concurrent engineering final

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CONCURRENT ENGINEERING

Concurrent Engineering

Objectives

Explain what is Concurrent Engineering

Explain the importance of Concurrent Engineering

Define and explain the basics elements of Concurrent Engineering

Brief explanation of Concurrent Engineering evolution

N. C. COLLEGE OF ENGINEERINGENTREPRENEURSHIP

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With the latest development due to globalization, business unit may have the

capacity to deal with the increasing competition. This is possible only by drastic

organizational productivity improvement. One of the tools to achieve the

organizational productivity improvement is called Concurrent Engineering. If there is a

delay of three months in bringing a product to the market, it would cause an

enormous loss to the organization by way of reduced market share.

A systematic approach to the integrated, concurrent design of products and to

their related implementation, including operational aspects, whereby designers/

developers process simultaneously and since go ahead, all requirements of the product

life cycle, from concept through delivery, includingquality, cost, schedule and user

requirements.

Concurrent Engineering, also called parallel or simultaneous engineering, is a

new philosophy, viewed by most corporations as a means to competitive, world class

manufacturing. It strives to do the right job the first time. It results from the

synthesizing the two fundamental observations which are given below:

1. The changes become more costly , and these changes are incorporated in

the project later.

2. Performing different steps of a project in parallel, would complete the

project more quickly than executing the steps sequentially, one after the

another.

Therefore concurrent engineering can be defined as:

1) A philosophy of product development: Integrating multiple design issues

2) A method of product design: Integration of multidisciplinary folks into the

design team

3) A method to lead people: Design issues are represented in the people

4) It is not the “over the wall”


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TRADITIONAL ENGINEERING VS. CONCURRENT ENGINEERING

In traditional engineering a relatively short time is spent defining the product. A

relatively long time is spent 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 document the 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 define

Example of design changes as a function of time for an American and Japanese automobile. Source: Engineering Modeling and Design, Chapman, Bahill & Wymore (see reference 1.A).

This 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. This new trend reunites

technical and non technical disciplines such as engineering, marketing and

accounting. Always focusing on satisfying the customer, these representatives work

together in defining the product to be manufactured.

Various organizations follow a plethora 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:


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1. Mission statement: it is also known as design brief or charter. I

should 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 product’s projected life

cycle.

2. 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.

3. System level concept generation and selection: various design

concepts that satisfy the functional design requirements are generated.

Design satisfying these requirements in terms of quality, cost and

delivery is selected and the product architecture is determined.

Development time

Start Date Launch Date


Mission statement

Market & concept Definition

System level Concept generation & Selection

Detail Product Design

Prototype testing & refinement

Process & Production Planning & Control

Production Ramp-up

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4. 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.

5. Prototype testing and refinement: prototypes of the selected design

are tested for functionality, manufacturing and assembly feasibility,

reliability & cost.

6. Process planning , Production planning and Control: Actual

production processes of the final deign are planned. Production

control and quality assurance plans are drawn up.

7. Production Ramp-up and Refinement: in this final phase a pilot

production is run is carried out with the purpose of familiarizing and the

training the workforce, discovering the correcting production problems

before full production level s are reached. Subsequently, the product is

launched.

Importance of Concurrent Engineering

The goal of Concurrent Engineering is the interactive work of different disciplines

that affect a product to make it better.

1. Minimize the product life cycle - eliminate the redesign procedure.

2. Decrease production cost - results from the minimization of the

product life cycle.

3. 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.

4. Team Work - Human Resources are working together for a common

product.

Product Design Methods

1) 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.


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The purpose of DFM cost estimating analysis is to enables design

teams to weigh alternative design and various production processes, quantify

manufacturing cost and make the necessary trade off decisions between the

parts consolidation and the material/manufacturing costs. The benefits of

design for manufacturing for design are listed below:

Minimize the total number of parts

Simplify the design to ensure that the remaining parts are

easy to fabricate, assemble, handle and service

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

2) Design for quality - It can be implemented in the system design step by

intentionally designing the product and process to be tolerant of variation.

Design engineer can convert costumer need into engineering specifications

using quality functions. It helps the translating customer needs even before

finalizing concept specifications. 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.

3) Design for Assembly (DFA) - Seeks to minimize cost of assembly within

constraint simposed by other design requirements. DFA has been the

starting point for development of a corporate DFM philosophy and the

culture change that accompanies it.

4) Design for Environment (DFE) - 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. This evaluates:


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A given range of operating conditions

A specific environmental condition

A prescribed economic survival time

5) Design for Environment (DFE) – It is one of the most efficient

approachesto the realisation of Concurrent Engineering. It targets at limited

number, substantial elements at once. This makes it possible to make best

use of the available resources.

DFA , DFM , DFE , DFS ….

Key ElementsThe Concurrent Engineering approach is based on the following key elements:

• The system engineering process

• A multidisciplinary, product oriented team

• An information distribution and control environment

• Supporting tools and facilities

The approach may be evolved into an Integrated Product Development (IPD) based

on cross functional Product/Process Teams for all products and services, plus a

System Engineering and Integration (SE&I) Team to cover the system issues,

balance requirements between Product Teams and integrate the Teams.

SYSTEM COORDINATION - TEAM ORGANIZATION

Strict relationship between the structure of the team, the Product Tree

Team composition:

• cross functional Product/Process Development Teams (PDTs) for all

products and services,

• System Engineering and Integration (SE&I) team to cover the system issues,

balance requirements between product teams and integrate the teams.

A collaborative approach is implemented between the SE&I Team, PDTs and the

Supporting functions (Configuration Control, Data Management System, Cost

Engineering and Cost and Schedule Control).

Since engineering represents the balance point between the customer needs and


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the program costs, the PDTs shall be given the means to make cost-effective

decisions.

Need for Integrating Design with other Functions

Product designs have existed for as long as mass production has existed.

Early on, there arose a division of intellectual labor whereby the designer was

responsible for producing the design and the manufacturer was responsible for

making the actual product. A design which is thrown over the proverbial wall is

generally difficult and costly to produce, and does not necessarily conform to the

desires of the market. This 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 this situation is to have the designer become

more aware of other's concerns within and the need to reduce development lead

time. All of these justifications for pushing concurrent engineering ideas have deep

historical antecedents. These justifications are discussed below.

6) Increased Competition

1) One justification given for the need for increased cooperation in the product

development process is an increased level of competition. There have been

claims that the level of competition has increase 'recently' at times which we

no longer consider recent.

2) For example in the claim is made that the level of competition has increased

since the beginning of the nineteenth century, and modern firms can not afford

to ignore design-manufacturing interaction issues. Similarly, in the claim is

made that the high level of competition in the 1950's requires that design and

manufacturing personnel cooperate on new product development. Economic

competition is now, and has always been, fierce. This is not a new effect.

7) New Production Methods

1) As new production methods come into service it becomes important for

knowledge about the new production processes to affect the resulting

product design to take advantage of and respond to the limitations of the


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new processes. Knowledge about these processes must be made

available to the product designer. This knowledge is often resident in the

production engineer.

1) 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

8) Lead Time

1) 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 notion 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. In summary, the claimed reasons for the need

of integration of economic competition, new production processes,

and a shortening lead time are not new.

2) The notion 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.


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