Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:49:59Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 TeseJLMC.pdf: 2573293 bytes, checksum: e97d2ef13b6cde5e6d1649ca1b19be7c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006-09-01 / Universidade Federal de Sao Carlos / Continuous development of new and improved products is seen as a key factor for business survival and growth. A new product that satisfies consumer s needs in an efficient and opportune manner increases competitive advantage. New product development (NPD) process has a multidisciplinary and multifunctional character, demanding specialized kinds of technical knowledge, peculiar of different disciplines or functions. A successful NPD requests a good integration among these functions, so that an auxiliary tool that helps this integration can increase project s performance and, consequently, competitive performance. In this thesis an auxiliary tool for managing functional integration in new product development processes is proposed, based in three conditional factors (Context, Technological Positioning, Competences) and three dimensions (Communication, Coordination and Collaboration). The tool s proposal includes a discussion about these conditional factors and dimensions, describing how they can be used to acquire an adequate functional integration in new product development process. As a secondary contribution of the thesis, a discussion about a particular case of integration, the one between applied research and NPD project, is made, including a theoretical discussion and case studies. / O desenvolvimento contínuo de produtos novos e aprimorados é considerado um fator chave para a sobrevivência e o crescimento das empresas. Um produto que atenda às necessidades dos consumidores de maneira eficiente e oportuna aumenta a vantagem competitiva. O processo de desenvolvimento de produto (PDP) tem um caráter multidisciplinar e multifuncional, demandando conhecimentos técnicos especializados, próprios de diversas disciplinas ou funções. Um PDP bem sucedido requer uma boa integração entre estas funções envolvidas, de forma que uma ferramenta de auxílio a essa integração pode melhorar o desempenho no desenvolvimento de produtos e, conseqüentemente, o desempenho competitivo. Nesta Tese propõe-se uma ferramenta para auxiliar a gestão da integração funcional no Processo de Desenvolvimento de Produto baseada em três condicionantes (Contexto, Competências, Posicionamento Tecnológico) e três dimensões (Comunicação, Colaboração e Coordenação). A proposta de ferramenta inclui uma discussão sobre esses condicionantes e dimensões, descrevendo como estes podem ser usados para atingir uma integração funcional adequada no projeto de desenvolvimento de produto. Como uma segunda contribuição da Tese, um caso particular de integração, a das atividades de Pesquisa Aplicada com os Projetos de Desenvolvimento de Produto, é também abordado através de uma discussão teórica e em um estudo de casos.

Product development process (PDP) architecture holds the key to the management of New Product Development (NPD). A lot of care is exercised in managing the NPD to reduce risk and uncertainties. There exists potential scope for improvement both in initial planning as well as execution of the NPD program by studying the PDP architecture. This research work seeks to taps this potential and presents an analytical tool to aid the NPD Managers. In this research work Design Structure Matrices (DSM) are used to represent the PDP architecture. The Work Transformation Matrix (WTM) is a kind of DSM and it was introduced for the analysis of concurrent task structures. However a generalized task structure has not been studied analytically in the literature. In order to study a generalized task structure we add two new matrix types to the WTM set to represent the task network interconnections and the task interdependence. First we study the pure sequential task iteration structure for NPD and show that it has lower engineering effort (cost and time) than the concurrent task iteration structure previously discussed in literature. Next we study the generalized task iteration structure and derive the expressions for total work and cost vectors. This is a major research contribution since only simulation based methods are currently available for studying generalized task iteration structures. The optimization of sequencing interdependent tasks is a well known NP hard problem in NPD literature. For small sized task sets, exhaustive enumeration of all possible sequencing and their corresponding time or cost vectors can be computed to determine the optimal sequence. However for large sized task networks, only heuristic methods are deployed. Using the closed form expression for cost and time vectors for a pure sequential task iteration structure derived earlier in this research work, we attempt to devise a method to optimally sequence the design tasks. We develop new matrix combining both the node and link weightages of task network. Using the time vector relationship between sequential and concurrent task structures, it is shown that the optimal task sequence corresponds to the reordering of this combined matrix whose “Dominance index” (sum above the diagonal) is minimum. Finally, we use some of the standard test cases from the PDP literature to demonstrate our research findings.

Dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirement for the Master of Technology: Quality in the Faculty of Engineering At the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2012 / New Product Development (NPD) is a complicated process that determines success or failure of any company engaging in product development processes. Over the past years, due to the current highly competitive market environment, poor management skills, lack of innovation and customer concern, many companies are struggling to develop new products while simultaneously maintaining high quality of each of these new products. Various studies described that quality management is critical to prolong the life cycle of new products. Thus, this study focused on the key success factors of NPD and integrated quality management strategies into NPD process. This study was conducted at a local plastic packaging and load securing company in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. A combination of both qualitative and quantitative research approaches was conducted. Both management (n1=5) the staff members (n2=24) who are involved in the NPD process were selected as samples. A semi-structured questionnaire and several interviews (in-depth and focused group) were utilised for data collection. A statistical programme (SPSS V20) was employed to generate descriptive statistical results and test the reliability of all the variables. The study results identified that the key quality determinants of the NPD process were are NPD reviews, verifications and validations. In addition, for the NPD process to be successful, the company should focus on the development of the NPD strategy, availability of skills and resources including NPD competence, product quality, empowered multidisciplinary teams and effective risk management. Based on the research findings, this study recommends that the company should have more focuses on the areas of customer dissatisfaction, product quality, and prototype planning in their NPD processes.