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.

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.

Thesis (M.B.A.) - Carleton University, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 194-203). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

O processo de desenvolvimento do produto (PDP) tem assumido uma importância crescente na indústria devido ao aumento da complexidade de produtos e processos de produção, bem como às pressões para o atendimento dos requisitos do cliente em prazos cada vez menores. A Engenharia Simultânea (ES) é uma abordagem que surgiu em resposta a estas mudanças. Foi inicialmente desenvolvida na indústria na manufatura, a partir da organização simultânea de diferentes funções envolvidas no desenvolvimento de novos produtos. A aplicação da engenharia simultânea na construção civil tem sido estudada por acadêmicos, principalmente em empreendimentos que possuem grande incerteza e elevado grau de interdependência entre as atividades. Neste contexto, a falta de integração entre projeto e produção e a ineficácia do planejamento e controle do processo de projeto têm sido apontadas como importantes lacunas de conhecimento. Apesar dos resultados promissores de alguns estudos que buscaram adaptar ferramentas de planejamento e controle da produção, existe a necessidade de investigar a implementação de algumas práticas essenciais que viabilizem a sobreposição entre projeto e produção, tais como a redução do tamanho dos lotes de informação e o seqüenciamento de atividades de projeto. O objetivo do presente trabalho consiste em propor diretrizes para a segmentação e seqüenciamento das atividades no processo de projeto em ambientes simultâneos na construção civil, envolvendo empreendimentos complexos, rápidos e com elevado grau de incerteza. O método de pesquisa envolveu a realização de três estudos de caso em empreendimentos de uma empresa construtora de Porto Alegre, atuante no mercado de edificações industriais, hospitalares e comerciais, nos quais os processos de projeto e produção são desenvolvidos em geral de forma simultânea. Entre outras conclusões o estudo indicou que a redução do tamanho dos lotes de projeto a serem desenvolvidos é influenciada pelo escopo de projetos contratados, assim como pela complexidade e o porte do edifício projetado. Outros fatores relevantes à redução do tamanho dos lotes são a capacidade de produção dos projetistas e a interdependência entre as diferentes disciplinas de projeto. Foi constatado que o seqüenciamento das atividades de projeto neste contexto é fortemente influenciado pelo planejamento da produção e que a antecipação na consideração de restrições legais e de requisitos do cliente, bem como a integração da equipe multidisciplinar de projeto ao longo do processo podem contribuir à redução de iterações desnecessárias em projeto. O trabalho apresentou como contribuições conceituais o melhor entendimento do processo de projeto com relação às interdependências em projeto, além do conhecimento de uma possível forma para a realização coordenação de projetos neste contexto. / The product development process (PDP) has recently grown in importance in many industries mostly due to the increasing product and process complexity, and to the growing pressures to respond quickly to client requirements. Concurrent Engineering (CE) is an approach that has emerged as a response to those changes. It was originally developed in manufacturing industries, based on the simultaneous organization of different functions involved in product development. The application of CE in construction has been investigated by the research community, especially in projects in which there is high uncertainty and interdependence. In this context, the lack of integration between design and production processes and the ineffectiveness of design planning and control have been pointed as important knowledge gaps. Despite the promising results achieved by the adaptation of some production planning and control mechanisms to the design process, there is a need to investigate the implementation of some key practices to make it possible the integration of design and production planning process, such as the reduction of information batches and the sequencing of design activities. The aim of this research is to propose guidelines for the reduction of activities batch sizes and for sequencing design activities in concurrent environments, typical of complex, uncertain and fast construction projects. The research method involved three case studies, in different construction projects carried by the same company, based in Porto Alegre – RS, that builds industrial, commercial and heath-care buildings, in which design and production are usually developed simultaneously. This study indicated that the reduction of design batch sizes depends on the scope of the design, the complexity of the final product, the capacity of the design team, and the degree of interdependence among different design disciplines. Moreover, the sequencing of design activities in this context is strongly influenced by production planning, and the early consideration of legal constraints and client requirements, and the degree of the integration in the design team play very important roles in the reduction of unnecessary design iteration. Finally, the main conceptual contribution of this research work is concerned with understanding the design process with regards to the interdependence among different design disciplines and the knowledge for devising approaches to coordinate this process in such context.