CONCURRENT
ENGINEERING (CE)
INTRODUCTION
Many
people consider concurrent engineering as an academic phrase difficult to
follow in reality. Concurrent engineering (CE) has emerged as discipline to
help achieve the objectives of reduced cost, better quality, and improved
delivery performance. CE is perceived as a vehicle for change in the way the
products and processes are designed, manufactured, and distributed.
Concurrent
engineering is a management and engineering philosophy for improving quality
and reducing costs and lead time from product conception to product development
for new products and product modifications. CE means that the design and
development of the product, the associated manufacturing equipment and
processes, and the repair tools and processes are handled concurrently. The
concurrent engineering idea contrasts sharply with current industry sequential
practices, where the product is first designed and developed, the manufacturing
approach is then established. And finally the approach to repair is determined.
Figure 1 : Traditional
“Waterfall” or Sequential Development Method vs. Iterative Development Method
in concurrent engineering.
WHAT
IS CONCURRENT ENGINEERING?
Concurrent engineering
is a systematic approach to the integrated, concurrent design of products and their
related processes, including manufacture and support. This approach is intended
to cause the developers from the outset, to consider all elements of the product
life cycle from conception to disposal, including quality, cost, schedule, and
user requirements.
The application of
tools, techniques, methodologies, and behavioral initiatives used to minimise
product development timescales by maximising the degree of overlap of design activities.
Concurrent
engineering is a business strategy which replaces the traditional product
development process with one in which tasks are done in parallel and there is
an early consideration for every aspect of a product's development process.
This strategy focuses on the optimization and distribution of a firm's
resources in t he design and development process to ensure effective and
efficient product development process.
COMPARISON
BETWEEN TRADITIONAL PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT PROCESS AND CONCURRENT ENGINEERING
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TRADITIONAL
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CONCURRENT
ENGINEERING
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BASIC PRINCIPLES IN CE.
v Get a strong commitment to from senior management.
v Establish unified project goals and a clear business
mission.
v Develop a detailed plan early in the process.
v Continually review your progress and revise your plan.
v Develop project leaders that have an overall vision of
the project and goals.
v Analyze your market and know your customers.
v Suppress individualism and foster a team concept.
v Establish and cultivate cross-functional integration
and collaboration.
v Transfer technology between individuals and
departments.
v Break project into its natural phases.
v Develop metrics.
v Set milestones throughout the development process.
v Collectively work on all parts of project.
v Reduce costs and time to market.
v Complete tasks in parallel.
WHY
CONCURRENT ENGINEERING?
 |
The
reasons that companies choose to use concurrent engineering is for the clear
cut benefits and competitive advantage that concurrent engineering can give
them. Concurrent engineering can benefit companies of any size, large or
small. While there are several obstacles to initially implementing concurrent
engineering, these obstacles are minimal when compared to the long term
benefits that concurrent engineering offers.
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b)
Increased Performance
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Companies
recognize that concurrent engineering is a key factor in improving the
quality, development cycle, production cost, and delivery time of their
products. It enables the early discovery of design problems, thereby enabling
them to be addressed up front rather than later in the development process.
Concurrent engineering can eliminate multiple design revisions, prototypes,
and re-engineering efforts and create an environment for designing right the
first time.
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c)
Reduced Design and Development
Times
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Companies
that use concurrent engineering are able to transfer technology to their
markets and customers more effectively, rapidly and predictably. They will be
able to respond to customers needs and desires, to produce quality products
that meet or exceeds the consumer's expectations. They will also be able to
introduce more products and bring quicker upgrades to their existing products
through concurrent engineering practices. Therefore companies use concurrent
engineering to produce better quality products, developed in less time, at
lower cost, that meets the customer's needs.
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1.
Increasing product variety and technical
complexity that prolong the product development process and make it more
difficult to predict the impact of design decisions on the functionality and
performance of the final product.
2.
Increasing global competitive pressure that
results from the emerging concept of reengineering.
3.
The need for rapid response to fast-changing
consumer demand.
4.
The need for shorter product life cycle.
5.
Large organizations with several
departments working on developing numerous products at the same time.
6.
New and innovative technologies emerging
at a very high rate, thus causing the new product to be technological obsolete
within a short period.
PRODUCT
LIFE CYCLE
Figure 2 : Cost incurred and committed during the
product life cycle
Summarized the results
of a survey that include the following improvements to specific product lines
by the applications of concurrent engineering.
1. Development
and production lead times
·
Product development time reduced up to 60%.
·
Production spans reduced 10%.
·
AT&T reduced the total process time
for the ESS programmed digital switch by 46% in 3
·
years.
·
Deere reduced product development time
for construction equipment by60%
·
ITT reduced the design cycle for an electronic
countermeasures system by33% and its
·
transition-to-production time by 22%.
2. Measurable
quality improvements
·
Yield improvements of up to four times.
·
Field failure rates reduced up to 83%.
·
AT&T achieved a fourfold reduction in
variability in a polysilicon deposition process for very large scale integrated
circuits and achieved nearly two orders of magnitude reduction in surface
defects.
·
AT&T reduced defects in the ESS programmed
digital switch up to 87% through a coordinated quality improvement program that
included product and process design.
·
Deere reduced the number of inspectors by
two-thirds through emphasis on process control and linking the design and
manufacturing processes
3. Engineering
process improvements
·
Engineering changes per drawing reduced
up to 15 times
·
Early production engineering changes reduced
by 15%.
·
Inventory items stocked reduced up to 60%.
·
Engineering prototype builds reduced up to
three times.
·
Scrap and rework reduced up to 87%.
4.
Cost reduction
·
McDonnell Douglas had a 60% reduction in
life-cycle cost and 40% reduction in production cost on a short-range missile
proposal.
·
Boeing reduced a bid on a mobile missile
launcher and realized costs 30 to 40% below the bid.
·
IBM reduced direct costs in system
assembly by 50%.
·
ITT saved 25% in ferrite core bonding
production costs
BENEFITS OF CONCURRENT
ENGINEERING
a)
Maximizes Quality
- One of the primary advantages of
concurrent engineering is the quality of the end product. Since this
strategy relies upon extensive product testing and utilizes known data,
the overall quality of products is optimized. It also limits the amount of
defective products that are created.
b)
Faster Development
- Another benefit is that products
can be designed, developed and created in a timely manner, which means
that products can hit stores and ultimately get into the hands of
consumers as quickly as possible. In a world with so much competition,
this ability to efficiently develop products is important.
- Lower cost
- Speed-to-market due to reduced
cycle time
- Better understand user
requirements
- Quality design of producible
items
- Quicker development period
- Team work
- Customer satisfaction
- Integration of design and
manufacturing
- Better chances of succeeding
product in market
- Low scrap and wastages
DISADVANTAGES OF CONCURRENT ENGINEERING
Disadvantage
of concurrent engineering is that it increases the time spent in preliminary
design, when the design staff is anxious to finalize details and release
drawings. However, experience has shown that additional up-front time sharply
reduces changes in subsequent stages of product development, where changes
incur substantially more cost and time.
Concurrent
design creates its own issues, such as the implementation of early design
reviews, the dependency on efficient communication between engineers and teams,
software compatibility, and opening up the design process. A concurrent
design process usually requires that computer models are exchanged efficiently, something that can be difficult in practice. If such
issues are not addressed properly, concurrent design may not work effectively.
CONCLUSION
Concurrent
engineering is recognized as a strategic weapon that businesses must use for
effective and efficient product development. It is not a trivial task, but a
complex strategic plan that demands full corporate commitment, therefore strong
leadership and teamwork go hand and hand with successful concurrent engineering
programs. The customer is consulted during the early product
development process; therefore, the product can meet the expectations of the
customer.
