The application of concurrent engineering in small to medium enterprises

Summary for only given. Concurrent engineering has been developed and practiced by large multi-national companies working in consumer oriented industries. As a result, the implementation methods, tools and techniques have been geared towards these industries. Some of these methods, tools and techniques, cannot be easily applied in small to medium sized companies in traditional industries. During the world recession of the early 1990s, it became clear to the 600 Group management that the company must adopt a market led approach and that it must have the ability to react quickly to the market needs. Concurrent engineering was recognized as the philosophy that would enable rapid new product introduction. Three issues were fundamental to 600 Lathes Concurrent Engineering practice, project initiation, involving all functional disciplines, teamwork, and risk management. It was necessary to adapt the general principles to use them in a medium sized manufacturing company. None of the concurrent engineering techniques were used formally. However, the underlying philosophies were informally used to good effect. Teamwork made the most significant contribution. Inspite of not formally using some of the recognised tools and techniques of concurrent engineering, for example, quality function deployment (QFD) and failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA), the application of the generic principles resulted in significant benefits. The use of parallel work philosophy in a team environment reduced the product introduction lead-time by 30% and the cost by a third.