Competing by Design

This step-by-step, hands-on guide explains how to reduce time to market for new products and effectively meet customer's needs. Demonstrates how to take advantage of the latest development tools and product design, use such proven techniques as robust design and QFD and assess and select the appropriate combination of tools, methodologies and strategies. Don't Worry: You're Not so Different.

The Link to Business Strategy.

Design Interfaces with Other Company Functions.

Today's Product Development Process.

The Future Product Development Process.

The Evolution of Product Development.

New Techniques and Technologies.

Defining the Improvement Strategy for Product Development: FromVision to Plan.

Improvement Requirements.

The Process of Implementing Tools and Techniques.

Key Issues for Implementing Improvements.

New Approaches to Engineering: The Techniques.

The Technologies.

The Importance of Engineering Information.

Conclusion.

Index. About the Authors CRAIG ERHORN is a consultant working for themanagement consulting division of "big six" accounting firm Coopers& Lybrand in New York. He has more than twenty years'experience designing, implementing, and using manufacturing andengineering systems in a broad range of industries. He has assisteda number of former employers and clients with improvement andmanagement of their product development process, and has hands-onexperience developing and introducing new products in manufacturingindustries. Craig holds a B.A. degree from Ohio WesleyanUniversity, and an M.B.A. from the University of Connecticut. Hehas held management positions in manufacturing operations andinformation systems prior to becoming a consultant, and wasresponsible for controlling introduction of new products intomanufacturing as well as working on new product development teams.Mr. Erhorn is a member of the American Production and InventoryControl Society (APICS) and is the author of a number of articlesand book chapters dealing with manufacturing systems. JOHN STARK isan independent management consultant based in Geneva, Switzerland.He has helped leading engineering and manufacturing companies inEurope, North America, and the Far East gain competitive advantageby improving product development performance. John holds B.Sc. andPh.D. degrees from Imperial College, London, England. He has workedin engineering and manufacturing environments for more than twentyyears. Dr. Stark is a member of the Institute of Directors (UK),AIAA, CASA/SME, and SAE (U.S.), and the Swiss Computer GraphicsAssociation. He is also the author of a number of previouspublications dealing with the use of CAD and EDM, and theimprovement of engineering productivity. He is the editor of the"Engineering, Data Management Newsletter" and the "EffectiveEngineering Management Newsletter." Competing by Design Every Year, thousands of new products flood the marketplace. Yet, according to recent studies, only a small fraction of these new entries live to see any bottom line profits. In today’s environment, this costly process can quickly corrode a company’s ability to consistently outperform the competition. Competing by Design shows managers how to take the guesswork and inefficiencies out of designing, developing, and producing critical new products. Led by companies such as Rubbermaid and Chrysler, innovative organizations are capturing entire markets by carefully designing every aspect of their new product development process. In Competing by Design, you’ll see all of the critical strategies, techniques, tools, and technologies that your company needs to excel in product development. Erhorn and Stark provide practical methods and action steps for improvement that you can start using today. You’ll see how to take advantage of the latest product design and development tools; use proven methods for gaining the most out of concurrent engineering, design for manufacturability, quality function deployment, and robust design; and evaluate and select the appropriate mix of tools and techniques for your company. Step-by-step guidelines are included along with seasoned advice and examples from successful companies as well as from firms that pursued faulty strategies. Competing by Design gives you a detailed, practical way to improve your knowledge of state-of-the-art new product development and improve your company’s performance in this vital area.