Dynamic product development — DPD

Abstract

To be competitive on an increasingly competitive global market, companies must be better at quickly developing innovations and new product platforms. Particularly for companies with short product life cycles, it is important to quickly and safely develop new products and new product platforms that fulfill reasonable demands on quality, performance, and cost. Unfortunately, classical methods such as Integrated Product Development (IPD), Concurrent Engineering (CE), and Simultaneous Engineering (SE) were developed for re-engineering of existing products, and have written reports and project reviews at discrete points (at the gates) as feedback principles, which for all types of development means fragmented information, delayed information, and reactive management. Dynamic Product Development (DPD) has a different mindset and is the product concept developed as long as a project runs and not just before engineering starts. Feedback is in DPD based on management participation for immediate and qualitative information, which facilitates control and guidance in real time, reducing unwanted surprises to low levels. Frequent solution iteration (making almost right and quickly testing the solutions) is in DPD important, which is opposite to classical methods. High demands on creativity, development time, usability, cost, and quality have in practical tests shown to be satisfied using DPD.