โ Scribed by P.M. Braiden; N. Alderman; A.T. Thwaites
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
This paper descrtbes a programme of research into product development and design in engineering, and Its interface with manufacturing, an area which 1s currently of considerable mterest for companies under increasing pressure to reduce lead time whilst retaimng product range and variety.
The objective of this research IS to develop procedures to enable companies to evaluate the organisatron of the design function within the product development process, and to Identify best practtce princtples for defined company types. The research to date has concentrated on the mechanical engineermg sector, with a variety of companies ranging from engineer/make-to-order to make-to-stock activities. The research has been undertaken by an interdisciplinary team involving engineers and socral scientists. The project mvolves detailed case studies of companies through structured intervtews with key participants m the product design and development process. The relattonship between this group and other company functtons such as marketmg, business strategy. and manufacturing is also being explored. These detatled studies in the participating companies are bemg compared to identify both generic and specific features whtch may then be related to company charactertsttcs.
The paper describes the nature of these mvestigattons, and presents some prehmmary findmgs and key issues that are arismg.
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