This research builds on three projects that aim to investigate how knowledge transfer takes place in new product development in the automotive industry. The study seeks to picture how product development teams frame and shape new product knowledge, how they interpret such knowledge, and how they apply knowledge to the product development process. From that perspective, product development activities can be seen as transactions that are integrated into an overall system of identifying, assessing, collecting and combining knowledge. Results of my research so far reveal that there are many factors that affect the successful management of knowledge transfer in new product development projects. Based on my first two projects, using the case study approach, it is evident that for successful knowledge transfer to occur, there is a need to distinguish between design knowledge that is embedded in the tacit knowledge domain and that embedded in the or explicit design knowledge domain. The results of project three, using a survey questionnaire approach, provide a powerful demonstration, that knowledge integration, combination and creation in product development need intensive interaction and collaboration. The enormous importance of interaction and collaboration to integrate and combine knowledge has its origin in the nature of design knowledge. For example engineers produced in the survey a 82 % rate of agreement with the statement that they use mainly knowledge that comes from their past work experience as product developers, in order to solve complex design tasks. The underlying assumption of this finding is, that engineers are therefore mostly forced to transfer tacit design knowledge to solve complex design tasks. The research showed that a remarkable under-performance exists in knowledge identification and knowledge articulation in new product development in the automotive industry. In vehicle development, non-routine tasks are highly complex. This requires team members to have an understanding of the complete product system architecture. To create such an understanding, engineers need to identify and articulate knowledge. These activities can be seen as a pre-knowledge creation. The result is a shared product knowledge base, which makes it possible for people engaged in the vehicle development process to use different kinds of knowledge to capture and link new technologies into innovative products. This may require a cultural shift by vehicle manufacturers in terms of how they steer and allocate resources to future vehicle development programmes. Building on four years engagement with knowledge transfer research, I conclude that organisations in the automotive sector still rely on methods and processes that were successful in the past and strictly directed at exploiting tangible assets. To integrate preknowledge creation, as a new found discipline in product development projects creates an enormous potential to integrate and combine knowledge in an efficient way for future product development projects.

The master degree thesis project, at Halmstad University, was made in cooperation with Hunter Fan, one of the leading fan companies on the American market. Hunter Fan has expressed a desire to become more successful in Europe which gave birth to this assignment. Hunter Fan wanted the team to adapt Hunter’s ceiling fan technology to a ceiling fan for the Scandinavian market. The design team put together a tailor made design process based on knowledge achieved from lectures and literature studies, and experience from working with the design process, to best accomplish the assignment. The problem was to re-design a ceiling fan but the team attacked the problem like; how to circulate the air in a room to be able to get a more innovative and visionary result. The team started off with a short initial brainstorming before they moved into the analysis and research phase, where they performed a thorough examination about the company, the market, the product, the user, lighting, trends etc. A survey was composed for both people who own a ceiling fan and people who does not. Most survey answers expressed that the light function was a lot more used than the fan function. They bought the fan for its functionality but did not think that their fan was particularly aesthetical attractive. Sketching and idea generation were a great part of the project. A huge amount of ideas and concepts were evaluated with several methods and refined to finally result in one concept. The final conceptual ceiling fan is really slimmed down and highly inspired by Scandinavian design. The final design includes functions, aesthetically aspects, construction issues, light technologies etc. The concept also includes a vision for the control system and the logotype for marketing the ceiling fan in Scandinavia.

This degree project is on 15 university points which correspond to 10 weeks full time studies. The work has been carried out during autumn term 2007 and spring term 2008. This degree project has been carried out with the cooperation of Etac Supply Center AB who is located in Anderstorp. It’s been Etac interest to develop a solution which helps the user of the wheelchair over obstacles. My task has been to develop a concept that solves the problem according to the requirement specification. In the rapport the reader can follow the development from an idea to a finished concept. The biggest feature in the work has been to develop a new suggestion in consultation with Etac. The final solution has been dimensioned after the forces that arise at impact. The finished solution has then been manufactured as a full scaled model.

In the increasingly competitive business environment reduced project cost, improved time-to-market, better quality products, and customer involvement are becoming the key success factors for any product development process. Many organisations within different industries are now focusing on Concurrent Engineering (CE) to bring improvements to their product development process in order to keep pace with the competitive environment. The adoption of CE has shown positive effects on project quality, cost, lead time, schedule, and customer satisfaction. For a targeted and effective implementation, it is recommended to carry out a readiness assessment of an organisation prior to the adoption of CE. This thesis discusses the adoption of CE within the construction industry, reviews existing CE readinessa ssessmentto ols used in other industry sectors,a nd assessesth eir applicability to construction. It then presentsa new developedC E readinessa ssessmentto ol for construction called the 'BEACON Model', its associated questionnaire, and an associated software. Description and results of CE readiness assessment case studies, which were conducted within five sectors of the construction industry, are then presented. At the end of the thesis, CE implementation strategiesa nd considerationsa re presentedb asedo n the assessmenrte sults, followed by conclusions, recommendations and future work. The most important conclusion, which could be drawn from the research, is that the construction industry as a whole still needs improvements in most of the critical areas identified by the BEACON Model in order to adopt CE effectively.

This thesis investigates relationships between external linkages and new product innovativenessf ocusing particularly on the perspectiveo f a knowledge-enabledv iew of new product development. Building on organisational learning theory and knowledge-basedth eorieso f inter-firm collaboration,t his thesis arguest hat the effects of external linkages on new product innovativeness vary and these are largely contingent upon a finn's absorptive capacity. The finn's level of absorptive capacity determines how effectively knowledge from external collaborators relevant to the new product project is absorbed, resulting in the creation of new knowledge that the finn can apply for its own commercial use. It considers why some firms are more effective than others at absorbing new product related knowledge from external collaborators to facilitate more innovative product development. Based on an empirical study of 116 new product development projects in Taiwanese Information Technology (IT) firms, the thesis assesses the relative importance of external linkages in increasing new product innovativeness. The results showt hat the impacto f horizontall inks (that is, collaborationw ith otherc ompanies, research institutes, and universities) on gains in new product related knowledge is greater than that of vertical linkages (that is, supplier and customer involvement). Compared to links with customers, universities, and research institutes, corporate linkages play the most prominent and consistent role in enhancing the accumulation of new product related knowledge. This knowledge namely pertains to predevelopmenat ssessmentR, &D, manufacturinga nd marketing. The thesis confirms that the firm's absorptive capacity positively affects its gains in new product related knowledge. In addition, absorptive capacity's interactions with corporate linkages have significant, positive effects on gains in new product related knowledge. However such interaction effects were not observed for the other external linkages, with exception of industry-based research institute linkage. Moreover, the results confinn that the positive impacts of absorptive capacity, corporation linkages, and supplier linkages on new product innovativeness are mediated by the extent of new product related knowledge gained. This thesis bridges the gap between theories of organisational absorptive capacity and the effective generation of new products. It contributes to our understanding of the role of a firm's absorptive capacity in NPD research. It examines this issue from a knowledge-enabled view of new product development. The findings will assist managers to more effectively formulate NPD strategy by incorporating firms' internal learning capacity with the complementary knowledge and technology that external collaborators can provide.

Diss. Linköping : Univ., 2000.

Diss. Linköping : Univ., 2003. / Härtill 5 uppsatser.

In this report the eight steps in systems engineering process have been followed in order to develop a student bicycle. To successfully make a student bicycle needs and preferences had to be retrieved from the students. This has been done with an online survey. The chosen concept, the Z-frame bicycle includes a unique frame, side kickstand, separate luggage carrier, integrated front light, back light mounted on the luggage carrier, an integrated chain lock, steer lock and a visible serial code on the frame. From a reliability allocation table it is estimated that the first failure that needs maintenance will occur after 226,2 hours of usage. The price of the bicycle is estimated on €189,54 (about 1600 SEK), which is within the requirements. Simulating forces on the frames in SolidWorks showed that the frames are capable of handling the weight and forces that the student produces on the bicycle. Finally the steps that need to be fulfilled to make a working prototype are displayed in a Gantt-chart. The resulted conceptual student bicycle is a good representation of what a student needs and prefers in a bicycle.

The research was conducted to determine what the success factors for new product development and commercialization were for a selected sample of SMEs in South Africa. Academic literature on success factors for New Product Development and commercialization, as well as small and medium businesseswere reviewed. The review of the literature provided the theoretical framework for 21 success factors relevant to the study. These success factors were further extrapolated to 36 success factors and used as a basis for determining South African SME relevance. The findings were consistent with the literature review and point to several success factors that South African SMEs deem critical to success of new product development. In conclusion, South African SMEs confirm the importance of the success factors as presented in the literature. The ranking by importance of these success factors highlight the specific value that South African SMEs place on these success factors. These need further in-depth research.

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