An Investigation of Nature of the Working Relationship Between Product Design and Production Functions in Manufacturing Companies. Available in 2 volumes.

Abstract

This thesis reports the results of a longitudinal study examining the working relationship between product design and production functions in manufacturing companies. It primarily concentrates upon the management of these functions during the course of a new product design. The effective management of interfaces (such as market/design/production) poses rather obscure problems due to a number of operational incompatibilities which in turn arise because of conflicting requirements of these functions. The findings of this study have identified a number of key factors (eg market needs, product cost, project duration, project planning control, inter-departmental communications) which management needs to be concerned with when preparing product specification. Similarly, the research has also shown that in addition to the above factors, management also needs to consider a number of crucial parameters (eg in-house technical expertise, standardisation, modification procedures and design for assembly concept) during the design stage of a new product. These factors have been critically analysed in relation to the effectiveness of new product design performance. In order to examine the design/production relationship during the course of anew product design, the literature relating to new product development as well as the reasons for success and failure of new product designs has been critically reviewed. Following review of literature, specific hypotheses were developed based upon the underlying assumption that the nature of the working relationship between product design and production directly influences the product design performance. To test this assumption, field research was conducted in twenty participating firms. The data, collected through questionnaires, interviews and observations has been presented in the form of Case Studies. The analysis of the data has been compared and contrasted with the relevant published work.