Improving Value Flow in Lean Product Development

2010年，加拿大企业的研发支出为148亿加元，绝大多数用于发展活动，而不是基础研究。加拿大将从产品开发时间效率的任何改进中获得重大的经济利益。精益产品开发是提高效率的一种手段，其中价值来自以客户为中心的增值流程，消除浪费。然而，将精益应用于设计流程需要不同的方向，因为它与制造业有很大的不同，具有无形的产品（知识），非线性和多向流动，需要承担和管理风险，以及受过高等教育的专业工人。该研究计划的目标是提高工程设计过程的效率和响应能力。这一点很重要，因为对产品设计流程及其制造系统进行了大量投资，以降低技术和市场风险，并在全球动态环境中竞争。本提案的短期目标是表明价值是由良好的产品设计创造的，最佳的增值活动可以有针对性地进行动态控制，这将改善价值流并降低风险，因为良好的设计通过使产品更容易制造和成本更低而在供应方面带来价值，并通过使产品更受欢迎而在需求方面带来价值。本建议书的活动是建立衡量方法，以衡量如何衡量价值及其如何在设计过程中流动，以及如何在设计项目执行期间控制资源分配，以便在不确定条件下实现价值最大化。

R&D expenditures in Canada by business were $14.8 billion in 2010, the vast majority in development activities, not basic research. Canada would gain significant economic benefit from any improvement to the efficiency of product development time. Lean product development is one means to improve efficiency, where value flows from customer focused, value-adding processes where waste is eliminated. However, applying lean to design processes requires a different orientation as it is substantially different from manufacturing, with an intangible product (knowledge), non-linear and multi-directional flows, the need to take and manage risk, and highly educated specialist workers. The goal of this research program is to improve the efficiency and responsiveness of engineering design processes. This is important because of the large investment made into product design processes and their manufacturing systems to mitigate technical and market risks and compete in a global, dynamic environment. The short term objective of this proposal is to show value is created by good product design and the best value adding activities can be targeted and dynamically controlled, which will improve value flow and reduce risk because good design brings value both in supply, by making products easier to make and at lower cost, and in demand, by making them wanted. The activities of this proposal are to establish means to measure how value can be measured and how it flows through the design process, and how the allocation of resources can be controlled during design project execution in order to maximize value under conditions of uncertainty.