Product Development: Tools and Techniques for Improving Performance

由于全球竞争加剧和工业4.0的到来，加拿大的组织面临着前所未有的挑战。为了适应新的竞争格局，组织必须在结构上具有流动性，并采用灵活的流程，以便比以往更有效地快速开发高质量的产品。工业4.0或第四次工业革命，不仅是制造业的数字化，而且是整个企业的数字化，并有望提高效率和生产力，优化产品开发等。由于数字技术的兴起，传统的组织模式需要被解构和重塑，这将对相应的流程产生影响，例如产品开发（PD），它在组织的盈利能力、繁荣和竞争力中起着至关重要的作用。产品开发由一系列活动组成，包括概念开发、系统级设计、细节设计、测试和改进，这些活动是将一个想法转化为可销售的产品所必需的，在这种产品中，产品可以是一种商品或服务。鉴于产品开发绩效与组织结构的密切关系，了解组织结构如何演变以应对流程变化变得至关重要。此外，在过去的十年中，精益对PD的应用已经引人注目，然而，公司一直在努力保持精益的成功。在拟议的研究计划中，组织结构将根据其与PD过程的关系进行研究，而PD过程则根据其基本要素进行组织：a)人员，b)过程，c)工具和技术。成功的PD高度依赖于这三个相互关联的要素的有效设计、整合和协调。这背后的需求是d)绩效测量。本研究的首要目标是通过适当的组织结构，为成功和可持续的精益生产开发工具和技术。在加拿大，航空航天和医疗保健行业将从精益实施中受益匪浅。由于低利率、原油价格下降导致的成本降低以及需求增加，航空航天业的动态有所改善。管理激增的需求是一项挑战，必须避免高预算和时间超支。医院还面临着病人需求激增、病人满意度下降、费用上升和医疗事故频发的严峻问题，所有这些都促使医疗保健领导人和政策制定者对医院系统进行改革。这两个行业都转向精益原则，部分是为了解决这些问题。这笔拨款将对加拿大航空航天工业的竞争力产生深远影响，也将使医疗保健组织为患者护理提供更多价值。

Canadian organizations face unprecedented challenges due to intensified global competition and the advent of Industry 4.0. In order to adapt to the new competitive landscape, organizations must be fluid in structure and adopt flexible processes that can rapidly develop high-quality products more efficiently than ever before. Industry 4.0, or the fourth industrial revolution, is the digitization of not only manufacturing, but the enterprise as a whole, and holds the promise of increased efficiency and productivity, and optimized product development, among others. Traditional organizational models will need to be deconstructed and reinvented due to the rise of digital technology, and this will have an impact on corresponding processes, such as product development (PD), which plays a critical role in organizational profitability, prosperity and competitiveness. Product development consists of the set of activities, including concept development, system level design, detail design, testing and refinement, required to convert an idea into a marketable product, where a product can be a good or service. Given the strong relation of PD performance and organizational structure understanding how organizational structure evolves in order to respond to process variation becomes crucial. Furthermore, the application of lean to PD has been notable in the last decade, however, companies have been struggling with sustaining success from lean efforts. In the proposed research program, organizational structure will be studied in terms of its relation to the PD process, which, in turn, is organized in terms of its basic elements: a) people, b) process, and c) tools and technology. Successful PD highly depends on the effective design, integration and coordination of these three interrelated elements. Underlying this is the need for d) performance measurement. The overarching goal of this research is to develop tools and techniques for successful and sustainable lean PD, enabled by the appropriate organizational structure. In Canada, the aerospace and healthcare industries stand to benefit greatly from lean implementation. The dynamics of the aerospace industry have improved recently due to low interest rates, reduced costs due to lower crude oil prices, and increased demand. Managing the surge in demand is the challenge, and high budget and time overruns must be avoided. Hospitals are also facing a critical issue of surging patient demands, decreased patient satisfaction, rising expenses and frequent medical errors, all of which stimulated a reform of hospital systems by healthcare leaders and policy makers. Both industries have turned to lean principles in part to address these issues. This grant would have far-reaching implications for the competitiveness of the aerospace industry in Canada, and will also allow healthcare organizations to deliver more value towards patient care.