Product Development Process Implementation - Exploratory Case Studies in Construction and Manufacturing

Patricia Tzortzopoulos1, Martin Betts2 & Rachel Cooper3

1M.Sc., Ph.D. student, School of Construction and Property Management, University of Salford, Bridgewater Building, Salford, Greater Manchester, M7 9NU, UK, Tel:+ 44 (0161) 2954284 FAX + 44 (0161) 2955011, e-mail: [email protected]
2BSc, Ph.D., FCIOB, FRSA, Head of School of Construction and Property Management, University of Salford, Bridgewater Building, Salford, Greater Manchester, M7 9NU, UK, FAX + 44 (0161) 2955011, e-mail: [email protected]
3Ph.D., Research Centre for Design, University of Salford, Centenary Building, Peru Street, Salford, Greater Manchester, M3 6 EQ, UK, Tel: +44 (0161) 295 6146, e-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

The problems of construction are well known (Egan et al., 1998). The increasing complexity of modern buildings, rising pressures for reducing process lead-time and costs, and the growing necessity of fulfilling client requirements lead to an everincreasing importance of product development processes (PDP). The construction industry has been trying to improve its processes for many years. This led to the development of a number of process models, which are important management tools for understanding how value is delivered to customers (Winch and Carr, 2001) and to suggest improvements. Unfortunately, the implementation of these models in practice is very slow and until now there are no measurable and demonstrable improvements resulting from these process models. Thus, there is a need of a better understanding of the issues involved in implementing product development processes. The aim of this paper is to explore the implementation of process models within construction and manufacturing companies. It presents the results of exploratory case studies, which are part of an ongoing PhD research. The main results describe that there is clarity of the importance and methods used to develop process models, but little information is available either in the literature or within companies on how processes can be implemented. Furthermore, people issues are pointed out as the main barriers to implementation.

Keywords

New product development, process, implementation.

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Reference

Tzortzopoulos, P. , Betts, M. & Cooper, R. 2002. Product Development Process Implementation - Exploratory Case Studies in Construction and Manufacturing, 10th Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction , -. doi.org/

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