Concurrent Engineering is a systematic approach to creating a product design that considers all elements of the product life cycle

from conception of the design to disposal of the product, and doing so defines the product, its manufacturing processes, and design processes, and all other processes required during the lifecycle, such as logistics support. Concurrent engineering or simultaneous engineering refers to an approach used in product development in which the functions of design engineering, manufacturing engineering, and other functions are integrated to reduce the elapsed time required to bring a new product to market. Concurrent Engineering is a systematic communication between team members to enable consideration of all important product and process information in a timely manner.

Importance of Concurrent Engineering Minimize the product life cycle Eliminate the redesign procedure. Decrease product cost Results from the minimization of the product life cycle. Maximize product quality By spending more time and money initially in the design cycle and ensuring that the concept selection is optimized, the company can increase the prospect of delivering a quality product to the customer. Team work Human resources are working together for a common product.

Basics of Concurrent Engineering For a new-product work Activity Fundamental Engineering

Sl. No. Critical Steps 1. Create concept 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Will it work? Fundamental Engineering Can it be made? Basic concurrent engineering Satisfy customer needs? EQFD Consistently? Profitable? Robust design Strategy

There is a need for concurrent engineering to bring rapid solutions to product design and development process. In order to be competitive, corporations must alter their product and process development cycle to be able to complete diverse tasks concurrently. New process require a large amount of refinement in its implementation but it will benefit the company. Concurrent engineering must be reviewed and adjusted for continuous improvements of engineering and business operation.

Need for concurrent engineering depends on the following: The Concurrent Engineering Approach CE 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 products development process. Collaboration is a must for individuals, groups, departments, and separate organizations within the firm. A firm must be dedicated to the long-term implementation, appraisal, and continuous revision of a concurrent engineering process. Strategic Plan of Concurrent Engineering Strategic plan demands full corporate commitment, strong leadership and teamwork for successful CE programs.

Commitment, Planning and Leadership If firms are going to commit to CE, then they must first devise a plan and must create organizational change throughout the entire company or firm. CE with strong leadership & commitment, management support, and proper planning will bring success in todays challenging market place. Continuous Improvement Process CE is an evolving process that requires continuous improvement and refinement which consists of planning, implementing, reviewing, and revising. The process must be updated and revised on a regular basis to optimize the effectiveness and benefits of the CE development process.

Communication and Collaboration Get a strong commitment from the senior management Establish unified project goals and a clear business mission Develop a detailed plan early in the process Continually review the progress and revise the plan Develop project leaders who have an overall vision of the project and goals Analyze the market and know the customers Suppress individualism and faster a team concept Break the project into its natural phases Set milestones throughout the development process Collectively work on all parts of the project Reduce costs and time to market Complete tasks in parallel.

CE is a powerful development tool that can be implemented early in the conceptual design phase where the majority of a products costs are committed. Primary applications include product research, design, development, re-engineering, manufacturing, and redesigning of existing and new products. CE is applied throughout the design and development process to enable the firm to reap the full benefits of the process. The first step in achieving a simple design is to develop a systematized product structure which standardizes the relationship between product function, form and fabrication.

Important Factors in CE Practice? Organizational Factor Cross-functional teams Project team members gained a better understanding of the project priorities, process discipline, making risks and compromises visible for better control. The team is formed to work on a specific project, and stays together throughout the development of the product. Liaison personnel Members not of any functional piece of the organization, but rather people who are capable and prepared to address issues which span functional organizational boundaries. The primary modes of accomplishing information transfer between functional areas.

Job rotation Rotating personnel between functional categories. Personnel are assigned temporarily or permanently outside of their accustomed functional speciality, i.e., a manufacturing engineer will work with design engineers or vice versa. Product Design Methods Design for quality Implemented in the system design step by intentionally designing the product and process to be tolerant of variation. The conceptual definition of the product is done in a better way by quality function, so, quality function translates the preference of customer into products features and also establishes quality based on fitness for use.

Design For Manufacturing (DFM) DFM seeks to minimize manufacturing information content of a product design to the fullest extent possible within constraints imposed by functionality and performance. The benefits of design for manufacturing for design are listed below: o Minimize the total number of parts. o Simplify the design to ensure that the remaining parts are o easy to fabricate, assemble, handle and service. o Standardize where possible to facilitate desirable productibility characteristics such as interchangeability, interoperability, simplified interfaces, effective consolidation of parts and function, availability of components and so forth.

Design for Assembly (DFA) Seeks to minimize the cost of assembly within constraints imposed by other design requirements. DFA has been the starting point for development of a corporate DFM philosophy and the culture change that accompanies it. Design for cost An effective analysis of the product or project costs and the ability to implement cost control management includes management of the product or project cost, and requires a knowledge and understanding of the cost elements and their sensitivity to various control parameters.

Design for safety The designer must develop the habit of constantly evaluating the design for safety, considering not only the design itself, but the personnel involved in fabricating the product, using the procedure, and in maintaining and repairing the product or system, as well as the end user or purchaser. Design for reliability Reliability is defined as the probability that a system, device, or component will successfully perform for: o A given range of operating conditions, o A specific environmental condition, and o A prescribed economic survival time.

Design for X It helps to ensure that parts and products to be produced are correctly designed, using a particular production process or method. o Integrated computer analysis o Based on the recognition of steps in the development of a manufactured product which are interrelated and can be accomplished effectively by using computers. o DFM relationship comes about the characteristics of part being fabricated, processes, specifications, instructions, and data that define and direct each step in the manufacturing process.

The core of CE are Increased role of manufacturing process issues on product design decisions Formation of cross-functional teams Focus on meeting customer products requirements Lead time as competitive advantage CE practices are not warranted when the product is simple, or when the incremental change is marginal. CE is difficult, that is, it involves some administrative and communication overhead, as well as effort to change company culture.

Concurrent Engineering of Fundamentals All products have a need to incorporate constraints imposed by the manufacturing process on details of the product design. Design-marketing integration removing the designmanufacturing barrier, the designer can become more responsive to customer desires and thereby create a more successful product. Lead-time has proved to be a significant facet of modern competition and lessened lead time creates a market advantage for those firms who are able to produce products rapidly.

Need for Integrating Design with other Functions Early on, a division of intellectual labor whereby the designer was responsible for producing the design and the manufacturer was responsible for making the actual product and design was generally difficult and costly to produce, and does not necessarily conform to the desires of the market. The functional separation and its resulting adverse effect on the resulting product design may be repeated with other functions (such as marketing, maintenance, or others). The remedy for the situation is to have the designer become more aware of other's concerns within and the need to reduce development lead time.

Increasing Competition The need for increased cooperation in the product development process is an increased level of competition. New Production Methods The situation where new production processes are used will often be an important area for ensuring that design engineers work closely with production engineers. Among new manufacturing processes, the development of automatic assembly techniques has been frequently cited as requiring a higher level of integration between design and manufacturing.

Lead Time One of the prime motivations for a concurrent engineering approach to product development is a desire to shorten the total time that it takes to bring a product to the marketplace. The concept that the length of the development cycle is an important competitive advantage and that addressing all aspects of the design problem simultaneously might lead to a shortened development cycle is a long-standing precept.

Organization People must be motivated to exchange information and change their traditional work habits to share, offer, and accept the ideas of others. The management must be flexible enough to build teams with representation from all departments. Communication The different groups must be able to understand each other, but the infrastructure, such as computer hardware and software to support them, must also be compatible There must be an easy transfer of information relating to products development.

Product design specification Formal description of the problem to be solved and represents an agreement between the product developers and the users on what exactly is needed of the product. Provides a goal towards which the whole team must work. Product Development The process used to get from the product design specification to the total design of the product ready for production. In general, a member of a design team must: Understand the product requirements Have close and constant communications with other team members Be able to make decisions independently.

Group think Team members can develop a strong desire to please each other, to demonstrate their loyalty to the team, at the expense of the product. Some principles of successful teams include: o Team members must try to like and respect other team members o Teams should have diverse areas of expertise o Teams must have a common vision o All team members must understand and should accept the solution o Teams should promote open-minded thinking, and should avoid premature consensus

o Teams should maintain a balance between individual and group work o Teams must be systematic in their work o Team members must communicate o Some members should be comfortable working with conceptual ideas, others with specific details o A good team leader empowers the team, he does not stifle or micro-manage it Team leaders Strong leadership is a key to successful teams and is not about management, but rather about guidance and balance.

 A good team leader: o Has a broad scope of knowledge and responsibilities o Assumes responsibility for ensuring that the concept is accurately translated into technical detail o Communicates well with both team members and clients and users o Actively seeks to manage conflicts as they arise o Circulates among the team members informally. The changing roles of team members

Teams are more difficult to manage than individuals Not all engineers are team players Cost of bringing team members together Cost of removing team members from home departments Resistance to change.

In traditional engineering a relatively short time is spent in defining the product and relatively long time is spent in designing the product and a surprisingly long time is often spent redesigning the product. The key to shortening the overall design time is to better the product and better the document design process. Traditionally, the development of a product had been seen as a cycle of plan...do...check...act...(adjust). Concurrent engineering is a process in which appropriate disciplines are committed to work interactively to conceive, approve, develop, and implement product programs that meet pre-determined objectives that are already defined.

CE is the relatively recent term which is applied to the engineering design philosophy of cross-functional cooperation in order to create products which are better, cheaper, and more quickly brought to market. CE reunites technical and non technical disciplines such as engineering, marketing & accounting and always focus on satisfying the customer where, the representatives work together in defining the product to be manufactured. Various organizations follow a extreme excess of product and process development cycle. Characterizing the phases of the product development cycle helps to put in perspective some of the organizational issues involved.

The phases are: Mission Statement Contain a general description of the product, target market segments, and the customer categories and specify business goals so as to market share, profit margins and the products projected life cycle. Market and Concept Definition Consumers demands are identified by various market survey techniques; benchmark studies are conducted, the functional technical design requirement are identified, design and manufacturing feasibility is determined and cost estimates are projected.

System Level Concept Generation and Selection Various design concepts that satisfy the functional design requirements are generated and design satisfying these requirements in terms of quality, cost and delivery is selected and the product architecture is determined. Detailed Product Design Detailed specification of product dimensions, materials and tolerances are made, special and standard components are identified & make or buy decisions are made. Prototype Testing and Refinement Prototypes of the selected design are tested for functionality, manufacturing and assembly feasibility, reliability & cost.

Process Planning , Production Planning and Control Actual production processes of the final deign are planned. Production control and quality assurance plans are drawn up. Production Ramp-up and Refinement In this final phase, a pilot production run is carried out with the purpose of familiarizing and training the workforce, discovering the correcting production problems before full production level s are reached. Subsequently, the product is launched.

Quality Function deployment is a systematic procedure for defining customer desires and requirements and interpreting them in terms of product features and process characteristics. In a QFD analysis, a series of interconnected matrices are developed to establish the relationships between customer requirements and the technical features of a proposed new product. The matrices represent a progression of phases in the QFD analysis, in which customer requirements are first translated into product features, then into manufacturing process requirements, and finally into quality procedures for controlling the manufacturing operations.

QFD can be used to analyze an existing product or service and not just a proposed new one. QFD is a general framework for analyzing product and process design problems, and it must be adapted to the given problem context.

Quality Function Deployment as a series of matrices that relate customer requirements to successive technical requirements.

Basically, the QFD in concurrent engineering is the procedure that can be outlined in the following steps: Identify customer requirements Identify product features needed to meet customer requirements Determine technical correlations among product features Develop relationship matrix between customer requirements and product features Comparative evaluation of input customer requirements Comparative evaluation of output technical requirements