Product development process at Scania engine manufacturing
Sammanfattning: Manufacturing companies today experience a more competitive market than ever, with increased demands on customization, quality and shorter life cycles. Shorter life cycles makes time to market for new products a crucial factor in retaining or even gaining market share. Many companies have structured their product development process to have a systematic work method that is integrated with other functions in the company such as production, purchasing and marketing. At Scania this work started during the 1980’s and has been ongoing with continuous improvements ever since. Due to increased demands from a more competitive market the need to structure the participation of the production units in the product development process to shorten the lead time of product development projects. This study aims to investigate how the engine production unit at Scania can be integrated in the product development process as early as possible. By studying literature in the area of product development, a general picture of the product development process has been obtained, as well as some methods for integrating production and design departments during the product development process. A comparative case study has been performed at Scania, Sandvik Coromant and Atlas Copco Rock Drills. Their internal product development processes has been mapped as well as their organizations and roles connected to the development and introduction of new products. The interface between production and design has been investigated with focus on meeting forums, information exchange and other work methods that are established within the companies. As a result some recommendations have been given to Scania on how to improve the participation of the engine production in the product development process. The recommendations start with educating the staff on already existing methods in process planning and the product development process. Secondly the engine manufacturing at Scania must decide to invest time and resources in developing their internal development process. The development of the engine manufacturing internal product development process should start with the general product development process at Scania, secondly it should focus on aligning the activities in process planning with the phases of the general product development process. Finally more detailed activities should be defined under each phase with clear defined responsibilities and lead times. By defining an internal product development process Scania’s engine manufacturing will be better prepared to participate in product development projects. By having defined activities, responsibilities and lead times it will be easier to contribute to the planning of the product development project, aswell as it will be easier to allocate project resources internally. Keywords: product development, production, time to market, manufacturability, Scania
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