Product Development (PD) is a multifaceted and challenging process, more so in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) due to issues such as the resource constraints, high dependency on suppliers and the modern day competitiveness. For countries such as New Zealand, where 99.54 % of firms belong to the SME category, the significance of improving the PD system is enormous. These firms have to ‘do a great deal with very little’. The various PD management solutions that have been successfully deployed in large companies require “alterations” or customisation for application in SMEs. The research work presented in this thesis addresses the growing interest in the application of a distinctive best practice, one of the most recent, and promising solutions to product innovation in SMEs: (Toyota’s) ‘Lean Product Development System’. The Lean philosophy has proven time and again as a holistic system to enhance efficiency of the entire supply chain by optimising all internal processes; in addition to bringing about responsiveness to external environment. According to studies conducted by prominent research institutes across the world, Toyota’s excellence is equally seen in its PD as in manufacturing, where projects take half the time of its US equivalents, with four times the productivity, and consistent top quality. In line with the industry trend in exploration of Lean system to PD across the world, this study focuses on: "Evolving a broad framework for PD that incorporates Lean principles for application in Small and Medium Enterprises." In-depth action research within a SME environment showed that Lean Product Development Systems is one solution that provides ideal balance of being a systems based, process oriented, interactive expert managed approach with a clear customer / value focus for these firms. Aspects such as flexibility of engineering infrastructure, the CAD/CAM proficiency, flat organisation structure aiding better communication, and the continuous learning attitude prevalent within SMEs corresponds closely to that in Toyota, and were identified to be great enablers for Lean deployment. On the other hand, few areas were found to pose challenges to the Lean approach within SMEs: including resource scarcity, the dependency on suppliers, and lack of concept reuse, among others. On the whole, the findings have led to the development of a customized framework for Lean innovation in SMEs that addresses the knowledge, people, process, leadership, management, and planning elements, topped with measures to minimize effects of the identified obstacles.

A decade ago, Toyota, an automobile manufacturer from Japan, came up with a new production system which started the automobile industry called “Lean manufacturing”. Over time, the popularity of the system became apparent and it became the Toyota Production System (TPS). Following this technological development, “Len enterprise” a new concept was produced with the sole purpose of eliminating wastes in every function of the entire organization. As of present, as far as product developing companies are concerned, the development process has become more complex. For instance, in Scrum software development as well as in Lean product development, tools for planning a project using walls and boards have been developed. These methods have so far proved to be very efficient, in so far as the visualization of the work performed, as well as the prioritization of new tasks is concerned. However, there are notable challenges in synchronization, version control and traceability among a company’s different projects. This thesis, investigates how Physical Pulse Board is used and how it can be improved through the introduction of a web-based application for eliminating of difficulties of using Pulse board especially in global environment where different people from various locations might need to join the meeting. The paper consists of three parts. In the first part one set of interviews were conducted along with an observation to figure out related difficulties with the use of Physical Pulse Board especially in global environment. Following this, another set of interviews were conducted to help find out how these issues can be eliminated or resolved. Considering that good principles can never be useful, unless they are applied and used in reality, in the second part of this report, a web-based application was developed to help bring improvements using Pulse Board in global environment based on the finding from the first part. It was then that evaluation of implemented software was done through a workshop with Hellström, and Dr. Amer Ćatić. It is worth noting that the two persons are the Lean Product Development Specialist chosen for market analysis given that the two had implemented the Physical Pulse Board in their organization.

Irresistibly, Lean has been well-known among manufacturers around the world for quite sometimes due to Toyota success story of Toyota Production System (TPS) or so-called Lean manufacturing. Now that many organizations are going toward the concept of Lean enterprise, this thesis tries to study about Lean Product Development System (LPDS) which is a part it. Owing to the fact that LPDS is a socio-technical system originated from Japanese cultural background, to understand and should how LPDS is adopted in Swedish organizations become our main purpose. The thesis consists of three research questions- i.e. 1) what are pros and cons of LPDS, 2) what is Swedish style LPDS and how does it compare to the original Japanese one, and 3) should Swedish companies transform LPDS into their organizations; if yes, how. This study adopts a cultural framework to analyze and compare the Swedish LPDS and the Japanese one. The thesis can be separated into three main theoretical parts- i.e. LPDS, cultures, and change management. Two managers from two companies, one LPDS consultant, and one PhD student were interviewed for empirical data. Regarding to the first research question, both primary (interview) and secondary data are used; in order to analyze advantages and weaknesses of LPDS. Then, based on a literature review and empirical findings, Swedish LPDS principles were concluded and compared to the Japanese ones according to the second research question. Lastly, Swedish cultures, creativity perspective, and change management theories were deployed to provide managerial guidelines on how Swedes interpret and adopt LPDS in their organizations.   Accordingly, there are several pros and cons of LPDS (e.g. systematic decision making enhancement, transparency of information sharing, dynamic organizational learning) and they occur along the process of LPDS transformation into organizations. For cons, conclusion as of now is that most of LPDS weaknesses come from the method level, in which no one really knows what the real "Lean" is and leads to misinterpretation of principles. Owing to the fact that LPDS is a socio-technical system, it requires firms to adapt their strategies and cultures before adopting LPDS principles. Hence, LPDS needs to be interpreted and put into use case by case, depending on organizational characteristics. There are 14 principles of Swedish LPDS as concluded in this study. They are both similar and different from the Japanese original ones. The basic principles of LPDS, which are standardization, supplier involvement, continuous improvement, and visualization, are employed explicitly in both Japanese and Swedish LPDS. Moreover, both apply set-based concurrent engineering, front-loading, leveled product development process, and cross-functional team in NPD projects in their LPDS practices. The main differences are that Swedish LPDS focuses more on enhancing creativity than those of Japanese. Moreover, leadership style differs due to different cultural background. Besides, some other minor differences are also pointed out in this report. This leads to an answer to the last research question. Swedes should adopt LPDS in incremental manners to develop their organizations into the direction lead by LPDS, while preserving the creativity which is beneficial to product development processes. Finally, some guidelines of LPDS interpretation and adoption are also suggested based on change management theories and Swedish cultures.