Five Insights in Effectively Managing Product Development

Development engineers are most valued for their excellence in physical product development, but on the flipside, project managers face problems when trying to fit them into effectively running development processes. Because of the advantages of Lean Management in production (Lean Production), process managers often try to transfer lean principles directly to development processes, not considering that major differences exist between well-described production processes and new product development processes which include much more uncertainty and risk. Nevertheless, several lean principals are applicable in product development. This paper describes five lean development insights (LDIs) which were found when optimizing an entire product realization process. Lean principles have been examined and then translated to collaboration between product development and tool manufacturing at a globally operating German family-run company. These LDIs are meant to help project and process managers, consultants and developers to rethink their ways of organizing product development. The application of these insights will result in increased transparency, intensified collaboration, improved processes and quality, shortened lead times, and also eliminate waste.