![]() Oct 24, 2007 - These models are used to explore several approaches for design process. Into concurrent engineering, where the manufacturing process is. Concurrent activity and identify conflicts more efficiently, potentially resulting in a systems model that will continue to be used throughout the project lifecycle. Performing systems engineering using such a system model is the definition of model-based systems engineering. Photo by: AKS Concurrent engineering is a method by which several teams within an organization work simultaneously to develop new products and services. By engaging in multiple aspects of development concurrently, the amount of time involved in getting a new product to the market is decreased significantly. In markets where customers value time compression, fast-cycle developers have a distinct advantage. Additionally, in many high-technology areas such as electronics and telecommunications, product-technology performance is continuously increasing and price levels are dropping almost daily. In such areas, a firm's ability to sustain its competitive edge largely depends on the timely introduction of new or improved products and technologies. More and more, the time parameter makes the difference between mere survival and substantial profit generation. Concurrent engineering is a key method for meeting this need of shortening a new product's time-to-market. SEQUENTIAL NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT In the past, commercial success was practically guaranteed for companies that could design, develop, and manufacture high-quality products that satisfied real needs at competitive prices. However, beginning in the early 1990s this traditional formula radically changed as time-to-market became a vital component of commercial success. Studies have demonstrated that being a few months late to market is much worse than having a 50 percent cost overrun when these overruns are related to financial performance over the lifecycle of a new product or service. In other words, time has become a key driver of competitive success, from design and development to the actual launch of a new product or service. Traditional project planning and execution has been marked by the definition of objectives and mile-stones. These goals are met through a progression of networked activities, some of which must be performed sequentially, others of which may be conducted in parallel. Planning techniques such as Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT), Graphical Evaluation and Review Technique (GERT), and Critical Path Method (CPM) have been used to support this sequencing of tasks and activities. However, until the beginning of the 1990s time compression was not a major issue in the new product development environment. In the planning and scheduling of tasks and activities, any time compression concerns were only implicitly present. CONCURRENT NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT Because time has become a competitive weapon, time pressures have become central to the project-based new product development organization. These pressures have led to the explicit understanding that time compression is a driver of project (and subsequent business) performance. As a consequence, methods, techniques, and organizational approaches have been designed and developed that allow for time compression needs to be handled in a proper manner. All time-centered approaches have one principle in common: they attempt to maximize the number of major design or development tasks that are performed concurrently, thus the concept of concurrent engineering. In a concurrent engineering environment, even if certain tasks cannot be completely executed at the same time, designers and developers are encouraged to achieve maximum overlap between otherwise sequential activities. In other words, concurrent engineering aims at achieving throughput time reductions by planning and executing design and development activities in parallel, or by striving for maximum overlap between activities that cannot be completely executed in parallel (for example, when one of the tasks or activities requires information to be partially generated during a previous task or activity). Therefore, concurrent engineering is based on the premise that the parallel execution of major design components will decrease the throughput time of projects, thus reducing the time-to-market for new products and services. For example, applying concepts of parallelism during the Boeing 777 transport design resulted in a time compression of 1.5 years as compared to its predecessor, the Boeing 767. Concurrent engineering allowed the Boeing Company to introduce the new airplane in time to limit the advantage of its competitor, Airbus Industrie. Twenty two years later Saamia Siddiqui (Rani Mukerji), a Pakistani human rights lawyer on her first case, finds herself face to face with an ageing Veer Pratap Singh. And no one knows why. Veer saves her life and his life is never the same again. Veer zaara download. He has languished in a Pakistan jail cell for 22 years and has not spoken to anyone all these years. Her mission is to discover the truth about Veer and see to it that justice is served. Many companies have benefited from this same approach. Firms like Intel and Canon have been among the leaders in shortening their product development cycles through the implementation of concurrent engineering. However, this trend has not been limited to individual companies; complete industry sectors also have implemented concurrent engineering principles. ![]() At the beginning of the 1990s, the automotive industry pioneered many of the concurrent engineering concepts and their implementation. By early 2000s, many industries, including electronics and pharmaceuticals, were behaving in much the same manner. IMPLEMENTING CONCURRENT ENGINEERING In a concurrent engineering environment, teams of experts from different disciplines are formally encouraged to work together to ensure that design progresses smoothly and that all participants share the same, current information. The project and problem-solving methods and the technologies utilized make up the essential elements through which parallelism in new product design and development can be achieved. Following is a discussion of how each of these elements contributes to concurrent engineering implementation. PROJECT METHODS. Project methods based on team-work, milestone management, and target-oriented work definition and follow-up are paramount. Concurrent Engineering Development ModelThese methods also must be supported by appropriate senior management commitment and incentive systems. Each team is granted a large degree of autonomy to solve design problems where and when they occur, without much hierarchical intervention. However management must ensure that the transfer of information between different activities or tasks is smooth and transparent. Also, the means of experimentation must allow the experts involved to rule out differences in interpretation on the functional and technical design parameters.
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