This second book in the BEST (the Built Environment Series of Textbooks) series explores the fundamental generators and contextual issues - philosophical, physical and political - that influence built environments.

New technology development starts with the generation of an idea. It ends with that idea's commercial application: a new product or a new service. In Between is a complex sequence of stages demanding specialized management methods. With this in depth survey, R&D, marketing, and engineering managers can learn from the foremost experts about the most successful, proven practices and techniques-for managing all the stages of new technology development.

This volume aims to pave the way to a greater understanding of the information system development process. Traditionally, information systems have been perceived as a slice of real world history. This has led to a strong emphasis on the development of conceptual models, the requirements specifications of which can readily be expressed. However, the route to such an expression, or the process of development, has not received any substantial attention.It is now agreed that a study of the development process affords notable benefits. Firstly, it helps to create an understanding of what a realistic development process is and how it proceeds from an initial specification to its acceptable representation. Secondly, the nature of guidance that can be provided by the next generation of CASE tools can be substantially improved. It can be expected that these tools will cease to be mere drafting aids and consistency checking programs. Instead it is likely that they will provide a procreative environment in which the development engineer will play an important role. This tool/user symbiosis should have a beneficial impact on both the productivity of the developer and on the quality of the product.In bringing together researchers and practitioners from such diverse areas as AI, Software Engineering, Decision Support and Information Systems, it is hoped this publication will take the quest to comprehend information system development processes a significant step forwards.

The ability to bring new and innovative products to market rapidly is the prime critical competence for any successful consumer-driven company. All industries, especially automotive, are slashing product development lead times in the current hyper-competitive marketplace. This book is the first to thoroughly examine and analyze the truly effective product development methodology that has made Toyota the most forward-thinking company in the automotive industry. Winner of the 2007 Shingo Prize For Excellence In Manufacturing Research! In The Toyota Product Development System: Integrating People, Process, and Technology, James Morgan and Jeffrey Liker compare and contrast the world-class product development process of Toyota with that of a U.S. competitor. They use extensive examples from Toyota and the U.S. competitor to demonstrate value stream mapping as an extraordinarily powerful tool for continuous improvement. Through examples and case studies, this book illustrates specific techniques and proven practices for dealing with challenges associated with product development, such as synchronizing multiple disciplines, multiple function workload leveling, compound process variation, effective technology integration, and knowledge management. Readers of this book can focus on optimizing the entire product development value stream rather than focus on a specific tool or technology for local improvements.

In this book, the story of how IKEA and its paper producers struggled to solve the problem of creating environmentally friendly paper constitutes the foundation of a discussion of technological development. Through a detailed analysis of the case-study, the authors demonstrate the necessity of including social, technological and economical factors when dealing with such issues. Focusing on the interactive aspects of commercial and technological development, they examine how new solutions are developed and shaped in relation to the different companies and organizations involved. They investigate resources in terms of how they are related and built into other resources through historical and contemporary interaction processes. Their overall emphasis is on dealing with the issue of how different, closely and distantly related companies and organizations are affected when resources are developed.

Science and Technology in Development Planning: Science, Technology and Global Problems covers the proceedings of the Symposium on Science and Technology Development Planning. The book presents several papers that tackle one of the agendas of the symposium, intended to convey to the reader the main lines of thought brought to the symposium and to illustrate various approaches. The 17 chapters of the text are organized into five parts, according to what agenda they cover. The first part tackles the interaction between science and technology and long-range development goals and strategies, while the second part deals with the science and technology in sectoral planning. Part III covers the incorporation of science and technology in the techniques of development planning; Part IV discusses the planning of science and technology in the development process. The last part talks about international cooperation. The book will be of great interest to readers cornered with the progress of science and how it will influence the world.