The traditional engineering

Introduction

Sequential product development processes have long been associated with cost overruns, delayed time-to-market, and late-stage design failures that are expensive to correct once manufacturing has already begun. Traditional engineering relies mainly on a sequential procedure wherein the various tasks involved in the design and manufacturing of a product are performed in a pre defined and set order. This leads to certain drawbacks wherein there is a loss of flexibility in the entire process and this may also lead to severe alterations or even scrap in the later stages of the product development life cycle. Researchers have documented that errors detected in the production phase can cost up to 100 times more to resolve than equivalent mistakes identified during the initial design stage, which makes early integration of cross-functional expertise a matter of significant economic consequence (Hicks et al., 2002).

Traditionally, the product design has been considered as a cycle of PDCA (plan-do-check-act). However, the advent of Concurrent engineering, which focuses on working interactively between the various processes in the product development, is relatively new. It is a relatively recent process which employs cross functional cooperation to facilitate the creation of products which are cheaper, better and have a reduced time to market. It is not an isolated concept and encompasses almost all the functions like engineering, designing, support, marketing, accounting, and others. Customer satisfaction is a key factor behind this method. Industry adoption of concurrent engineering principles has accelerated considerably since the early 2000s, driven by competitive pressure to compress development timelines while simultaneously raising quality standards (ElMaraghy, 2012).

The basic premise for concurrent engineering revolves around two concepts. The first is that the entire product life cycle needs to be taken into consideration in the initial stage of the cycle. This would include functionality, producitibility, assembly, testability, maintenance issues, environmental impact and finally disposal and recycling.

The second concept talks about the concurrency of the various functions. This flexibility is of immense importance to the success of the process given the fact that it allows for error correction and redesigns to be incorporated in the early design phase without having an adverse effect on the costs, efforts and timelines of the project. In effect, this improves the productivity, the product quality and offers substantial cost benefits. Digital tools such as parametric CAD systems and shared product lifecycle management (PLM) platforms have significantly enhanced teams’ ability to execute concurrent workflows, enabling real-time updates to propagate across disciplines without manual handoffs (ElMaraghy, 2012).

In a concurrent engineering process, there is no freezing of a particular task and so moving back is not a constraint. It allows design and analysis to take place at the same time and focuses on the collaboration between the teams. The teams are multidisciplinary in approach and composition and allow the employees flexibility to work collaboratively on the various aspects of the project through the life stage of the same.

The need for Concurrent Engineering is especially high in today’s world. Businesses must be able to react to the changing market needs rapidly, effectively and responsively. They must be able to reduce their time to market and adapt to the changing environments faster than competitors. Decisions must be made quickly and they must be done right the first time out. Corporations can no longer waste time repeating tasks, which increases the time it takes to bring new products to market. Therefore, concurrent engineering has emerged as way of bringing rapid solutions to product design and development process.

Concurrent Engineering has many advantages and provides benefits such as a reduction in the product development time and the time to market, reduced design rework, reduced product development cost and improved integration in the teams through efficient and effective communications. There are many companies which employ the Concurrent Engineering techniques in the product development life cycle. These firms have shown a significant increase in overall quality, 30-40% reduction in project times and costs, and around 60-80% reductions in design changes after release.

However, there also are times and situations wherein concurrent engineering is not preferred. Some of these can be as stated under:

1. Concurrent engineering practices are not favoured in case of simple products or in cases where there is only an incremental improvement in margin by the application of the technique.
2. When implementing the Concurrent engineering involves major changes in the company culture and also leads to a significant administrative and/or communication overhead. These are the cases where it becomes difficult to implement the process in the teams.

In such cases, unnecessarily and forcibly applying these concepts may not yield advantages. Rather, it may prove to be an unsuccessful approach on the part of the management. This emphasises on the fact that it is very necessary to meet certain pre-requisite conditions in order for the concurrent engineering process to give the desired results. In absence of these, there may be confusions and inefficient product development. Organizational readiness assessments conducted before initiating concurrent engineering adoption consistently reveal that cultural resistance and inadequate information-sharing infrastructure are the two most frequently cited barriers to successful implementation (Hicks et al., 2002).

There are a few measures which companies may initially take in order to be successful with Concurrent Engineering, like:

• Benchmarking: The company should keep a fair check of itself with respect to their best competitors
• Development of metrics: Proper metrics need to be developed to measure the various parameters to see if right course is being taken
• Identification of Potential Performance Improvements and Targets: This would help in the continuous improvement and reality check.
• Development of a clear Vision of the future environment: This would ensure that actions are taken while keeping in mind the long term goals of the organization.
• Getting top management support: This becomes very important as a lot depends upon the level of support and confidence shown by the top management.
• Getting cross-functional endorsement: Integrated functionalities and concurrent processing lie at the core of Concurrent Engineering.
• Developing a clear Strategy to attain the envisioned environment: Without a clear formulation of strategy, it is very difficult to achieve the goals.
• Developing a detailed implementation plan: Success of Concurrent Engineering would also depend upon how clearly the implementation plan is made.

History

Concurrent Engineering has been known by various names over the years and across locations. It is known as the iterative development method (or Integrated Product Development, IPD) as it allows for the correction and alteration in the design and other processes through iterations. Continuous feedback mechanism is employed to discover any discrepancy or fault in the model. The rationale behind it is that the sooner the errors are identified, the lesser effort, time and cost is incurred to correct them. The term “Simultaneous Engineering” has been used since the decade of 1990s. It was based on the idea that the life cycle of the new product must fit in with the pre-existing product program lifecycles.

It was in the December 1988 report ‘The Role of Concurrent Engineering in Weapons System Acquisition’ by the Institute for Defense Analysis (IDA) that the term Concurrent Engineering was formally defined. This approach is intended to cause the developers, from the outset, to consider all elements of the product life cycle from conception through disposal, including quality, cost, schedule, and user requirements.

In early designs and product development, there was a division of labour among individuals who specialized in various functions. There was little opportunity for interaction between the various departments and functionalities which often lead to confusions and certain discrepancies between the work done. With an increasing level of competition, the role of new manufacturing process and the need to reduce development lead time, concurrent engineering has become more popular.

Process

Concurrent engineering is a workflow that relies on parallel processing by performing multiple tasks simultaneously instead of carrying out the various tasks in sequence as has been the traditional workflow. Concurrent engineering is not just related to engineering processes but rather focuses on the integrated and concurrent design of product and the related processes. This requires the clear identification and description of all the tasks and processes associated with the design, manufacturing, support and other functions by the developers.

The developers need to consider the various elements of the product life cycle end to end, varying from conception to disposal. The various elements which shall be considered will include almost all parameters which have an impact on the development of a product and the associated processes, such as quality, cost, scheduling and user requirement. It is worth noticing that the definition encompasses more than just the manufacturing and design of a product. It does not apply only to domains of engineering but is also widely used in the pharmaceutical, paint, food and other industries.

Concurrent Engineering is not limited to products or goods. Even services can employ concurrent engineering for improvement in productivity and reduction in total time to market. In the services sector, the concurrent engineering concept applies to insurance, banking and other sectors.

The implementation of concurrent engineering requires the combination of people, technology and business methods. It relies on cross-functional working and teamwork rather than the traditional bureaucratic and hierarchical organizations. Collaboration rather than individual effort is standard, and shared information is the key to success. Training addressed at getting people to work together in teams plays an important role in the successful implementation of Concurrent Engineering.

The Concurrent engineering process mainly focuses on three aspects, viz. people, process and technology. The three basic attributes which a CE team must have been enumerated as: (1) Ability to deal with inherent uncertainties associated with innovation, (2) A wide range of competencies varying from manufacturing to design to sales to financing, (3) Presence of professional knowledge workers.

The teams formed are Cross-functional teams. The team is formed to work on a specific project, and stays together throughout the development of the product. The smaller teams comprise of 5-20 people and employ an efficient technical communication. For the implementation of larger projects, a network of teams is formed (a total of 100 to 1000 people). Larger projects are sliced into smaller projects and measures are taken to ensure the integration of separate pieces into a system solution.

Advantages

The practice of following concurrent engineering has numerous advantages such as:

• Helps in shortening the product development lead time
• Reducing product development costs associated with getting a product to market
• Improved Communication
• Increased efficiency and performance
• Higher reliability in the product development process.
• Reduced defect rates.
• Improved quality of resulting end products
• Increased accuracy in predicting and meeting project plans, schedules, timelines, and budgets
• Faster reaction time in responding to the rapidly changing market.

The use of Concurrent Engineering has resulted in savings and benefits which can be divided into three key areas:

1. Cost Related Savings: Manufacturing and Production Costs, Labor costs, Development and Construction Costs
2. Quality Related Savings: Defects and Nonconformance, Inspection, Productability and Testability
3. Time Related Savings: Development Time, Cycle Time, Lead time etc.

Another advantage of Concurrent Engineering is that, while knowledge is being built up about the design of the product, additional knowledge is being acquired about the other aspects of its life-cycle. As the design progresses, the manufacturing expert will learn more about how to manufacture the product, and the packaging expert will know more about how to package it. This accumulation of knowledge will help in speeding the product through the development process. These are not only benefits which the company experiences, but ultimately the end users or customers also reap the benefits by having a quality product which fits their needs and in many cases, costs them less to purchase.

Limitations

Concurrent Engineering is not a quick fix for a company’s problems and it’s not just a way to improve performance. It’s a business strategy that addresses important company resources. It is a long-term strategy, and it should be considered only by organizations willing to make up front investments and then wait several years for long-term benefits as it involves major organizational and cultural change.

Some limitations:

• unwillingness to institutionalize Concurrent Engineering
• maintenance of traditional functional reward systems
• maintenance of traditional reporting lines
• no training in teamwork
• unrealistic schedules
• no changes in relationships with vendors
• a focus on computerization rather than process improvement

Examples on application of the process

An example of the use of Concurrent Engineering can be found in General Electric’s Aircraft Engines Division’s approach for the development of the engine for the new F/A-18E/F. It used several collocated, multi-functional design and development teams to merge the design and manufacturing process. The teams achieved 20% to 60% reductions in design and procurement cycle times during the full-scale component tests. Cycle times in the design and fabrication of some components dropped from an estimated 22 weeks to 3 weeks.

Boeing’s Ballistic Systems Division used Concurrent Engineering in 1988 to develop a mobile launcher for the MX missile and was able to reduce design time by 40% and cost by 10% in building the prototype. Polaroid Corp.’s Captiva instant camera is also the result of a Concurrent Engineering approach, through which Polaroid was able to make literally hundreds of working prototypes handled by cross-functional teams.

The growing application of digital twin technology and model-based systems engineering (MBSE) represents the latest evolution of concurrent engineering principles, enabling virtual prototyping to occur in parallel with physical component fabrication at a level of fidelity that was previously unattainable (ElMaraghy, 2012). Aerospace and automotive industries in particular have demonstrated that integrating MBSE with concurrent engineering workflows can reduce physical prototype cycles from several iterations to as few as one, generating substantial material and labor savings while improving first-build quality. As organizations continue scaling these methodologies into software development, healthcare product development, and construction, the fundamental premise of concurrent engineering, which is that parallel collaboration consistently outperforms sequential specialization, continues to accumulate empirical support across diverse industrial sectors (Hicks et al., 2002).

References

ElMaraghy, H. A. (Ed.). (2012). Enabling manufacturing competitiveness and economic sustainability. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-23860-4

Hicks, C., McGovern, T., & Earl, C. F. (2002). Supply chain management: A strategic issue in engineer to order manufacturing. International Journal of Production Economics, 78(2), 113–126. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0925-5273(00)00092-6

Yassine, A., & Braha, D. (2003). Four complex problems in concurrent engineering and the design structure matrix method. Concurrent Engineering, 11(3), 165–176. https://doi.org/10.1177/106329303034503