Joze Duhovnik

Development of New Products in Small Companies

Problems in the development of new products in small and mid-sized companies are analyzed in the following paper. Concurrent engineering methods known to date for the development of new products are tested within the framework of human and organizational capacities. The methodologies of 3-T looping and three-level team structure were especially tested. It was established that a two-level organization is more suitable for small companies. Due to requirements for product complexity, it was found that n-T looping methodology should be implemented. In the case of complex products (the methodology was tested on a mini-loader), it turns out that n is in the range of 7 to 9 members. Such a large team is still manageable and acts in an integrative manner to achieve the goal, product development. In the matrix analysis of activities, the use of a supplemented methodology was justified and proven for each phase of product development.

Identification and optimization of key process parameters in noncontact laser scanning for reverse engineering

This Extended Technical Note shows that the final accuracy level of reverse engineered surfaces depends on scanning distance and scanning angle of the laser beam, hence it also depends on the morphology of the scanned objects. On scanning strongly curved objects, such as the ones with free form surfaces, the distance and impact angle of the laser beam are changing continuously during the scanning process. On the basis of these, two critical parameters are specified for the design model, which make it possible to predict these two factors in advance, depending on the morphology of the scanned object. First, a mathematical-statistical design model of the scanning process is generated, which relies on ANOVA (analysis of variance) and DOE (design of experiments). In the next step, a fitness function is optimized by the genetic algorithm (GA) program. This optimization improves the accuracy of the final scanned surfaces, in terms of the minimum standard deviation values of reverse engineered 3D surface model. The proposed approach was confirmed in a case study, which is presented at the end of this Technical Note.

Reflections of Teaching Global Product Realization in Academic Virtual Enterprise

To offer new ways of learning for university students, and to create arrangements for pedagogical research, we organized a series of engineering design courses, called Global Product Realization, in the past years. These courses made it possible for the organizers to try out alternative educational arrangements and pedagogical designs. Considering the impressions of both the students and the educators, this paper summarizes the organizational, professional, technological, pedagogical, and practical experiences with the 2003 spring semester course. The organization of this videoconferencing-based international course needed much more efforts than that of a regular course. During the years the concept of academic virtual enterprise has gradually been implemented as a dedicated active learning environment. In this virtual enterprise the students worked together with many international partners on real-life design problems. The use of videoconferencing facilities was not the objective of the course, but the means of achieving more important educational goals. The course was demanding and the students had to work really hard to aggregate the necessary knowledge, to develop their skills, and finally fulfill the expectations of the core industrial company. The results were very impressive and the students had a lot of fun throughout the course, which prepared them for an effective operation in virtual enterprises.Copyright

Development of innovative products in a small and medium size enterprise

Problems in the development of new products in small and mid-sized companies (SMEs) are analysed. Concurrent engineering methods known to date for the development of new products are tested within the framework of human and organisational capacities. The methodologies of 3-T looping and three-level team structure were especially tested. It was established that a two-level organisation is more suitable for small companies. Due to requirements for product complexity, it was found that n-T looping methodology should be implemented. In the case of complex products (the methodology was tested on a mini-loader), it turns out that n is in the range of seven to nine members. Such a large team is still manageable and acts in an integrative manner to achieve the goal, i.e. new product development. In the matrix analysis of activities, the use of supplemented methodology was justified and proven for each phase of product development.

Towards a Better Understanding of the Methodological Characteristics of Engineering Design Research

The goal of this paper is to interpret the methodological characteristics of design research. Design science is in a specific epistemic relationship with natural, formal, human, social, and applied sciences. Although design science explores and generates knowledge on its own, these sciences are the major sources of design knowledge. Therefore, design research shares many characteristics with the source sciences, but it also has its own features. First, the platform of reasoning of the study is clarified. Afterwards, the various underpinning philosophical assumptions, and the nature of research conducted in the source sciences and in design science are analyzed. It has been found that the distinguishing characteristics of design research are that it is view-dependent, largely purpose-driven, usually done with a compound focus, normatively instrumental, and strongly influenced by participatory approaches.© 2005 ASME

The effect of R&D-marketing integration on NPD success - the case of SMEs in the growing economy of Slovenia

This paper investigates the effect of R&D-marketing integration in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in growing economies. In particular, the effects of integration mechanisms (formalisation, centralisation and organisational climate) on cross-functional integration gap and new product development (NPD) success are analysed. Data from Slovenian SMEs were collected through a questionnaire survey. The effect of R&D-marketing integration on NPD success was analysed with factor analysis, correlations analysis and partial least square analysis. The results of the study demonstrate similar effects of organisational climate on the cross-functional integration gap and NPD success in Slovenia as reported in Western countries. Significant direct effects of formalisation and organisational climate on NPD success are also found. Centralisation, however, has no significant effect, neither on the cross-functional integration gap nor on NPD success. This study contributes to R&D-marketing integration research by providing a modified set of integration mechanisms effects on R&D-marketing integration and NPD success for SMEs. The model can be applied to SMEs in growing economies for the assessment of R&D-marketing integration in order to increase NPD success.

Expert systems in conceptual phase of mechanical engineering design

The paper presents an engineering design model for innovative design (i.e. variation of working principles), which represents a deep knowledge of an expert system for conceptual configuring of technical systems (i.e. from simple to complex ones). The knowledge base contains functional descriptions of building blocks (i.e. components of different level of complexity). An expert system can also extract functional structures which are then used as shallow knowledge for partial alteration of technical systems. A flexible functional structure is used to manage models of shape properly.

Principles of Individual and Small-Quantity Production Processes

Processes in individual and mass production are governed by certain principles which need to be taken into account as early as the conceptual design phase. A comprehensive analysis of processes in tool production has shown that production also needs to be considered in remodeling or the introduction of concurrent engineering. The paper discusses the principles of the manufacturing pro cess which affect the conditions in concurrent engineering. Computer simulation was used to analyze the process of tool production at a toolmaking shop. The model is based on the machine pool of the plant, the product structure and the machining procedure. The tool parts are machined on various machines and undergo various operations in Petri net based simulation. The parameters affecting the process were varied during the simulation, and the results, such as flow times, machine utilization and plant capacity were studied. These results were interpreted in terms of costs per product unit. The principles of manufacturing processes and the influence of the variation of machining times under different conditions were estab lished. The principles of production were taken into account in dividing projects into three levels.

Engineering Change Management in Distruted Environment with PDM/PLM Support

Globalization has dramatically changed the way in which products are produced by manufactures of all sizes. Small to medium sized organizations are now just as likely to engage in global outsourcing projects as large multinational teams (Tosse, 2005). Global distributed teams need to effectively communicate and collaborate throughout the entire product development process to produce innovative products of the highest quality in the shortest period of time. In industry, engineering change management (ECM) is recognized as a problem that receives too little attention relative to its importance. Wright’s (Wright, 1997) conclusion is that from the manufacturing perspective ECM is a disturbance obstructing smooth product manufacture, but such a perspective ignores ECM’s capacity to provide the incentive for product improvement. Wright’s conclusion is that a number of coordinated research programs are required to establish the ground rules for maximizing the product design benefits from EC activity. Many and especially late ECs are very costly for any development project. ECs consume one third to one half of the total engineering capacity and represent 20 to 50 % of total tool costs (Terwiesch & Loch, 1999). The key contributors to long EC lead times are: complex approval process, snowballing changes, scarce capacity and organizational issues. Loch (Loch & Terwiesch, 1999) analyzed the process of administering engineering chain orders within a large vehicle development project. Despite the tremendous time pressure in development projects, EC pr ocess lead times are in the order of several weeks, months and even over one year (Loch & Terwiesch, 1999). A detailed analysis has shown a low proportion of value-added time in the EC process – less than 8.5 %. An EC spends most of its lifetime waiting for further processing. Loch suggests the following improvement strategies in order to reduce EC lead time: flexible capacity, balanced workloads, merged tasks and sharing resources (pooling).