"The P-51 Mustang—perhaps the finest piston engine fighter ever built—was designed and put into flight in just a few months. Specifications were finalized on March 15, 1940; the airfoil prototype was complete on September 9; and the aircraft made its maiden flight on October 26. Now that is a lean development process!" —Allen Ward and Durward Sobek, commenting on the development of the P-51 Mustang and its exemplary use of trade-off curves. Shingo Research and Professional Publication Award recipient, 2008 Despite attempts to interpret and apply lean product development techniques, companies still struggle with design quality problems, long lead times, and high development costs. To be successful, lean product development must go beyond techniques, technologies, conventional concurrent engineering methods, standardized engineering work, and heavyweight project managers. Allen Ward showed the way. In a truly groundbreaking first edition of Lean Product and Process Development, Ward delivered -- with passion and penetrating insights that cannot be found elsewhere -- a comprehensive view of lean principles for developing and sustaining product and process development. In the second edition, Durward Sobek, professor of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at Montana State University—and one of Ward’s premier students—edits and reorganizes the original text to make it more accessible and actionable. This new edition builds on the first one by: Adding five in-depth and inspiring case studies. Including insightful new examples and illustrations. Updating concepts and tools based on recent developments in product development. Expanding the discussion around the critical concept of set-based concurrent engineering. Adding a more detailed table of contents and an index to make the book more accessible and user-friendly. The True Purpose of Product Development Ward’s core thesis is that the very aim of the product development process is to create profitable operational value streams, and that the key to doing so predictably, efficiently, and effectively is to create useable knowledge. Creating useable knowledge requires learning, so Ward also creates a basic learning model for development. But Ward not only describes the technical tools needed to make lean product and process development actually work. He also delineates the management system, management behaviors, and mental models needed. In this breakthrough text, Ward: Asks fundamental questions about the purpose and “value added” in product development so you gain a crystal clear understanding of essential issues. Shows you how to find the most common forms of “knowledge waste” that plagues product development. Identifies four “cornerstones” of lean product development gleaned from the practices of successful companies like Toyota and its partners, and explains how they differ from conventional practices. Gives you specific, practical recommendations for establishing your own lean development processes. Melds observations of effective teamwork from his military background, engineering fundamentals from his education and personal experience, design methodology from his research, and theories about management and learning from his study of history and experiences with customers. Changes your thinking forever about product development.

This text presents a set of product development techniques aimed at bringing together the marketing, design, and manufacturing functions of the enterprise. The integrative methods facilitate problem-solving and decision-making.

In this landmark book, Preston Smith attributes the recent declinein innovation to pressure from financial markets that drivesmanagement toward rigid development approaches such as phaseddevelopment processes, Six Sigma, and project office. Theseprocesses have unintentionally (but effectively) made changesduring development more difficult, disruptive, and expensive, whilethe need for change continues at an accelerating pace. Flexible Product Development is a hands-on resource thatprovides the tools and strategies needed to restore flexibility toany organization and remove the obstacles that stand in the way ofresponsive new product development. Preston Smith introducesapproaches that can enhance development process flexibility bycreating and maintaining development options, delaying decisions,and, in general, reducing the cost of change. Step-by-step, heexplains the basics of flexible product development, provides abroad array of flexibility-enhancing tools, and guides the readerin modifying the organization?s values to embrace this new way ofoperating.

Covers pre-project planning, choosing projects that match the strategic objectives of the company, and determining project sequence, measurement, and incentives.

Innovation in product design starts with materials. Developing successful commercial products demands a sound understanding of the materials that go into those products—their uses, their costs, their lifetime performance. However, the valuable knowledge of materials engineers is often not fully leveraged in the creative phase of the product design cycle. Gessinger seeks to bridge this gap that exists in many companies.Written from the bottom-up perspective of the engineer or scientist on a product design team, Materials and Innovative Product Design introduces business, economics and strategic product development to the materials specialist and demystifies materials selection for other members of the design team and manufacturing management. Using case studies from innovative organizations, such as ABB, and successful start-ups, such as NDC, Day4Energy, and Metoxit, Gessinger illustrates how the integration of different engineering and business disciplines can power innovation in the design process. By addressing the real world needs of innovators, this book allows the reader to unlock the potential of the new material types that have been changing the face of product design and deploy an integrated business approach to materials selection and the design process. Allows engineers to develop a fuller understanding of economics and business objectives in order to contribute more effectively to innovative product design Introduces the business opportunities and practical challenges of deploying new material types to design and manufacturing management Illustrates how to harness the power of R&D within the design cycle through case studies of innovative and successful organizations that have brought new materials technologies to known markets and known materials to new markets

Shows you what it takes to develop products that blow your users away—and take market share from your competitors. This book will explain how the principles behind agile product development help designers, developers, architects, and product managers create awesome products; and how to look beyond a shiny user interface to build a great product. Most importantly, this book will give you a shared framework for your product development team to collaborate effectively. Product development involves several key activities—including ideation, discovery, design, development, and delivery—and yet too many companies and innovators focus on just a few of them much to the detriment of the product’s success in the marketplace. As a result we still continue to see high failure rates in new product development, be it inside organizations or startups. Unfortunately, or rather fortunately, these failures are largely avoidable. In the last fifteen years, advances in agile software development, lean product development, human-centered design, design thinking, lean startups and product delivery have helped improve individual aspects of product development. However, not enough guidance has been available to integrate them in the context of the product development life cycle. Until now. Product developer extraordinaire Tathagat Varma in Agile Product Development integrates individual knowledge areas into a fiel d manual for product developers. Organized in the way an idea germinates, sprouts, and grows, the book synthesizes the body of knowledge in a pragmatic way that is more natural to the entire product creation process rather than from individual practices that constitute it. In today’s hyper-innovative world, being first to the market, or delivering feature-loaded products, or even offering the latest technology doesn’t guarantee success anymore. Sure, those elements are all needed in the right measures, but they are not sufficient by themselves. And getting it right couldn’t be more important: Building products that deliver awesome user experiences is the top challenge facing businesses today, especially in a post-Apple world where user experience and design has been elevated to a cult status.

This guidebook gives R & D professionals an in-depth explanation of ways companies are able to achieve substantially higher levels of development productivity; while better aligning product development with strategy through new practices and systems. --