Hannu Karkkainen

Ten tools for customer-driven product development in industrial companies

Abstract Need assessment is a critical success factor of product and business development in all companies. In this paper we present 10 tools for customer-driven product and business development for companies producing industrial products. The tools help to clarify the needs and objectives of customers and to ensure that customer needs are considered when making development decisions in the different phases of product development. These tools were developed in a two-year project with small and medium-sized companies. In our paper we describe important requirements for the development of the tool set, give a short description of the tools and their usability, and introduce different practical ways to support the selection of tools.

Role of careful customer need assessment in product innovation management—empirical analysis

Abstract The purpose of this study was to determine the important problems and development needs of product innovation management in five manufacturing companies, particularly focusing on studying the role and importance of customer need assessment in product innovation management. The results indicate that customer need assessment is one of the major development needs in the product innovation management of the studied business-to-business companies. The results gained from the multi-function analysis of the companies facilitate the understanding of product innovation as a complex system that is affected in various ways by the success of customer need assessment. The report for instance describes what kinds of problems and self-reinforcing vicious loops, closely connected with the success of customer need analysis, are involved in product innovation management.

A GDSS based approach for the assessment of customer needs in industrial markets

Abstract Need assessment is a critical success factor of product development in all companies; developing the right product requires an accurate understanding of customer needs. All available information about customer needs should be carefully assessed in the early phases of product development. In this paper we study the usefulness and usability of a Group Decision Support Systems (GDSS) in the assessment of customers’ needs in industrial companies. We studied two real-world need assessment cases carried out in cooperation with a Finnish telecommunications company. These cases focused on the assessment of the lead users’ needs for new types of applications based on wireless technologies. GDSS technology offered many benefits for promoting the assessment of industrial customer needs. These case experiences will be described more profoundly in this paper.

Problems and promotion of R&D project selection in Finnish high-tech manufacturing companies

Summary form only given. Selection of right R&D projects is vital for the success of development of new products. According to literature, R&D project selection is one of the weakest carried out tasks in R&D management. Many factors affecting the selection problems are interlinked with each other. Few studies have analyzed practically both the problems and their causes in R&D project selection. It is necessary to recognize and analyze both the causes and effects of selection problems to effectively promote R&D project selection. In this study, we comprehensively analyzed important causes and effects of selection problems in Finnish high-tech companies and clarified means to solve these problems. The developed analysis approach consisted of semistructured interviews, frequency analyses and causal analyses. Five medium and large-sized Finnish high-tech manufacturing companies operating in metal and electronic industries took part in this analysis. In each studied company, about ten persons from different departments participating in R&D selection were interviewed. Causal maps were exploited to illustrate and analyze the relationships of selection problems, the causes and effects of these problems and the possible negative loops concerning the selection from the standpoint of the whole company. Effective means to decrease and eliminate selection problems were clarified based on the causal maps of the studied companies and their comparison.

Systems thinking and learning in innovation process

The success of a company is increasingly dependent on the innovations and new knowledge it can create. The growing knowledge intensiveness of many industries emphasises the significance of the creation of new knowledge and organisational learning. Learning has become more important than ever before, when companies try to find the fit between their operations, their products and the changing business environment. In the context of learning and knowledge creation, systems thinking is currently widely recognised as an area of growing importance particularly within the area of innovation research. Only few papers that dealt directly with this specific issue were found in the current literature.

Converter-fed induction motor losses in different operating points

The use of converters to feed the motors instead of the direct-on-line supply has increased the need to understand the losses of the induction machine in different operating points. Most of the earlier studies have focused on the losses with the nominal supply frequency while this study covers most of the frequency-torque plane below nominal values. A 15 kW standard squirrel-cage machines losses are analyzed in 16 different operating points with torque values of 25 %, 50 %, 75 % and 100 % of motor rated torque and supply frequency values of 25 %, 50 %, 75 % and 100 % of rated motor frequency. Measurements in all 16 operating points are made with both sinusoidal generator supply and with frequency converter supply.

PWM power distribution and switching frequency analysis in motor drives

The pulse-width-modulation is used to create a desired amplitude and frequency voltage waveform to feed the motor in different operating points. There are different modulation methods of how to create the desired waveforms. In this paper, waveforms recorded from two-level voltage-source converters with three different modulation methods are analyzed. The voltage and current waveforms are transformed to the frequency domain and the power distribution in the frequency domain is examined. An algorithm to extract the true applied switching frequency is presented. The analysis is performed using 50 Hz output frequency and the load torque values of 100 %, 75 %, 50 %, 25 % and the no-load condition with all three modulation methods. Finally, the effect of the THD calculation procedure to the THD-value is examined and the THD values are compared to other loss indicators of the motor.

A groupware tool for R&D project selection for distributed company environment

Summary form only given. The management of the early phases of R&D is one of the most challenging tasks the management of a company encounters. R&D project selection is even more challenging, since it is made in a distributed environment, where the departments of a company have their own divergent objectives and strategies. The scattered expertise inside the company needs to be collected and combined to an effective R&D project selection solution. This paper describes the development of a groupware tool for R&D project selection. The tool was developed by combining AHP (analytic hierarchy process) with the groupware abilities of LotusNotes/Domino. A GDSS-laboratory (group decision support system) was utilized during the planning phase of the development to define the requirements for the tool. The tool covers the whole R&D project selection process from idea gathering to the final analysis phase. The tool supports the cooperation of experts from different departments to synthesize their knowledge and to define the best projects in a distributed, global company environment.

Selection of R&D performance measures from the whole company's point of view

Summary form only given. Selecting suitable measures for R&D is a very challenging task for the decision-makers in various organizations. There are several factors influencing the selection of measures from the whole companys standpoint. The aim of this study is to clarify the essential major factors influencing the selection of suitable R&D performance measures. This study focuses on product development. In this study we examine in-process, output and outcome measurement and feedback, i.e. pre evaluation of the R&D process is not discussed. The study deals with the issue at corporate or SBU level, mainly from the standpoint of an industrial manufacturing company operating in the business-to-business environment. In this study we aim to build a more comprehensive view of the major factors. The study has been done in cooperation with five industrial companies, which all have a strong position in the world markets of their own product segments. The analyses of the study are based on wide survey to the literature and interviews of the studied companies. The analyses concentrate on comparisons of the existent and hoped-for measures of the studied companies and measures and aspects from earlier studies. In this study we determine five major factors for selecting suitable R&D measures at company level: corporate strategy and R&D objectives based on the strategy; recognition of R&D impact chain; critical success factors of R&D; purpose of R&D performance measurement; and company-wide R&D contingency factors.

Analyses of modular windings of a traction motor in a hybrid bus

Winding constructions are studied for a traction motor utilized in a hybrid bus. In vehicle applications, acceleration and deceleration require high torque. Thereby high current density is required intermittently while volume is adjusted to minimum. However, mobile converters may have a limited current output. This current amount is usually not enough for heavy drive cycles. Therefore, the authors designed a traction machine, which has two separate windings to be supplied by two separate converters. Therefore, the motors total current may reach higher values. Another important benefit is that the machine can be driven even when one winding or one supply unit is broken. In transportation use this may give the bus driver the possibility to drive to the destination or to a repair workshop. Several separated winding arrangements were designed and simulated with finite element method. A hybrid bus is designed and constructed at Lappeenranta University of Technology and the modular winding motor presented here has been applied in the bus.