See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/383368370

A Case Study in the Product Design and Development Process

Chapter · August 2024

DOI: 10.1007/978-981-97-4704-7_6

CITATIONS READS

0 191

2 authors:

Ramin Rostamkhani T. Ramayah

University of Science Malaysia University of Science Malaysia
70 PUBLICATIONS 59 CITATIONS 829 PUBLICATIONS 40,341 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by Ramin Rostamkhani on 15 September 2024.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Chapter 6
A Case Study in the Product Design
and Development Process

6.1 Introduction

In the final chapter of the book, we describe a case study of the implementation of
circular lean and agility in supply chain networks for the process of product design
and development. This is an effective way to get readers to practically apply the
book’s model to their implementation of learned content in a real-world situation. In
general, the process of product design and development is at the beginning of supply
chain management or supply chain networks. Although the concepts of circular lean
and circular agile in supply chains are used simultaneously, it should be noted that in
the product design section, priority is given to the circular lean concept, and in the
product development section, the priority is to the circular agile concept. Of course,
we will not ignore the concepts of circular agility in the design process, as well as the
concepts of circular lean in the product development process. In other words, in the
presented case study, in the design of the lean and agile circular thinking develop-
ment model, the model has been designed to lead to the implementation of the
principles of circular lean thinking in the product design process. Simultaneously, in
the field of product development, the capability of circular agility has to be available.
For this reason, in the implementation of the model of circular lean-agility concepts,
it has been tried to follow the principles of simultaneous development. Measuring
the performance of a circular supply chain management system based on circular
lean-agile thinking in product design and development process will be the final goal.

6.2 A Summary of Case Study Background

So far, many studies have been presented in the field of applying the concepts of
circular lean thinking or circular agile thinking in the process of product design and
development; these studies did not have an integrated approach and each

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2024 83
R. Rostamkhani, T. Ramayah, Navigating Circular Supply Chains, SpringerBriefs in
Operations Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-97-4704-7_6
84 6 A Case Study in the Product Design and Development Process

emphasized one of the components of the process. For example, some studies have
focused on identifying waste in the product design and development process, some
have emphasized enablers, some have focused on human resource management in
the product design and development process, and some have focused on other
important areas of lean or agile thinking. In this case study, an attempt has been
made to explain the combined model of elements of supply chain management with
circular thinking in a lean and agile application perspective for the process of product
design and development for all readers who are interested in implementing the
proposed model. One of the most important weaknesses of previous studies in the
simultaneous application of the concepts of circular lean and circular agility in
supply chain networks has been that there has always been a tendency towards
one of these concepts and the other concept has been neglected.

6.3 The Definition of Circular Lean and Agility in Supply

Chain Networks

• Circular Lean: The concept of circular lean means the simultaneous combination
of two frameworks: 1—Circular Concepts, 2—Lean Concepts (CL1, CL2, CL3,
CL4) (Fig. 6.1)

Removing Waste Items

Work Flow Improvement

Circular Concepts
(CL3)
(CL1)

Preventive Maintenance
Reduced Setup Time

(CL4)
(CL2)

Fig. 6.1 The combination of two frameworks in circular lean

6.4 The Circular Lean and Agility in the Product Design and Development 85

Flexibility in Production
Circular Concepts

On-Time Delivery

(CA3)
(CA1)
Flexibility of Employees

Improvement of
Capability
(CA2)

Fig. 6.2 The combination of two frameworks in circular agility

• Circular Agility: The concept of circular agility means the simultaneous combi-
nation of two frameworks: 1—Circular Concepts, 2—Agile Concepts (CA1, CA2,
CA3, CA4) (Fig. 6.2)

6.4 The Circular Lean and Agility in the Product Design

and Development

The most important steps required in the product design and development process
are as follows:
Step 1: The product design and development process start from the value state-
ment or product mission statement and will continue until the preparation of the
product plan for mass production. The design process will continue until the
“acceptance of the product design accurately by the production stakeholders.” This
acceptance depends on a sufficient and accurate knowledge of “what should be
produced,” “how to produce it,” and “production organizational requirements”
regarding the details and the whole system.
Step 2: One of the most basic approaches required in the product design process is
determining the types of value-added activities that are divided into three categories
(product design):
1. Value-added activities without which the product will be defective.
2. Non-value-added activities whose elimination will lead to improved production
performance.
86 6 A Case Study in the Product Design and Development Process

3. Activities without necessary added value that do not create added value, but their
existence is necessary.
Activities without necessary added value (third category) are usually activities
that are created due to the existence of bureaucracies and legal regulations. One of
the considerations of the above category is that many times the activities of the
second and third category hide themselves in activities with added value and great.
This issue requires that the way of performing activities be analyzed in detail. Many
experts divided the non-added value performance in the product design and devel-
opment process into seven general categories as follows:
1. Unnecessary transportation
2. Maintenance of information more than required
3. Excessive information (production of unnecessary information)
4. Unnecessary movements (movement of people to obtain information)
5. Processing more than necessary (unnecessary work to produce output)
6. Waiting (delay to receive information, data, input, verification, distribution, or...)
7. Defects or failure (weakness in the quality of information and the need to rework
to produce it)
Step 3: One of the most basic approaches required in the product development
process is to respond to changes and threats in the best way and in the shortest time,
as well as discover opportunities and provide successful solutions to exploit them.
To realize a prosperous and competitive design and development, the experts
considered the following points (product development):
1. Evaluation of the organization’s capability: Organizations must first provide
evaluation tools to determine the risks and threats around the organization and
their strengths in responding to them. This assessment helps them to understand
what activities they are ready to do.
2. Assurance of responsibilities: For the successful implementation of design and
development processes, the organization must prepare the necessary plans to
determine the roles (designation of executive directors, department managers,
teams, etc.) for the implementation of their plans.
3. Understanding current processes: Organizations should carefully review their
current processes and ensure they are properly understood before attempting to
change them. Then we should carefully identify the problems and try to do well in
the same field.

6.4.1 The Application of Circular Lean in Added Value

Activities (Step 2)

Figure 6.3 shows the application of circular lean in added value activities (product
design) as follows:
 6.4 The Circular Lean and Agility in the Product Design and Development 87

PD11: Necessary transportation CL1

PD12: Maintenance of required information CL1

PD13: Adequate information CL2

PD14: Necessary movements CL2

PD15: Adequate processing CL3

PD16: Required waiting CL3

PD17: Deleting defects or failure CL4

Fig. 6.3 The application of circular lean in added value activities

6.4.2 The Application of Circular Agility to Respond

to Changes (Step 3)

Figure 6.4 shows the application of circular agility to respond to changes (product
development) as follows:

6.4.3 General Weaknesses in the Product Design

and Development Process

The most important reasons for weakness in product design and development
process that circular lean and circular agility in supply chain networks or supply

View publication stats