CHAPTER 1

Introduction to concurrent
• •
engIneerIng
c. S. Syan

1.1 BACKGROUND

Throughout the world for the past two decades, all engineering com-
panies have faced similar challenges. These are ever more demanding
customers, rapid technological change, environmental issues, competi-
tive pressures on quality and cost, and shorter time to market with
additional new product features. This is all happening with the majority
of the Western world's common economic background of slow growth,
excess capacity, increasing legislation compliance, demographic
changes, market complexity and increasing globalization of industries.
In many cases the pace was set by the Japanese, who progressively
made inroads in North America and Europe and in some cases dominated
chosen markets. The list of these chosen markets became longer year by
year. Western companies were slow to recognize the basis of Japanese
success, but eventually responded with a whole string of actions
including CAD/CAE/CAM/CIM, robotics, automation, value analysis,
quality programmes, information technology and so on. They sought to
offset a perceived weakness - their workforces - by building on their
apparent strength - technology, particularly computer-based tech-
nology.
This expensive technology was largely ineffective, because the new
tools were used with existing structures, practices and attitudes. Products
continued to arrive in the market place at unsatisfactory quality levels,
and often too late to achieve sales and profit objectives. Their efforts were
also undermined by short-term successes during market booms. There
were also brief respites as a result of the appreciating yen, but the
Japanese overcame this by aggressive cost reduction programmes and by
investments in production capacity outside Japan - sometimes in
countries with lower labour costs, sometimes in the key sales territories.
In the 1980s, companies started to feel the influence of large multi-
national organizations on the markets, increased product complexities

C. S. Syan et al. (eds.), Concurrent Engineering

© Chapman & Hall 1994
4 Introduction to concurrent engineering

and new developments in innovative technologies. This directly affected

the organization's ability to develop and introduce new products to the
market. This was especially true for the electronics industry, where
product lives were reducing significantly.
To compete successfully, companies have to continuously keep reduc-
ing development times and sustain improvements in their products and
their quality. The need for better quality and shorter product develop-
ment lead times is now widely acknowledged and the realization that the
concurrent engineering approach offers the best way of achieving these
objectives has also become a necessary company strategy.

1.2 SEQUENTIAL ENGINEERING

In order to understand eE, it is useful to describe the traditional

introduction and product development practice of the majority of the
Western world's manufacturing companies. Typically, in a manufac-
turing organization, marketing identifies the need for new products,
price ranges and their expected performance from customers or potential
consumers. Design and engineering receive loose specifications and
commonly work alone developing the technical requirements (e.g.
materials and size) and final design detail as well as the associated
documentation such as drawings and bills of materials etc.
As design is carried out in relative isolation, manufacturing, test,
quality and service functions only see the design in an almost complete
state. As the process is sequential in progression, each stage of product
development following completion of the previous stage, it is commonly
known as sequential engineering. Since the design for any new product
arrives in the manufacturing department with about as much warning
and involvement as if it had been thrown over the factory wall, it is also
commonly known as 'over the wall engineering'. Figure 1.1 illustrates the
sequential process of new product development, where each design stage
starts only when the previous one is completed. This type of approach is
also known by many other names, including serial engineering, time-
phased engineering, and the chimney method.

Information flow
•
Engineering /
Design

Errors. changes and corrections

•
Fig.1.1 The sequential engineering process.