Antecedents and outcomes of manufacturability in integrated product development
International Journal of Operations & Production Management
ISSN: 0144-3577
Article publication date: 20 July 2010
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present a model linking the role of design engineers to shared team knowledge, enhanced manufacturability, and product development outcomes. New product manufacturability is a quality of the product design that indicates the ease and reliability by which an organization develops products by using its manufacturing and supply chain resources.
Design/methodology/approach
The model is tested using a sample of 205 product development projects from firms in the USA and Canada.
Findings
The findings of the large‐scale empirical study suggest that by facilitating informing practices among functional specialists, design engineers help translate a functional portrayal of the product in terms of customer attributes, to a form description in terms of engineering characteristics, and then to a fabrication view in terms of manufacturing processes.
Practical implications
New product manufacturability can be a distinctive competency that provides competitive advantage by lowering costs, improving customer value, and speeding products to market.
Originality/value
In contrast to previous research that showed that role changes of design engineers have a narrow impact on development productivity (e.g. improving resource allocation), this paper suggests that these role changes of design engineers have a much broader impact on manufacturability and, through this, improve manufacturing cost, time‐to‐market, and value‐to‐customers.
Keywords
Citation
Doll, W.J., Hong, P. and Nahm, A. (2010), "Antecedents and outcomes of manufacturability in integrated product development", International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Vol. 30 No. 8, pp. 821-852. https://doi.org/10.1108/01443571011068180
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2010, Emerald Group Publishing Limited