Product development methodology "scalability"

Abstract

In industrial manufacturing environments, where production requires a detailed product development, delivery times to customer are highly affected by the time required for development. Usually, product development takes long before arriving to the final solution Therefore, an improvement of the product development process can imply a very high potential in reducing the product delivery time to customer. This paper outlines a new product development methodology, based on the foundations of collaborative design and lean and agile methodologies. For that, we analyze and optimize the value stream of the product engineering process flow in a company of the sector of design, manufacturing, and commercialization of equipment in retail, through lean tools, to implement the “product scalability” concept. The case study shows a reduction of the product development lead time around 10-20%, regarding the present process, in the pilot tests conducted. Consequently, product development methodology “scalability” could have an enormous potential in reducing lead time and product development cost, in sectors with similar characteristics in terms of number of product variants and life cycles than the development of furniture and equipment for retail sector.