Fast, lean, flexible product development

While almost all manufacturing managers and engineers working on the factory floor will be familiar with the principles of 'lean manufacturing', not many design engineers will have heard of, or more importantly, actually introduced 'lean product development' (LPD) to the business. LPD is a relatively new term that's now being touted around engineering circles - especially those manufacturing companies that consider themselves innovative or market leaders. The methodology refers to the elimination of 'waste' in the product development process, by focussing specifically on reducing queues or waiting times in the process. LPD was the theme of a design conference held recently at the Heritage Motor Museum in Gaydon, organised by design training company Smallpeice Enterprises. The keynote speaker, Don Reinertsen, is a lean product development guru, who has been spreading the word for more than 10 years on the subject. He explained in his speech to more than 200 delegates that there was "much misunderstanding" when it came to implementing lean product development. "Many engineers who are familiar with lean manufacturing, try to take those same principles into the design office, but it just doesn't work. They think it's simply a case of walking around the design office saying things like 'That Xerox machine over there is being under-utilised'. But LPD isn't about that at all." He went on to explain that LPD is about reducing queues in the product development process. He said that design engineers need to start considering the effects on the company's overall profit if a design project overruns by four weeks. "In manufacturing, we know where the start and the finish of the process is - it's sequential and is based on physical objects being produced and moved around the shop floor. But in design and development, we use things like value stream mapping, which isn't really correct because we're not using physical objects. You have to use network-based models instead. "In manufacturing, 100% of the requirements are also known before you begin. In product development, you're lucky if it's 50%. "Therefore, decision making cannot be made at the start of the development process, it must come during the process." And he made another key point here related to inefficiencies in product development. "Too many design engineers will fill up useful time if they are due to complete a task early. If, for example, your design engineer is performing some FEA on a component and you, as the design manager, have allotted five days for this work. What happens if the engineer is due to complete the work in three days? Does he or she then pass the work on to the next stage in the design process? Probably not. They're more likely to do some more FEA and refine the model further. It's just human nature." The audience at Gaydon comprised around 200 delegates (mainly technical directors, engineering directors, design managers and senior design engineers) from a range of manufacturing sectors, including automotive; aerospace and defence; pneumatics; medical devices; food and beverage manufacturers; electrical assemblies; sensors; injection moulders; fluid handling; and bearings manufacturers. Companies attending included the likes of BAE Systems, Sterling Hydraulics, Renishaw, Robert Bosch, Siemens, Smiths Aerospace, Kraft Foods, Weetabix, Heinz, Parker Hannifin, Gillette UK, CompAir, IMI Norgren, BOC Edwards, BMW, Bentley Motors, ALSTOM Power and BP Technology Centre. Reinertsen's contribution to the field of product development is recognised globally. In 1983, he wrote a landmark article that first quantified the value of development speed. This article has been cited in the frequently quoted McKinsey study that indicated: "six months' delay can be worth 33 per cent of lifecycle profits". He also coined the phrase "fuzzy front end" in 1983 and began applying world class manufacturing techniques in product development in 1985. Reinertsen has also written two books which are both 'must-reads' for design managers and technical directors. 'Managing the Design Factory' and 'Developing products in half the time' are both recognised internationally as powerful and thoughtful guides as to how manufacturing thinking and techniques can be applied successfully to product development. Reinertsen's message to the audience was clear: LPD can help companies simultaneously improve design and development cycle times, efficiency and quality; LPD is very different from lean manufacturing; queues in product development increase cycle time, overheads, risk and defects; and batch size is the cheapest method of reducing queues. For more information and articles by Don Reinertsen go to www.reinertsen.co.uk