Concurrent Engineering : Shortening Lead Times, Raising Quality, and Lowering Costs

By simultaneously examining the concerns of design, production, purchasing, finance, and marketing from the very first stages of product planning, concurrent engineering makes doing it right the first time the rule instead of the exception. This should be the first book managers read when they are ready to eliminate waste in the product development process.

An introductory handbook, it gives managers 16 clear guidelines for achieving concurrent engineering and contains abundant case studies of Japanese, U.S., and European company success stories.

The book also:
Defines the concurrent engineering task force as a full-time, multidisciplinary unit of operation.
Discusses the necessary interdependence of concurrent engineering, Quality Function Deployment, Total Quality Control, and CAD/CAM.
Shows how concurrent engineering can be structured to fit your company and used to gain flexibility and efficiency.

Illustrations
Publisher%u2019s Message
Acknowledgments

Part 1 : Tremendous Gains
Chapter 1 : The Need for Change
Chapter 2 : Quickening Change
Chapter 3 : The Key to Japanese Success
Chapter 4 : North American Pioneers
Chapter 5 : CE in The European Automobile Industry

Part 2 : Tools and Techniques
Chapter 6 : Management in Control of Product Development
Chapter 7 : Total Quality Control Becomes A Reality
Chapter 8 : Concurrent Engineering Enhances Design
Chapter 9 : Easier Production, Fewer Failures
Chapter 10 : Robust Products for Manufacture
Chapter 11 : Concurrent Engineering is Wasted without CAD/CAM
Chapter 12 : Concurrent Engineering Makes Friends with Manufacturing
Chapter 13 : Customer-Driven Vendors

Part 3 : Making It Happen
Chapter 14 : Starting Concurrent Engineering
Chapter 15 : Managing Concurrent Engineering
Chapter 16 : Surprise and Shorter Product Lives
Chapter 17 : Future Concurrent Engineering

Bibliography
About The Author
Index