The first phase of new product development (NPD) is today commonly referred to as the Front End (FE) of NPD. The phase has received a decent amount of attention during the recent years, nevertheless insufficient considering its ability to influence a project’s outcome. The phase begins when an idea is born, and ends when a formal meeting decides whether to invest in the idea or not. The investment then leads the project to enter a formal phase. During the FE, a large number of issues occur, which are believed to be the result of deficient processing of information. If the issues are not managed correctly, the NPD procedure will not be efficient. When information is being processed into knowledge, sometimes an uncertain, equivocal, or complex situation arises, which leads to delays, additional costs, and wasted efforts. These information processing problems (IPPs) need to be managed by firms in order to reduce their negative repercussions. Depending on a firm’s perception of the novelty towards a product, the project is considered to be either radical or incremental. Depending on that novelty, it is theorized that the IPPs will have different dispersions, and pose differently significant challenges to the project. The aim of this study is therefore to investigate the differences of the significance and dispersion of the IPPs, during the FE, when comparing radical and incremental NPD projects. For this purpose, a case study approach was deemed appropriate. In order to collect data concerning the IPPs, seven case studies were conducted. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews, with respondents that possess' an extensive experience from working with NPD within Swedish firms. The data analysis from the seven interviews proved that indeed there is a difference in how the IPPs vary, dependent on whether the project is of a radical or incremental nature. All the IPPs showed higher levels of significance in the FE in radical projects, than in incremental ones. Uncertainty proved to be the IPP that differed the most and therefore possessed the greatest significance difference. This means that differentiated approaches in radical respective incremental projects are needed in order to reduce uncertainty. Equivocality represented the IPP with the least difference in significance, meaning that the FE in radical and incremental projects require rather similar design in how to prevent equivocal problems. By understanding the differences in dispersion and significance, one can create differentiated management approaches during the FE, that fit the level of novelty of the product at hand. For some products, preventive actions must be taken to a larger degree compared to others. By doing so, the lead time of the FE can be shortened as less problems will arise, creating a faster and smoother process. The resources saved could be spent on improving activities, instead of being wasted on repairing unnecessary problems. The study contributes to the research field of NPD by adding newknowledge, aiding the collective effort of increasing firm’s proficiency in how to manage the FE.

高科技產業本身所具備的高風險、快速變動、產品生命週期短的特質，促使置身高科技產業中的企業必須具備更快速的因應能力，方能在競爭激烈的環境中生存。 有鑑於研發活動重要性日漸提高，市場上新產品的競爭狀況越演越烈，在台灣不論什麼產業都需不斷致力於發展新產品的活動。而列為國內首屈一指高科技國防武器研發單位的中科院；其新產品的研發績效，是一值得探討的課題。 本研究遂以組織特性及新產品發展過程，探究新產品開發所產生的影響效果，以中科院大型武器系統研發為研究對象；採用個案研究的方式，進行結構性深度訪談。本研究採用組織特性中的組織對創新的鼓勵、主管支持、資源、時間壓力等四個變數；將新產品發展過程分為產品創意、產品概念、產品雛形、最終產品、行銷計畫五個構面；探究對於新產品開發績效包括：「財務績效」、「市場績效」、「機會窗口」等之影響，作為研究架構。 主要研究目的為以下三點： 1. 探討組織特性與新產品發展過程之關係。 2. 探討組織特性與新產品發展過程對新產品開發績效之影響。 3. 探討中科院的組織特性與新產品發展過程對新產品開發績效之影響。 研究主要發現為： 1. 新產品發展過程中，不管是組織鼓勵、主管支持或是充裕的資源皆有助於提高員工的創造力；組織鼓勵與主管支持與激勵員工內在的動機有較大的關連，但是充裕的資源對員工創造力的提升可能會帶來最直接的立即效果。 2. 由研究的個案資料中發現，中科院在新產品發展過程中的阻礙有兩項因素：(1)產品生命週期較長，故不需要不斷的創新或發展新的產品；(2)因為有特定市場及需求顧客，所以沒有去注重行銷計畫。 / High-tech industry itself possesses high risks, combined with fast fluctuation, short product life cycles. High-tech enterprises thus have to own the flexibility to deal with such situation and enable to survival in the most competitive environment. In the light of increasingly important Research & Development activities and more competitive new products on the market, industries in Taiwan have all require being committed to activities for developing new products. Chung Shan Institute of Science and Technology, an eminent institution developing national defensive weapons, deserves to be explored in its performances of new products development. This research explores the effects of organization characteristic and new product development process on the performance of new product development, and takes large-sized weapon system of Chung Shan Institute of Science and Technology as the research object; the research is carried out in the way of the case study, conducting in-depth interviews in structure. The research uses four variables in the organization characteristic, such as encouragements for creativity, supervisor’s support, resources and time pressure; the new product development process contains five stages, which are product creativity, product concept, product prototype, final product and marketing plan; New product development performances to be explored in their influences include financial performance, market performance, window of opportunity as the framework of the research. The purpose of the research focuses on the following three points: 1. It explores the relations between organization characteristic and new product development process. 2. It explores the effects of the organization characteristic and new product development process to new products, 3. It explores the effects of the organization characteristic and new product development process to new products in Chung Shan Institute of Science and Technology Important findings: 1. On the process of developing new products, either organizational encouragements or superiors’ supports or ample resources have been beneficial to the increase of employees’ creativity; organizational encouragements, superiors’ supports and employee stimulation have greater links with employees’ inner motive; however, ample resources may bring direct effect on employees’ creativity. 2. Case study reveals that there are two hindrance factors on the process of developing new products at Chung Shan Institute of Science and Technology: (1) the product life cycle is longer, so it required less continuing innovation nor new product developments; (2) it has certain markets and fixed customers, so marketing strategies have not been particularly emphasized. / 第一章　緒論---------------------------------------------------------------------1 　　　第一節　研究背景與動機---------------------------------------------1 　　　第二節　研究目的------------------------------------------------------3 第三節　研究範圍------------------------------------------------------5 第四節　研究流程------------------------------------------------------5 第二章　文獻探討---------------------------------------------------------------7 　　　第一節　組織特性------------------------------------------------------7 1-1 組織特性與創新之關係-------------------------------9 1-1-1組織鼓勵與創新之關係------------------------------9 1-1-2主管支持與創新之關係-----------------------------11 1-1-3資源與創新之關係-----------------------------------12 1-1-4時間壓力與創新之關係-----------------------------14 　　　第二節　新產品發展過程--------------------------------------------14 2-1 創新的定義---------------------------------------------15 2-2 創新的類型---------------------------------------------16 　　　 2-3 新產品之定義與分類---------------------------------20 　 2-4 新產品發展過程---------------------------------------25 第三節　新產品開發績效--------------------------------------------35 第三章　研究方法--------------------------------------------------------------43 　　　第一節　研究方法-----------------------------------------------------45 　　　第二節　研究架構-----------------------------------------------------46 　　　第三節　研究假設-----------------------------------------------------47 　　　第四節　研究限制-----------------------------------------------------47 第五節　訪談問卷設計-----------------------------------------------47 第四章　個案研究--------------------------------------------------------------50 　　　第一節　研究對象-----------------------------------------------------50 　　　第二節　訪談內容彙整及分析--------------------------------------51 第五章　研究發現與命題-----------------------------------------------------59 第六章　修正研究架構與管理意涵-----------------------------------------62 　　　第一節　修正研究架構-----------------------------------------------62 　　　第二節　管理意涵-----------------------------------------------------62 第七章　結論與建議-----------------------------------------------------------64 第一節　結論-----------------------------------------------------------64 第二節　研究建議-----------------------------------------------------65 參考文獻--------------------------------------------------------------------------66 附錄一　個案研究及其種類--------------------------------------------------70 第一節　個案研究及其特徵-----------------------------------------70 第二節　個案研究的種類--------------------------------------------70 第二節　個案研究的實施步驟--------------------------------------71 附錄二　訪談問卷--------------------------------------------------------------74 附錄三　問卷訪談之完整內容-----------------------------------------------80 圖　目　錄 圖1-4-1　 研究流程圖---------------------------------------------------------5 圖2-1-1　 組織創新能力及創新組成理論---------------------------------8 圖2-2-1　 創新架構------------------------------------------------------------19 圖2-2-2　 實用創新矩陣------------------------------------------------------20 圖2-3-1　 新產品的種類------------------------------------------------------21 圖2-4-1　 部門階段模式------------------------------------------------------28 圖2-4-2　 新產品發展過程---------------------------------------------------31 圖3-2-1　 本研究之觀念性架構圖------------------------------------------46 圖6-1-1 修改後觀念性架構圖---------------------------------------------63 表　目　錄 表2-2-1　創新能力的組織影響因素--------------------------------------7 表2-2-2 創新之分類--------------------------------------------------------16 表2-3-1　各學者對新產品發展類型之分類-----------------------------24 表2-3-2 各學者對新產品開發績效衡量的構面與指標--------------41 表3-5-1 訪談問卷表--------------------------------------------------------48 表3-5-2　訪談問卷表--------------------------------------------------------48 表4-1-1　受訪者背景資料表-----------------------------------------------50 表4-2-1　訪談問卷壹、組織特性/(一)、組織鼓勵/1.【支持創新文化】之統計-------------------------------------------------------51 表4-2-2　訪談問卷壹、組織特性/(一)、組織鼓勵/2.【組織獎酬】之統計-------------------------------------------------------------52 表4-2-3　訪談問卷壹、組織特性/(一)、組織鼓勵/3.【承擔風險的意願】之統計----------------------------------------------------52 表4-2-4　訪談問卷壹、組織特性/(二)、主管支持/1.【支持的程度】之統計-------------------------------------------------------53 表4-2-5　訪談問卷壹、組織特性/(三)、資源/1.【資源充足性】之統計----------------------------------------------------------------54 表4-2-6　訪談問卷壹、組織特性/(四)、時間壓力/1.【工作時間】之統計------------------------------------------------------------54 表4-2-7　訪談問卷貳、新產品發展過程/(一)、產品創意之統計 ---------------------------------------------------------------------55 表4-2-8　訪談問卷貳、新產品發展過程/(二)、產品概念之統計 ----------------------------------------------------------------------55 表4-2-9　訪談問卷貳、新產品發展過程/(三)、產品雛型之統計 ----------------------------------------------------------------------56 表4-2-10　訪談問卷貳、新產品發展過程/(四)、最終產品之統計 -----------------------------------------------------------------------57 表4-2-11　訪談問卷貳、新產品發展過程/(五)、行銷計畫之統計 -----------------------------------------------------------------------57 表4-2-12　訪談問卷參、新產品開發績效之統計----------------------58

Improving product development is a complex task for many companies. One challenge is to avoid over-engineering and only include the functionality that customers are willing to pay for. Another challenge is to reduce costs in close co-operation with suppliers. This is a complex task because suppliers often have their own goals and are rarely located at the same physical place. Handling these two challenges is the domain of target costing. Emerging first from Japanese companies such as Toyota, Nissan and Olympus, target costing has become a critical element in achieving long-term profitability. Previous research on target costing has been paradoxical because even though it deals with product development, it has not incorporated the complexity of the product development process. More specifically, current models of target costing assume that the product development process can largely be planned and controlled by a single company. For complex multi-technology products, such as airplanes and industrial robots, this is far from true. By drawing on product development theories, and conducting an in-depth case study at ABB Robotics, this thesis explores target costing in the development of complex multi-technology products. The result is a framework that identifies challenges and problems in target costing processes, but also shows that target costing relies on both planning and improvisation to cope with tensions and contradictions in close customer and supplier relationships. / Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan i Stockholm, 2011

During product development, most of the customer value, as well as the cost and the quality of a product are defined. This key role of development in industry has led to an intense search for better ways to develop products, software, services and systems. One development methodology that has received positive attention is Set-Based Concurrent Engineering (SBCE). Some authors claim that SBCE and related practices from Lean Development are four times more productive than traditional development models. Unfortunately, SBCE is also described as hard to implement. This thesis presents the results of a three year research project aimed at implementing and describing the effects of Set-Based Concurrent Engineering in industry. The scope of the research is to use the principles of SBCE as a means to improve the productivity of industrial product development processes and its resulting products. The contribution of this work is a better understanding of Set-Based Concurrent Engineering and a support to implement its principles. The results show that SBCE gives positive effects on many aspects of product development performance and on the resulting products. The improvements are especially dominant on product performance, product cost and the level of innovation Moreover, a comparison between a Set-based decision process and a traditional matrix for design evaluation is presented, showing that these two approaches generate different results. The matrix evaluation promoted the development of new technology and the Set-based process promoted a thorough understanding of the important design parameters of the current designs. Finally, this work presents a structured design process and computer tool for implementing the principles of SBCE. The process was demonstrated by using information from an industrial development project, showing how the proposed process could implement the three principles of SBCE in a traditional Point-based development environment.

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.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:51:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DissAPM.pdf: 1112642 bytes, checksum: 9a209084e16df2ecb1b97bec1a18c0bc (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006-09-29 / Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos / The industry of Agricultural Implements and Machines has had an expressive development in the country, following the expansion of the Brazilian agro-industrial area and focusing in the exportation increase of the agricultural products as alternative to reach a better distributed invoicing throughout the year, being tried to overlap the problems of the internal seasonality. It demands from the national companies a quality improvement of the projects and manufacture of these products, adjusting them to international standards of performance and to the trend of homologation requirements of the new products. This improvement passes for a revision and adequacy of the product development process management in the sector s national companies. This work presents a research about the practices and problems of the management of the process development of the agricultural products from five national companies located in the Sao Paulo state. For the data collecting, it was used an interview script, which was applied to the person in charge of the PPD. It was observed a heterogeneous vision of the purpose of the PPD in the five national companies studied. There are some companies that see the PPD as an essential set of project activity of the product. The others companies, however, face the PPD as a market research of the launching of the new product. Often the activities of the PPD are practical and empirical: researching the physical prototype and specifying the project (using software like CAD). For this reason, the use of supporting tools for the product development contributes for a better quality of the project and for a better management of the product / A indústria de Máquinas e Implementos Agrícolas (MIAs) apresenta grande potencial de crescimento no país, acompanhando a expansão do setor agroindustrial brasileiro e focando o aumento da exportação de seus produtos como alternativa para se atingir um faturamento melhor distribuído ao longo do ano, tentando sobrepor os problemas da sazonalidade interna. Isso exige das empresas nacionais uma melhoria na qualidade, tanto do projeto dos produtos quanto da manufatura destes, adequando-se a padrões de desempenho internacionais e à tendência de exigências de homologação dos novos produtos. Essa melhoria passa por uma revisão e adequação da gestão do processo de desenvolvimento de produto das empresas nacionais do setor. Este trabalho apresenta um levantamento das práticas e problemas da gestão do processo de desenvolvimento de produtos (PDP) em cinco empresas nacionais de grande porte, do setor, localizadas no estado de São Paulo. Para a coleta dos dados utilizou-se um roteiro de entrevistas, que foi aplicado ao responsável pelo PDP, em visitas realizadas às empresas. Observou-se entre as empresas: - heterogeneidade na visão do escopo do PDP, coexistindo empresas que vêem esse processo como um conjunto de atividades essencialmente de projeto do produto, com empresas que compreendem o desenvolvimento de produto como um processo mais amplo que abrange da pesquisa de mercado ao acompanhamento do novo produto após o lançamento; - as atividades de desenvolvimento de produto são essencialmente práticas e empíricas, buscando-se prioritariamente o protótipo físico para em seguida detalhar o projeto; - foco em ferramentas de auxilio ao desenho do protótipo como CAD, e pouca utilização de outras ferramentas de apoio ao desenvolvimento de produto, que podem contribuir para uma melhor qualidade de projeto e manufaturabilidade do produto

Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka vilken hänsyn “fast fashion”- och “functional fashion”-företag tar till det ekologiska perspektivet inom CSR gällande val av material och design under produktutvecklingsprocessen. Studien syftar även till att undersöka hur målsättningarna i CSR-arbetet skiljer sig åt mellan de olika fallföretagen. Metod: Studiens upplägg grundas i en kvalitativ forskningsmetod med en deduktiv ansats. Det empiriska materialet har samlats in genom intervjuer hos företag med personer som besitter kunskap inom CSR, design, material och produktutveckling. Den teoretiska referensramen består av vetenskaplig artiklar och böcker. Slutsats: Slutsatsen i denna studie visar på att CSR är ett komplext begrepp med många definitioner som behöver omdefinieras för att företag tydligt ska förstå dess innebörd. Viljan att arbeta med CSR behöver även komma uppifrån högsta ledningen för att få störst genomslag och en lyckad integrering i samtliga delar av företaget. Designers inverkan på om plagget blir ekologiskt eller inte är av stor grad då de medverkar i produktutvecklingens början. Ett flertal designstrategier kan utläsas för att en produkt ska bli mer ekologisk. Materialval är dessutom kritiskt för att utveckla ekologiska produkter där en framväxt av nya alternativa textilmaterial och mindre skadliga beläggningar har uppkommit. Slutligen anses återvinning vara en framtida lösning för att reducera det textila avfallet, men där teknik och kunskap eftersöks för att kunna genomföras. / Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine what consideration is taken by fast fashion and functional fashion companies into the ecological perspective within CSR regarding the choice of the design and material during the product development process. The study also aims at examining how the CSR activities differ between the various companies. Method: The design of this study is based on a qualitative research method with a deductive approach. The empirical data was collected by interviewing respondents who hold knowledge within CSR, design, materials and product development. The theoretical framework consists of peer reviewed articles and books. Conclusion: The conclusion of this study shows that CSR is a complex term with multiple definitions that needs to be redefined so that companies can get a clear understanding of its meaning. The desire to work with CSR needs to come from top management to ensure a great impact and a successful integration across all departments within the company. The designers have a great impact on whether the garment becomes organic or not because of their involvement in the beginning of the product development process. A number of design strategies are presented on how to make a product more organic. The choice of material is also critical in developing organic products where new alternative materials and less harmful coatings have emerged. Finally, recycling is considered to be a future solution in reducing textile waste, however extended knowledge and technology are sought to succeed. / Företagsekonomi III - Detaljhandel och service management: examensarbete (kandidat)

Produzierende Unternehmen, die traditionelle Produktentwicklungsmethoden mit linearen und rigiden Prozessen nutzen, sind zunehmend weniger in der Lage, den Veränderungen in Märkten und Technologien gerecht zu werden. Der klassische Stage-Gate Prozesses nach Cooper lässt kein adäquates Reagieren auf diese Veränderungen zu, sodass es zu Verzögerungen in der Entwicklung und späten Änderungen am Produkt im weiteren Projektverlauf kommt. Aus diesem Grund werden agile Methoden innerhalb etablierter plangetriebener Ansätze integriert, um durch kurzfristige und wiederkehrende Planungs-aktivitäten und ein iteratives Vorgehen in der Entwicklung eine schnellere Anpassung an mögliche Veränderungen während der Projektdurchführung zu ermöglichen. Die Anwendung agiler Methoden, die aus der Softwareentwicklung entstammen, kann jedoch nicht ohne Anpassungen erfolgen, da sich der Entwicklungsprozess physischer Produkte beispielsweise hinsichtlich der Modularisierung des Gesamtsystems in kleinere Inkremente deutlich von der Vorgehensweise in der Softwareentwicklung unterscheidet. Um die Einführung agiler Methoden unternehmensspezifisch und zweckmäßig gestalten zu können, soll die Basis für einen unternehmensspezifischen Problemlösungsprozess gelegt werden, mit dem Agilität in die Prozesse eingeführt werden kann. Dazu soll herausgefunden werden, inwieweit Entwickler aus der Praxis den Bedarf für eine individuelle Einführung von Agilität sehen. Dazu werden Interviews mit Experten aus Unternehmen geführt, um die Implementierung agiler Methoden im Rahmen der physischen Produktentwicklung in der Praxis zu hinterfragen und zukünftige Forschungspotentiale zu explizieren. Daraus werden Hypothesen hinsichtlich einer individuellen Einführung von Agilität in die Entwicklungsprozesse produzierender Unternehmen abgeleitet und in einer quantitativen Umfrage überprüft. Die Ergebnisse zeigen eindeutig den Bedarf für eine individuelle Einführung von Agilität in den jeweiligen Anwendungsfall.

Zur Realisierung individualisierter Produkte halten agile Arbeitsweisen vermehrt Einzug in Prozesse von produzierenden Unternehmen. Dabei ist die Durchdringung agiler Arbeitsweisen durch die etablierten Prozesse in den Entwicklungsabteilungen produzierender Unternehmen aktuell sehr gering; ein Großteil der Unternehmen beginnt jedoch die punktuelle Einführung agiler Arbeitsweisen in ausgewählten Pilotprojekten. Die Anwendung agiler Arbeitsweisen führt in den Prozessen der Entwicklung physischer Systeme zu neuen Herausforderungen und unbekannten Entwicklungsrisiken, die den Vorteilen von Agilität gegenüberstehen. Deswegen ist die Einführung agiler Vorgehensweisen in die Prozesse der Entwicklung physischer Systeme ein Problemlösungsprozess. Die Art, nach der Agilität für einen Anwendungsfall gestaltet wird und in diesen eingeführt wird muss demnach zum Anwendungsfall passen und ist stets individuell. Um diese Individualität in der Einführung agiler Arbeitsweisen zu ermöglichen wurden in Vorarbeiten bereits 228 Faktoren identifiziert, die Einfluss auf die agilen Arbeitsweisen verschiedener Organisationeinheiten haben. Die gezielte Beeinflussung ausgewählter Einflussfaktoren durch geeignete agile Methoden führt zu einer Anwendungsfall-spezifischen Gestaltung und Einführung agiler Vorgehensweisen und erhöht die Eignung des Ansatzes im Vergleich zu einer Anpassungs-freien Einführung. Im vorliegenden Beitrag wird eine Verknüpfung der Faktoren erarbeitet, um Schlüsselfaktoren abzuleiten. Durch die gezielte Beeinflussung dieser soll die Veränderung durch die Einführung agiler Methoden hinsichtlich ihrer Ausbreitung in den Entwicklungskontext gezielt verstärkt werden. Analog zum Szenario Management werden bezüglich der Faktoren mittels einer Vernetzungsanalyse verschiedene Kennzahlen ermittelt. Basierend auf der Analyse kann die Tragweite der Einführung von agilen Methoden genauer eingeschätzt werden und die zielgerichtete Auswahl von agilen Methoden für die Einführung in die Prozesse der physischen Produktentwicklung unterstützt werden.

Design for Environment (DfE) promotes the systematic consideration of environmental aspects during product design and development. Despite the maturity of concepts and tools in literature, efficient implementation in industries is reported to be low. A need to bridge this gap is identified with studies that look on DfE practices as well as the use and potential of DfE tools. This thesis is part of a research project that investigates DfE practices and the use of tools during vehicle design and development. The aim is to investigate the ways that environmental constraints can be efficiently integrated into product development processes thus assist in improving the environmental performance of products from a life cycle perspective. The scope of the study includes four vehicle manufacturing companies in Sweden. The development and utilization of tools has been also investigated aiming to increase the opportunities for effective use within this product category. Case study methodology, research interviews and literature reviews constitute the research strategy followed in this work. The empirical results presented in this thesis indicated that vehicle manufacturing companies in Sweden are continually working to improve the environmental performance of their products and meet legal and costumer demands. Despite similarities regarding the type of environmental requirements considered, the companies studied have adopted different ways to identify and integrate environmental requirements into their product development process and use DfE tools to different extents. Such variations reflect differences in the success and maturity levels of the DfE practices adopted. A need for increased and more systematic use of tools is identified for all studied companies and especially for analytical tools. Results from the literature review showed that a variety of tools are available that have the potential to support vehicle design processes. However, only a few cover a broad set of aspects identified to be relevant from a vehicle design perspective. For DfE tools to become effective and be used during product development, they need to cover aspects that are relevant for the company and product designers. A need towards the development of tools that assist vehicle or product designers in general, to make informed and comprehensive choices based on a variety of requirements associated to the product, is identified. / Coupling Materials Environmental Analysis - Environmental Effects