Concurrent engineering and the underlying structure of the design problem

This paper argues that the operationalization of concurrent engineering depends on the underlying structure of the design problem. It makes this argument by looking at existing contingency models of product development and by showing how concurrent engineering is operationalized in three different Japanese industries. The data from the three industries suggest that the three existing contingency models of product development do not fully represent the variety of ways in which the underlying structure of the design problem can be characterized and thus the ways in which concurrent engineering can be operationalized.