The concept itself is a few decades old but improvements are being added all the time to raise the efficiency. Let’s see what this practice entails in order to increase profitability and reduce waste.<\/p>\n
What Is Concurrent Engineering?<\/h2>\n
Concurrent engineering or simultaneous engineering is a discipline of integrated product development whereby all the life cycle<\/a> aspects of a single product are considered simultaneously right from the start. Even at the conceptual phase, engineers are already working on solving everything possible that comes after the product launch.<\/p>\n In concurrent engineering, the various stages in product design (from conception to after-sales support) are approached and analysed, discussed and optimised at the initial stage to prevent undue wastage of time, effort, and money in the long run.<\/p>\n For example, while the design engineers are finalising the product design:<\/p>\n For comparison, let’s outline the strengths and weaknesses of the traditional sequential engineering method. This systematic approach dictates that only after finishing one stage, the product would be sent to the next stage.<\/p>\n The process is also known as “over the wall” approach as each department completes the assigned task and passes it over a hypothetical (or actual) cubicle wall.<\/p>\n With simpler products that don’t require much collaboration and communication, this method works well. The sequential engineering method is also easy to track. Bottlenecks and underperformers can be easily picked out and rectified. A highly complex product line was made simple, fast, and efficient.<\/p>\n But issues always arise. If one of the departments makes a mistake in their assigned task, the product would be sent back over the wall for rectification. This is known as ‘reverse flow’ and is one of the major reasons for its inefficiency.<\/p>\n Over time, as products became more and more complex, some of these walls came down naturally due to necessity. More collaboration in product development became imperative to avoid errors that could prove expensive if allowed to occur.<\/p>\n Gradually, as the benefits of this new method became more apparent, smart companies started actively pursuing ways to develop it. Overall, concurrent engineering can be divided into three main elements: people, process and technology.<\/p>\n People form the backbone of any organisation. Choosing the right design team at the initial stages of product design concept generation<\/a> is of paramount importance. The product development in concurrent engineering necessitates that plenary meetings be held of people from different job functions.<\/p>\n The multidisciplinary team meetings are necessary to reduce development time and improve overall product quality. The right team will have a certain set of qualities that promote co-operation, sharing and trust.<\/p>\n Information and feedback sharing by employees must be a regular part of all meetings. Any changes in design or tolerance limits must be conveyed to all concerned departments at the earliest.<\/p>\n The people have to be open to criticism and quick changes. Bringing in different departments at an early stage means that ideas that are knowingly not ripe for production are open for everyone to comment and make suggestions on.<\/p>\n The process is the most important element in concurrent engineering. It defines the different product development stages that must be achieved in order to reach the end goal. Each stage is then further divided and optimised.<\/p>\n As every product and organisation is different, the general philosophy of concurrent engineering must be moulded to fit the project at hand.<\/p>\n Even the most qualified design team will become ineffective and confused if a well-defined process is not put in place. The process refers to the group of different methods used to reach the common goal of the organisation.<\/p>\n The different processes should be capable of functioning in sync so that relevant job functions can keep each other updated about developments and discuss problems should any arise.<\/p>\n Some of the processes that need to be determined are:<\/p>\n As concurrent engineering requires much more communication and collaboration than the traditional methods, new technologies are necessary to enable and encourage information sharing. There are many amazing technologies available that promote collaboration and instant information sharing.<\/p>\n Any changes requested by a department will be notified to other pertinent departments. The relevant departments, through these technologies, can then collectively assess the impact of these changes on the final design. Alternate iterations can be suggested and easily compared and analysed. Some of these tools are:<\/p>\n\n
Sequential vs Concurrent Engineering<\/h2>\n
![\"sequential](\"https:\/\/fractory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Waterfall_vs_iterative-1.jpg\")
Elements of Concurrent Engineering<\/h2>\n
People<\/h3>\n
Process<\/h3>\n
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Technology<\/h3>\n
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