreta åtgärder i ett separat kapitel och är klassificerade med hänsyn till varje förslags potentiella effekt på organisationen och dess uppskattade svårighetsgrad att implementera. Förslagen är bland annat att utbilda fler projektledare, inrätta verkstadspraktik för konstruktörer och ge fler och bättre förklaringar till beslut och handlingar.</p>

The main process of this dissertation involves thedevelopment and refinement of a conceptual framework fordescribing and discussing cross-functional co-operation andnetworking within product realisation processes. The conceptualframework, the analysis of the case study and a discussion ofthe implications and challenges for research and industrialsector are the main results of the dissertation. Industrial firms face different demands, which create anumber of potential sources of conflicts(‘faster–better–cheaper’), for examplebetween market, product development and manufacturingfunctions. The transformation of industrial firms from beingtraditionally hierarchically organised to becoming team-,project- and process-based has delegated a number ofresponsibilities to employees–for example, to interactwith others in planning and decision-making, and to act onissues or problems that may arise during daily work. Thissituation requires that new workand co-operation patterns aredeveloped between employees and between work units. Theestablishment of new co-operative behaviour seldom developswithout active support. Several studies confirm that there is aneed for organisational/managerial support for cross-functionalco-operation to develop, but that this type of support is oftenneglected (Blackler et al, 1997; Gabrielsson, 1998; Majchrzakand Wang, 1996). The case study, reported in this dissertation, waslongitudinal and context-oriented. The study pointed out thatan integrative view of management on the entire ProductRealisation Process (PRP) was lacking during the first vitalphases of the organisational restructuring. However, itdeveloped continuously over time, which indicates a change inorganisational paradigm. Support for cross-functionalco-operation was considered and implemented only after thatco-operation had collapsed in a pilot group. The support was,for example, based on‘Work Reflection Seminars’,which served as forums for discussing the new ways of working.In addition, two different parallel networks, originating fromthe previous organisational structure, had considerable impacton the development of cross-functional co-operation, whichdemonstrates the importance and power of practised rather thanformally ordered activities. <b>Keywords:</b>Cross-functional Co-operation, Networking,Product Realisation Process, Concurrent Engineering, Productdevelopment, Production, Organisational Change, OrganisationalRestructuring.

The research described in this thesis concentrates on the development of an integrated assembly process design for aircraft systems. Assembly process design is one of the most important and complicated activities in aircraft manufacturing. Many solutions are suggested in previous research to develop process design method. But gaps are found in assembly process design of aircraft system in following studies. In this research, an integration approach which combined with product development philosophy, design for assembly method and digital assembly technology is proposed to solve the issues in the whole product development lifecycle. Three case studies from different design phase are used to examine the integrated process design method. The research results demonstrate that the proposed digital process design method can be used to develop manufacturing strategies of system assembly in early design phase, and improve the accuracy and operability of assembly instructions according to 3-D assembly process plans in detailed design phase. The product design also benefits from this method in terms of correcting design errors in the concurrent engineering process. A proposed process planning system framework based on lightweight CAD is developed in this research. The customized assembly representation of 3DVIA system illustrates the advantages of lightweight CAD when applying in shop floor.

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<p>The main process of this dissertation involves thedevelopment and refinement of a conceptual framework fordescribing and discussing cross-functional co-operation andnetworking within product realisation processes. The conceptualframework, the analysis of the case study and a discussion ofthe implications and challenges for research and industrialsector are the main results of the dissertation.</p><p>Industrial firms face different demands, which create anumber of potential sources of conflicts(‘faster–better–cheaper’), for examplebetween market, product development and manufacturingfunctions. The transformation of industrial firms from beingtraditionally hierarchically organised to becoming team-,project- and process-based has delegated a number ofresponsibilities to employees–for example, to interactwith others in planning and decision-making, and to act onissues or problems that may arise during daily work. Thissituation requires that new workand co-operation patterns aredeveloped between employees and between work units. Theestablishment of new co-operative behaviour seldom developswithout active support. Several studies confirm that there is aneed for organisational/managerial support for cross-functionalco-operation to develop, but that this type of support is oftenneglected (Blackler et al, 1997; Gabrielsson, 1998; Majchrzakand Wang, 1996).</p><p>The case study, reported in this dissertation, waslongitudinal and context-oriented. The study pointed out thatan integrative view of management on the entire ProductRealisation Process (PRP) was lacking during the first vitalphases of the organisational restructuring. However, itdeveloped continuously over time, which indicates a change inorganisational paradigm. Support for cross-functionalco-operation was considered and implemented only after thatco-operation had collapsed in a pilot group. The support was,for example, based on‘Work Reflection Seminars’,which served as forums for discussing the new ways of working.In addition, two different parallel networks, originating fromthe previous organisational structure, had considerable impacton the development of cross-functional co-operation, whichdemonstrates the importance and power of practised rather thanformally ordered activities.</p><p><b>Keywords:</b>Cross-functional Co-operation, Networking,Product Realisation Process, Concurrent Engineering, Productdevelopment, Production, Organisational Change, OrganisationalRestructuring.</p>

Successful Concurrent Engineering (CE) with suppliers requires a pre-disposition on the part of the prime company and the supplier to work in this manner. This thesis explores the impact of design ethos on the implementation of Supplier-inLoop (SIL) CE between an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) and a first tier supplier. Design ethos for the purpose of this thesis is described as 'a characteristic manner or approach to constraints on SIL displayed by personnel involved in the design of new products'. This research employs a mixed-method to understand SIL constraints across industry sectors. A design ethos framework is developed and a military design community is characterised in terms of anomalies to the existing literature. These anomalies are then tested through a questionnaire and then interpreted in terms of the design ethos framework. The results of this comparison show that some characteristics are common to both the civil and military design communities and some are not. A case is made that design ethos, in the context of SIL, is primarily determined by: suppliers' aptitude, skill level and contracts; problems with data I information exchange mechanisms; existing processes, relationships and management support; supplier history; technological view of the product; external influences on the process; existing design milestones; visibility of supplier capability; and, continuity of service in terms of skill and data security. The research concludes that the implementation of SIL is directly impacted by design ethos, and that for SIL to be a success in the military sector design ethos must be managed in line with business objectives. The contribution to knowledge that this thesis provides is the insight it offers into the human issues associated with implementing concurrent engineering with external suppliers, and the identification of sector-specific issues as well as those which will benefit from cross sectoral learning. It is of value to military and civil OEMs for purpose of change management, also to their suppliers in understanding the different needs of military and civil customers when working in a concurrent engmeenng manner.