Geilson Loureiro

The Effects of Teams’ Co-location on Project Performance

This paper aims to present an analysis between teams’ co-location and project performance. In order to achieve product development project success many decisions shall be made before the project kick-off. One of these decisions is to whether co-locate or not the project team. But, what are the effects of teams’ co-location on project performance? The paper provides a literature review about teams’ co-location, its advantages and disadvantages, virtual teams and project performance parameters. A table is then proposed to be used as a guide to determine the degree of success of projects. This paper also presents a case study where 3 pairs of similar New Product Development (NPD) projects were analyzed. In each pair of cases, the first NPD occurred using a co-located team and, in the second case, a virtual team (not co-located team) was adopted. The project performance parameters for each case were identified using the proposed table from which we concluded that co-located teams appears to deliver better performance at least in the “internal project efficiency” parameters. Further research involving a larger sample of cases is still necessary to confirm these conclusions.

A systems engineering framework for integrated automotive development

Automotive development faces tightening regulatory requirements, shortening development cycle times, and growing complexity. To cope with such an environment, it is moving from a traditional evolutionary to a systems engineering approach. Great effort is being made for a shift from the traditional component focus, which has been enhanced by concurrent engineering, to a more broadened view supported by systems thinking. This broader view, however, is in practice strongly focused on the product elements of the system. This paper proposes a systems engineering framework for integrated automotive development—the total view approach. It is a modeling framework that integrates the product, its life cycle processes and their associated organizations throughout the requirements, functional and physical analysis processes, at all levels of the product breakdown structure, deriving attributes as emergent properties of a whole integrated system. The paper justifies the framework through a review of traditional and current automotive development and two case studies. A major benefit of the application of the framework is the ability to investigate early in the product development process the interactions between requirements and attributes not only of the product, but also of its life cycle processes and their associated organisations. This can lead to better product quality, lower life cycle cost, shorter development time, and manageable complexity.

Knowledge-based integrated production management model

Purpose – This paper aims to propose a model of production management that integrates knowledge management, as a third dimension, to the production and work dimensions and to identify factors that promote a favorable context for knowledge sharing and results achievement in the production operations shop floor environment. Design/methodology/approach – The model proposed is built from opportunities identified in the literature review. Findings – The factors in the model integrate its three main components: knowledge management, production organization and work organization, providing a representation of the dynamics of the workplace and shop floor environment. Practical implications – The proposed model and its factors allow managers to better understand and to improve the organization activities, because it integrates knowledge management with the production organization and work organization components of traditional models. Originality/value – Literature acknowledges the role of knowledge as competitive advantage, but it is still dealt in an implicit way within the traditional models of production management. This paper proposes a model and factors that provide a favorable context for tacit knowledge sharing and results achievement in the production operations shop floor environment. The model explicitly integrates knowledge management with traditional models’ components.

Using Stakeholder Value Analysis to Build Exploration Sustainability

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139Abstract: The sustainabi lity of space exploration will depend in large part on its ability toconsistently and reliably deliver valued benefits to societal stakeholders over an extendedperiod. This on -going research studies the values of prospective stakeholders in the spaceex ploration enterprise — both in the near term and with a perspective extending overdecades. The immediate focus is human and robotic exploration of the Earth/Moon system,but extends to the exploration of Mars as well. Potential beneficiaries of space expl orationare identified in broad societal sectors. An analysis of these stakeholders, their values andneeds leads to the development of a comprehensive set of space exploration objectives thataddress those needs. The relative priority of exploration obj ectives is weighted usinginformation about stakeholder characteristics, values, and their role and place in theexploration value stream. The weighted exploration objectives can then be used to assess therelative value of different technical system arch itectures, and to design explorationenterprise architecture, attributes and policy frameworks to enable value delivery to societalstakeholders. Ultimately, through stakeholders’ continuing support, sustainable spaceexploration will be delivered.

A systems and concurrent engineering framework for the integrated development of space products

Abstract This paper proposes a framework for the integrated development of space products. The framework is called ‘total view framework’ because it provides the total set of product, process and organisation elements and their interactions from the outset in the development process. It uses systems engineering (SE) and concurrent engineering (CE) in an integrated manner, as part of the same framework. The framework extends the application of the SE process to life cycle processes and their performing organisations and applies CE at all levels of the hierarchical product breakdown structure. The ‘total view framework’ is supported by a method, called ‘concurrent structured analysis method’, that consists of the three analysis processes: requirements, functional and physical. These processes mirror the bulk of the SE process and are applied concurrently to product, process and organisations. The outputs of the method are requirements, functional attributes, physical attributes and the interactions among them. These outputs are then analysed using a clustering algorithm and a complexity metric based on cohesion and coupling shows the clustering effects.

Knowledge-based integrated Production Management Model applied to automotive companies

This paper aims to examine the relevance of a production management model, in the shop-floor operations environment, that integrates the dimensions of production organisation (lean and mass production), work organisation (enriched and semi-autonomous groups) and knowledge management. A theoretical model has been applied to automotive companies to verify model adherence. Each of those dimensions has been described by factors. Shop-floor personnel interviews were conducted to confirm the factors relevance to that company. Results have shown that the model represented the reality of those companies concerning the researched dimensions. The factors allow managers to promote a favourable context for knowledge sharing.

An approach to lean product development planning

A product development system (PDS) is based on two pillars: “do the thing right” and “do the right thing”. While the former leads to operational efficiency and waste reduction, the latter guarantees the fulfillment of all stakeholders needs. In this context, Toyota’s PDS has a superior performance. The lack of formalization of the Toyota PDS system, though, makes it difficult to replicate. Research on this system has resulted in the identification of several principles, tools and techniques, but did not present a way to make them systematic. This paper aims to propose a systematic way to make the lean engineering product development planning. The method allows the creation of an activity network, which provides at the same time value creation and waste reduction. The first part of the paper identifies the needs to the lean development planning. In sequence the method conception is presented. Finally the method is evaluated against the identified needs and improvement opportunities observed on an aerospace product development example.

Complex Systems Developed with System Concurrent Engineering

In fields such as space, aeronautics, mobility, telecommunications, banking, or defense, systems are becoming increasingly complex, consisting of a network of interrelated and interacting components, with significant heterogeneity and diverse lifecycles. The need for continuous changes in product, process and organization in order to keep manufacturing business competitiveness, make these segments seek to apply methods to innovate and develop their complex products and services with lower costs, improved productivity and quality, and in less lead-time. This paper presents the integrated and concurrent development of a complex product and their performing organizations with System Concurrent Engineering approach that performs stakeholder analysis, requirements analysis, functional analysis and implementation architecture analysis, simultaneously, for the product, its life cycle processes and their performing organization at all levels of the product hierarchy. In order to demonstrate the System Concurrent Engineering approach and the methodology, this paper shows a Satellite Container (Mechanical Ground Support Equipments – MGSE) as example of a complex systems development.

Towards Automatic Systems Architecting

This article intends to shed new light on the system design process. We here suggest the possibility of combining simulation features of an executable meta-language called Object-Process Network (OPN) with the descriptive power of well-known modeling languages such as Object-Process Methodology (OPM), Structured Analysis (SA) or SysML. In the Systems Architecture domain, a great issue one always faces is the great number of options to be considered when designing a system. We must keep in mind that modeling the space of options is actually different from modeling the system of interest. The traditional modeling tools allow us to specify a unique solution, when we should consider the whole set of feasible architectures. On the other hand, OPN is able to help architects to assess all these possible configurations but, as a decision-support tool, it doesn’t offer the descriptive power OPM, SA and SysML do.

Product customisation through postponement and CE tools integration in an aerospace company

This paper aims to demonstrate a method to implement a product customisation strategy in an aerospace company through the integration between postponement and CE tools: