Making concept decisions is a crucial activity for product-developing companies since these decisions have high impact on the subsequent development and launch of the product. Consequences of unsuccessful concept decisions can be severe, e.g. missing out on business opportunities or spending money on rework. This thesis investigates concept decision making in product development practice and contributes by enhancing the understanding of what is actually happening, the difficulties experienced in the process, and how to manage and improve concept decision making. Such enhanced understanding should serve as a basis when support methods for concept decision making are developed. In-depth studies have been conducted in a Swedish automotive company, focusing on the technical system level of the product. The concept decision process was found to be a web of interconnected activities, embedded in the concept development process, and with several actors on different hierarchical levels. An overarching challenge identified in concept decision making was to achieve compatibility before completeness, meaning that compatibility between product systems must be met before the system solutions are completely developed. In addition, a number of conflicts intrinsic in the process were revealed, pointing to underlying causes of the difficulties in managing concept decision making. These conflicts are omnipresent due to the product and organizational complexity and have to be handled by the product developers in their daily work. The thesis identifies key elements for improving an organization’s concept decision making: Create meta-knowledge and awareness regarding what influences the process and the actors in the process since there is a general lack of knowledge regarding one’s own and the organization’s decision-making processes; Ask questions to ensure that aspects, previously neglected, are considered; Provide visualizations to enhance understanding of both process and solutions; Provide vision as guidance in everyday decision making and trade-offs; and Ensure reflections since there is a need for actors in the process to reflect on the own decision-making process. In conclusion, a model to improve the concept decision making in practice is proposed. The model includes a set of proposed activities that are designed to address the previously identified challenges, and was developed in collaboration between researchers and practitioners. / QC 20111019

Diss. (sammanfattning) Linköping : Univ., 2002. / Härtill 5 uppsatser.

Diss. Linköping : Univ., 2003.

Over the past decade, firms in the auto industry have focused much of their attention on new product development performance. This paper reports on a follow-up study to Clark and Fujimoto's research on product development performance in the 1980s. We find that US and European firms have made significant strides in meeting Japanese product development performance. Driving this improvement have been changes in the use of suppliers, in overlapping phases of the development process, and in the type of project management system used. We also find that Korean auto makers are relatively efficient in terms of lead time and engineering productivity, although final design quality is lower. The narrowing of the competitive gap in the management of individual projects may point to product line performance as a future driver of competitive advantage. / Draft

Diss. Uppsala : Uppsala universitet, 2009.

This licentiate thesis deals with effective simulation of multibody dynamic systems in the product development process. Previous work to make simulation more effective has concentrated on developing faster calculation methods. Instead, this approach is to make the process of multibody dynamics simulation more effective by structuring of products, simulation models and their usage. Efforts have been made to clarify how computer tools are used in product development in industry today. Insight into the two domains of product development and multibody dynamics is given. These domains have traditionally been separated but the introduction of concurrent engineering and faster computers puts new demands on the integration of computer support and analysis in the development process. A proposal for performing the multibody dynamics methodology in a modular way in the product development process is given based on the performed work.

Entwerfen – Entwickeln – Erleben. Drei zentrale Begriffe aus dem Alltag der Produktentwicklung stehen als Motto über den Beiträgen dieses Buches und sind das verbindende Element zwischen den differenzierten Sichtweisen der einzelnen Autoren zu einem gemeinsamen Gegenstand: Dieser umspannt das weite Feld der Entwicklung und Gestaltung von Produkten von der ersten Idee bis zu deren Benutzung. Dabei ist für den Designer das Ziel allen Entwerfens und Entwickelns das positive Erleben des Produktes durch dessen Benutzer. Aber bereits beim Entwerfen, d. h. dem Schaffen von Neuem, bei dem Ideen generiert und Wege zur Umsetzung in ein Produkt gesucht werden und beim Entwickeln, dem Ausarbeiten, Erproben, Verändern und detaillierten Festlegung aller Produkteigenschaften, möchte der Designer vorwegnehmen, wie das künftige Produkt auf den Nutzer wirken wird. Doch der Designer tut das nicht allein. Die integrierte Produktentwicklung ist ein sehr komplexer Prozess, in dem viele verschiedene Fachdisziplinen eng zusammenarbeiten müssen, um am Markt erfolgreiche Produkte platzieren zu können. Zum Thema Industriedesign in komplexen und interdisziplinären Entwicklungsprozessen wird durch dieses Buch ein weiterer Baustein hinzugefügt. [... aus dem Text]

Esta tese tem como tema o processo de inovação em organizações da indústria de softwares. Foi desenvolvido um modelo de relacionamento e instrumento de avaliação do potencial de inovação em empresas de software. Para tanto, inicialmente, os fatores facilitadores da inovação foram identificados através do estudo da literatura e pesquisa exploratória junto a dez empresas do setor de software na cidade de Pato Branco-PR. Identificados os fatores, o modelo de relacionamento foi construído, apoiado na opinião de especialistas do setor empresarial e acadêmico. A análise do modelo revelou seis fatores essenciais no processo de inovação: Capital intelectual humano, Seleção de projetos promissores, Liderança orientada à inovação, Estrutura financeira, Procedimentos de prospecção de mercado e Utilização de do mercado. O modelo de relacionamento permitiu construir um instrumento de avaliação do potencial de inovação das empresas do setor de softwares. Este instrumento foi aplicado em campo, avaliando o suporte recebido e o desempenho dos fatores facilitadores da inovação em um conjunto de nove empresas. O modelo de relacionamento e correspondente instrumento de avaliação foram verificados através de estudos de correlação e da própria opinião dos especialistas. O modelo de relacionamento e o instrumento de avaliação podem auxiliar as empresas de software a: (i) entender melhor os fatores que influenciam o processo de inovação e seus relacionamentos; (ii) avaliar o potencial de inovação de sua empresa e (iii) estabelecer um plano de ação para desenvolver esse potencial de inovação. / This thesis is about the process of innovation in companies of the software industry. A relationship model and a tool for assessment of the innovation potential in software companies were developed. Initially, the factors that facilitate innovation were identified through a literature review and an exploratory research comprising ten companies of the software industry located at Pato Branco-PR. After the identification of the factors, the relationship model was constructed, supported by the opinion of experts from the business and university sectors. The model analysis revealed six key factors for the innovation process: human intellectual capital, selection of promising projects, leadership for innovation, financial structure, procedures of market research, and use of market feedback. The relationship model allowed the construction of an instrument for assessing the innovation potential of software companies. This instrument was applied in the field, evaluating the received support and the performance factors that facilitate innovation in a set of nine companies. The relationship model and corresponding assessment tool were tested through correlation studies and expert opinion. The relationship model and assessment tool can help software companies to: (i) better understand the factors that influence the innovation process and their relationships, (ii) assess the innovation potential of their company, and (iii) establish an action plan to develop the potential for innovation.

The planning and scheduling of appropriate resources is essential in engineering design for delivering quality products on time, within cost and at acceptable risk. There is an inherent complexity in deciding what resources should perform which tasks taking into account their effectiveness towards completing the task, whilst adjusting to their availabilities. The right resources must be applied to the right tasks in the correct order. In this context, process modelling and simulation could aid in resource management decision making. However, most approaches define resources as elements needed to perform the activities without defining their characteristics, or use a single classification such as human designers. Other resources such as computational and testing resources, amongst others have been overlooked during process planning stages. In order to achieve this, literature and empirical investigations were conducted. Firstly, literature investigations focused on what elements have been considered design resources by current modelling approaches. Secondly, empirical studies characterised key design resources, which included designers, computational, testing and prototyping resources. The findings advocated for an approach that allows allocation flexibility to balance different resource instances within the process. In addition, capabilities to diagnose the impact of attaining specific performance to search for a preferred resource allocation were also required. Therefore, the thesis presents a new method to model different resource types with their attributes and studies the impact of using different instances of those resources by simulating the model and analysing the results. The method, which extends a task network model, Applied Signposting Model (ASM), with Bayesian Networks (BN), allows testing the influence of using different resources combinations on process performance. The model uses BN within each task to model different instances of resources that carries out the design activities (computational, designers and testing) along with its configurable attributes (time, risk, learning curve etc.), and tasks requirements. The model was embedded in an approach and was evaluated by applying it to two aerospace case studies. The results identified insights to improve process performance such as the best performing resource combinations, resource utilisation, resource sensitive activities, the impact of different variables, and the probability of reaching set performance targets by the different resource instances.

Os portais web em universidades devem ser funcionais, atendendo às demandas da comunidade acadêmica, sendo capazes de prover serviços e informações a diferentes públicos e incorporando novas funcionalidades. Isto é possível através do descobrimento de requisitos técnicos que abrangem gerenciamento de conteúdo, colaboração, segurança, integração e demais características encontradas em portais corporativos. Além disso, é necessário o comprometimento de uma equipe multidisciplinar atuando principalmente nas etapas iniciais de projeto. Este estudo tem por objetivo propor uma metodologia sistematizada para o processo de projeto de portais corporativos em universidades que atenda aos requisitos dos usuários típicos. Para isso, foi feita uma pesquisa exploratória pelos conteúdos referentes a portais corporativos e metodologias de projeto de produto. Além disso, estudou-se métodos advindos da engenharia de software e também o paradigma de orientação a objetos. Para a melhor utilização destes métodos e conhecimento de outras possibilidades foram feitos estudos de caso com duas equipes de universidades que mantém portais web. Assim, ao fi nal deste estudo foi concebida uma metodologia para o projeto de portais corporativos em universidades. E logo após, através de uma equipe multidisciplinar, houve a aplicação parcial desta metodologia no projeto de evolução do portal da Universidade da Região da Campanha. / The web portals in universities must be functional, meeting the demands of the academic community, being able to provide services and information to different audiences and adding new features. This is possible through discovering the technical requirements that include content management, collaboration, security, integration and other features found in enterprise portals. In addition, it is needed the commitment of a multidisciplinary team working mainly in the early stages of design. This study aims to propose a systematic methodology for the design process of corporate portals university that meets the requirements of typical users. For this, an exploratory survey was made to known the content about corporate portals and methodologies for product design. In addition, we studied methods coming from the software engineering and also object orientation. For the best use of these methods and knowledge of other possible, case studies were made with two teams from universities that maintains web portals. Thus, the end of this study was designed a methodology for the design of corporate portals in universities. And soon after, through a multidisciplinary team, there was the parcial application of this methodology in project development of the portal of Urcamp.