The ability to develop speed or agility in the design process is enhanced through the simultaneous execution of parallel process workflow tasks in a coordinated man- ner. In the CE process, team members from diverse organizational functions are organized into high-performance project teams to facilitate communication and collaboration. In addition, there is an emphasis on developing and focusing on core design competencies rather than trying to do everything in one place or by a single organization. Best-in-class CE practices allow Lean agile design teams to offer a variety of design options and reduce time to market for their organization. The CE process is also called Lean Agile Product Design (LAPD). LAPD is characterized by the development of customer solutions rather than incremental performance over competitors. Along this line of thought, the focus in Lean agile product devel- opment is on satisfying customer requirements rather than specifications. Close customer relationships are critical to effective execution of LAPD. In addition, the emphasis of CE is on doing the right things and doing them well, i.e., effectiveness and efficiency of the design process.
Important enabling characteristics that help organizations compete in today’s world include obtaining accurate VOC information to ensure customers receive the features they need and value. In parallel, an organization must also ensure it is making product or service design a core competency while outsourcing noncore competencies to organizations that flawlessly execute design functions as part of their own core competency. In this context, the VOC implies the development of products and services from a global perspective, if it is applicable. Finally, it is important to use all the available tools and methods to design a product or service so it meets its intended design functions throughout its useful life cycle.
In Figure 4.2, a qualitative representation of the rework aspect of a new product or service design is shown. Best-in-class organizations ensure the design process has the necessary resources and is executed using state-of-the-art tools and methods, such as CE, to achieve the ten key design objectives listed in Table 4.3. If an organi- zation can identify and eliminate design flaws during the concept and design phases of a new product or service, then the overall life cycle costs will be lower than if the design is released and its flaws are found during commercialization by external customers. Various studies have been conducted on the cumulative failure costs of new designs. It is commonly agreed that there is a cost multiplier effect when going from the design to production phases and on to the customer. This concept implies that if a design flaw is caught by an external customer and causes problems such as
Designing for Customer Value Using DFSS n 91
product returns or high warranty costs, the resultant required changes to the design and their impact on production operations may result in significant cost increases, which may exceed the original per unit target cost of the design.
Another important aspect of a new product or service is that the project cost depends on five major factors (Table 4.4): R&D cycle time, the degree of techno- logical risk associated with the new product or service design, the available capital and labor resources, the types and magnitude of the performance gaps that must be closed to commercialize the new product or service, and the technology available to produce the product or service. Relative to R&D cycle time, the longer the cycle time of the R&D design phase, the longer it will take to release the new design to the marketplace. This may have a major negative impact on an organization. In some industries the first organization to market receives approximately 70 percent of the market share for the product’s entire life cycle. In these industries, R&D
C ha ng es to O rig inal D esig n ( Fa ilu re s) Product Release Design Optimized Before
Release to Operations
Higher Failure Rates
Time
figure 4.2 reducing engineering changes (rework).
Prioritization Ranking 1 2 4 3 CTQ
Reduce Cycle Time Improve Reliability Easy to Maintain Easy Upgrade Installation
Total Successful Paired Rankings 3 2 0 1 6 Add “1” 4 3 1 2 10 Success Fraction 0.4 0.3 0.1 0.2 1.0 figure 4.3 Paired comparison prioritization method.
cycle time can have a dramatic impact on the new design’s profitability. Techno- logical risk, the second factor, implies the more that R&D must be involved in the successful commercialization of a new product or service, the higher the risk to the project because components of the new design must be invented prior to finalization of the optimum design alternative. In contrast, design projects that do not require R&D have less risk because design changes are applications of known technology or simple modifications and extensions to current products or services. These situations pose little technological risk to an organization. However, a new design may pose tremendous risk to an organization if it is positioned at the lead- ing edge of technology. It is extremely important that an organization accurately estimate a design project’s technological risk level and its impact on a design proj- ect, including its schedule and cost. Poor project planning or long cycle times can greatly increase the expenses of a design project due to increases in material, labor, and tooling costs, as well capital expenditures. As mentioned earlier, market share and revenue may also be adversely impacted by poor project planning. Available capital and labor resources must also be carefully considered by an organization. The fourth factor is related to closing performance gaps identified through the VOC using the new product or service design. In some projects, the required per- formance targets may exceed anything the organization has accomplished during previous design iterations. Large performance gaps relative to current organiza- tional competencies will also increase the risk that these gaps cannot be closed by the CE team. Finally, if technology is not available to reliably and cost-effectively design and produce a new product or service, then a design project will fail, or if executed, profitability throughout the product or service’s life cycle will be lower than the original targets.
table 4.4 major factors in new design Costs Current
Technology
Pushing
State of the Art Not Feasible
1. R&D cycle time Cycle time targets met
Some targets not met
Project failure 2. Technology risk Low risk Some technology
not available
Too high 3. Available capital
and labor resources
Cost targets met
Over budget Complete breakdown in cost projections 4. Performance gaps No gaps Some gaps Significant 5. Available technology Commercial technology New technology designed Not available
Designing for Customer Value Using DFSS n 93
Ce benefits
The benefits from using CE have been well documented by its practitioners over the past 20 years. Ten key benefits are listed in Table 4.5. Improved communication is an obvious benefit from bringing together cross-disciplinary teams to focus on new product development. This results in fewer misunderstandings among organi- zational functions. The result is a shorter cycle time to develop and commercialize new products or services. Depending on the organization, reductions in product development cycle time of between 5 and 50 percent are common. In addition to a reduction in project cycle time, the number of indirect labor hours required to complete a project is often at least 20 percent less than for projects not managed using CE. There are also fewer mistakes and design changes once the new design is transferred to production operations. CE also helps reduce tooling and other capital expenditures because major tooling modifications are not usually necessary during the production phase in CE environments. Finally, sharing of best practices and knowledge leveraging are enhanced through the CE project management process.
ten key Steps to implement Ce
Although there are many sources of information regarding how to create and effec- tively deploy CE teams, several important steps must be taken to enable your orga- nization to begin a CE deployment process. In Table 4.6, ten such steps are listed. The first step is to create the initial CE team to work on a new product or service
table 4.5 10 key Concurrent engineering benefits
1. Improved communication
2. Fewer misunderstandings among organizational functions 3. Reduced cycle time to commercialize new products or services 4. Increasing productivity of CE team members, resulting in
significant reductions in required project indirect labor hours 5. Reduced tooling and other capital expenditures
6. Fewer mistakes and higher quality in the design phase 7. Fewer engineering changes after the design phase 8. Greater organizational competitiveness
9. Best-practice sharing and leveraging new knowledge 10. Improved organizational profitability
design. If this is an organization’s first CE project, it would be a good idea to retain consultants or send people to seminars to understand the myriad work tasks required to kick off the CE process in your organization. The CE team should also be highly facilitated to ensure proper team meeting practices are followed through- out the design project. The CE team should also create a project charter describ- ing its assigned work plan. Project charters will be discussed in Chapter 7, and an example is shown in Figure 7.9. The project charter should contain the specific goals and objectives for the new design as well as each of its subsystems, includ- ing their required functions, dimensions, and aesthetic features. In addition, the team should build a very detailed Gantt chart to schedule project work tasks and show their interrelationships, time duration, and required resources. Project man- agement is discussed in Chapter 18, and an example of a Gantt chart is shown in Figure 18.4. This project planning process is usually best done using project man- agement software, such as Excel-based templates or Microsoft Project, to facilitate the flow of design information and changes in project status quickly across your organization. Also, works tasks and their required resources can be easily recalcu- lated dynamically by the project management software as conditions change dur- ing the project. The CE team should also assign the required project activities and their associated work tasks based on team member expertise.
Once the CE team has been organized and begins to plan its work, a top prior- ity should be development of product and process data based on VOC information.
table 4.6 10 key Steps to implement Ce
1. Create a multidisciplinary CE team. 2. Develop a detailed project plan.
3. Assign project tasks based on project plan.
4. Develop product and process data based on VOC information. 5. Develop design goals, preliminary BOM, preliminary process
flowchart, and preliminary list of special characteristics. 6. Evaluate required technology to create and manufacture the
product design.
7. Develop the product assurance plan with operations and quality assurance.
8. Validate the new product design through testing and evaluation under controlled conditions (pilot tests). 9. Scale up for product commercialization.
Designing for Customer Value Using DFSS n 95
This information will enable the CE team to identify performance gaps in the current design relative to the VOC. Identification of performance gaps will enable the CE team to modify the current design or develop entirely new subsystems to meet customer requirements. In addition to this discovery process, the CE team develops design goals and objectives that are incorporated into the project’s Gantt chart to update the project schedule. Additional information required by the CE includes creating a preliminary bill of material (BOM), process flowcharts, and a list of special characteristics and unique features of the new product or service design based on VOC information. Using this information, the CE team evaluates the technology required to create and produce the new product or service design. Eventually, the various design alternatives are tested and evaluated until a final optimized design has been created that blends the best characteristics of all design alternatives developed during the design project.
In parallel, operations will be developing a new process that will produce the product or service at high quality levels to achieve all target costs, cycle time, qual- ity, and other requirements. Quality assurance also develops, in parallel, the quality control plan for the new product or service. As part of this process, quality assur- ance works with other organizational functions to develop supporting documenta- tion for the design project. This supporting documentation includes inspection, audit, and similar procedures that reflect the VOC. Finally, as the final design itera- tion is validated through testing and evaluation under controlled conditions (pilot tests), the new product or service is scaled up for commercialization. Throughout the CE process the design team incorporates lessons learned and best practices into their project work.