Jennifer A. Farris

Lean Product Development Research: Current State and Future Directions

Abstract: Lean Product Development (LPD) is one of the leading approaches currently being adopted by organizations attempting to maximize value, increase quality, shorten lead times, and lower costs for product development (PD) processes; however, it appears that the mere translation of lean manufacturing principles into PD settings does not necessarily equate to an effective lean PD process, and many organizations continue to struggle to deploy LPD. In order to better understand the theoretical content of LPD research, as well as the potential reasons for implementation difficulties, this article presents results from a systematic review of the LPD literature over the past 21 years. Findings are used to identify trends and themes in the current research, areas for future research, and implications for practicing engineering managers. In particular, we find that current themes in LPD research can be mapped to seven knowledge domains, and we identify practices and principles that have been proposed for dealing with core problems, as well as future research needs, within each of these domains.

Learning From Less Successful Kaizen Events: A Case Study

Abstract: This paper describes results from an ongoing research program focused on identifying determinants of Kaizen event effectiveness, both in terms of initial event outcomes and the sustainability of outcomes. Although anecdotal published accounts suggest that increasing numbers of companies are using Kaizen events, and that these projects can result in substantial improvement in key business metrics, there is a lack of systematic research on Kaizen events. A particular weakness of the current published accounts is the lack of attention to less successful events – only strongly successful applications of Kaizen events receive much coverage in the accounts; however, the organizational learning literature suggests that understanding less successful cases is a key component of organizational learning. We present a case study from a less successful Kaizen event to demonstrate how the case study event contributed to organizational learning. We also present a set of methods and measures that can be used by practicing engineering managers and engineering management researchers to evaluate and analyze Kaizen event performance. The implications of the case study event for the current body of knowledge on Kaizen events are also examined, and, finally, directions for future research are described.

Kaizen events and organizational performance: a field study

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe the application of an assessment methodology to empirically measure and evaluate the impact of kaizen events on organizational performance, including human resource outcomes.Design/methodology/approach – A field study of two kaizen events held within a single organization utilizing both quantitative (survey) and qualitative (interviews and organizational documents) data was conducted. Sustainability of outcomes was also studied.Findings – This study empirically illustrates that, even within a single organization, kaizen events may have varied success. Management support was found to be related to human resource outcomes. Positive attitudes at the conclusion of a successful event, however, did not automatically translate to sustained improvements. Additionally, the kaizen event team with a more limited scope was better able to meet targeted business objectives.Originality/value – The methodology described can assess the impact of kaizen events on business ...

A Multilevel Framework for Lean Product Development System Design

Abstract: Organizations today face intense and growing pressure to reduce cost, decrease time to market, and maximize stakeholder value in product development (PD). Many organizations have adopted lean product development (LPD) methods in an attempt to improve their PD systems; however, despite two decades of research, there is still much less understanding of the characteristics of effective LPD systems than of effective lean manufacturing systems. LPD systems are complex systems involving multiple organizational levels; however, most LPD research to date has focused only on a single level. There is currently a lack of understanding of the interactions between levels and effective means for managing these interactions. In this article, we propose a multilevel framework designed to capture key LPD system principles at the functional, project, and portfolio levels; tools and practices for implementing principles at each level; and approaches for managing the interactions between levels. A longitudinal case study is used to expand and refine a conceptual framework developed through literature review. Future research should focus on further validating the framework and applying the framework to improve LPD system design.

A framework for designing, managing, and improving Kaizen event programs

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce a framework for the design and management of a Kaizen event program where short‐term improvement projects (Kaizen events) are systematically used to introduce rapid change in targeted work areas, often relying on lean work system principles.Design/methodology/approach – To develop the framework and the assessment approach, a comprehensive literature review and a field study of Kaizen event programs in three organizations were conducted. To illustrate the potential usefulness of the framework and the assessment approach, this paper presents a case study of how the framework was applied to design and improve a Kaizen event program in the Belgian Armed Forces.Findings – Use of the framework as a design and assessment tool appeared to make the Kaizen event program more effective in the case study organization. Specific areas of improvement identified included: clearly defining event goals, scheduling extended follow‐up activities, defining measures to track ...

Characteristics of established kaizen event programs: an empirical study

Purpose – Despite the increased adoption and reported benefits of kaizen event (KE) programs, there is a lack of empirical research documenting their design, implementation and outcomes, as well as what designs may be more vs less effective. This paper aims to present an empirical study describing the characteristics, including outcomes achieved, program attributes, and implementation problems, of 16 established KE programs. Although this study is primarily exploratory and descriptive, the goal is to identify areas for future research, including attributes that appear to support or detract from program success, and the outcomes and implementation problems experienced.Design/methodology/approach – Using semi‐structured interviews, qualitative data were collected to characterize established KE programs in 16 manufacturing, service, and government organizations. The data were examined using content analysis to identify the most frequent codes for each characteristic, which were then compared to KE program ch...

Improving Product Development Performance Through Iteration Front-Loading

Iteration is a central issue in the management of product development (PD) projects. Iteration is often recognized as a major cause of increased PD lead time and cost, a key driver of schedule risk, and a primary source of uncertainties in the commitment of resources. However, iteration, when planned and managed effectively, can also be used to overcome the uncertainties inherent in interdependent development activities, and to thereby improve and accelerate PD projects. In this paper, we present a methodology that engineering managers can use to identify process architectures which may provide more effectively structured iterations. The methodology determines the suggested process architecture by first eliminating any unbeneficial iterative loops, if they exist, through the application of existing design structure matrix methods, and, then, by front-loading iterations in organizing the other loops through the application of a group formation algorithm. To evaluate the effectiveness of our proposed method, we compare its performance with that of other partitioning and sequencing algorithms also concerned with the ordering of activities within iterative blocks, and also evaluate its performance when used in conjunction with these other algorithms. Specifically, we apply these methods to four examples and use simulation modeling to evaluate the performance of the process architectures suggested by the different methods. Based on the four initial examples, it does appear that our methodology has significant potential to improve the management of PD projects with uncertain iterations by supporting systematic loop pattern explorations and front-loading. Study limitations and areas for future research are also discussed.

A structured approach for assessing the effectiveness of engineering design tools in new product development

Abstract: This article presents an approach for assessing the effectiveness of engineering design tools applied within new product development (NPD). In this approach both the quality of the process used to apply the design tool and the quality of outputs generated by the design tool are assessed. The approach described was developed and piloted in an engineer-to-order (ETO) company. The specific assessment instruments created are also presented. Future work will include investigating the use of the approach for additional design tools and analyzing how design tool effectiveness relates to overall product launch effectiveness.

Kaizen Events: Assessing the Existing Literature and Convergence of Practices

Abstract: With the increasing popularity of Kaizen events as a process improvement initiative, the amount of Kaizen event literature has also increased. This article includes a systematic literature review of the Kaizen event body of knowledge, assessing the quality of the literature and synthesizing the literature to find convergent, variant, and divergent practices. The findings indicate that the literature is dominated by trade press and industry case works, with a growing number of academic publications. Several identified themes from the data synthesis were convergent, e.g., the importance of team member authority/autonomy and having a well-defined problem scope, while others were divergent, e.g., the level of functional and hierarchical heterogeneity and Kaizen event deployment. In order to advance the Kaizen event body of knowledge, future research should include more systematic academic investigations and theory-testing works, particularly of these divergent findings.

Improving the performance review process

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe and illustrate an application of a structured approach to assess and improve an organizations performance measurement review process.Design/methodology/approach – This approach was implemented within an ongoing action research project in a large telecommunications organization. Assessment elements were defined based on literature review, and the assessment approach was designed based on performance excellence frameworks such as Baldrige and EFQM. Data collection included interviews, observations, and document review, and an external assessment team was used.Findings – The approach can be used to generate useful and actionable feedback for leadership to increase the effectiveness of the performance measurement review process and can also be used as a reference framework for establishing an effective performance review process initially.Originality/value – This paper provides a comprehensive yet detailed methodology for assessing the performance review pro...