Optimization and management of concurrent product development processes

As a result of the continually growing challenges of intense competition, new development process and technology innovations may shortly replace current structures in the product development and production process chain. The globalization of markets does not only create new business opportunities but also is challenged by new, worldwide competition. As a result, there is a need to reduce product development times, to realize highly concurrent engineering processes and to integrate company-wide resources as well as local and global suppliers. Such processes require highly skilled experts, fast and stable procedures and lean and flexible organizations. This report illustrates the introduction of new methods and tools for engineering, allowing faster and higher integrated development and production processes within an international environment. Experiences of the proposed methods will be briefly outlined in this approach that have already been proved in Europe and Southern America.