Developing appropriate capabilities to communicate the project requirements, tasks and status is key for achieving success. Airbus Defence and Space has committed to implement Visual Management at different levels of the organisation, led by the CEO and all the C-Suite. Different tools such as the workflow control board and the SQCDP has been put together, creating a collaborative culture that supports the company in achieving...
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Interface, based in LaGrange, Georgia, USA and the world’s largest manufacturer and marketer of modular carpets, kicked-off its new sustainability business strategy Mission Zero in 1994, established by its chairman and CEO. As part of the Mission Zero, Interface also launched the Lean Product Development Journey aiming to continuously improve the end to end product development process to reach the Mission Zero’s goal by 2020. Interface...
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A world leader in the design, manufacture, and service of aircraft engines and auxiliary power units, Pratt & Whitney is headquartered in East Hartford, Connecticut, USA. Excellence is one of seven Pratt & Whitney’s (P&W) core values. To continuously achieve excellence, knowing what the organization needs to learn and close the knowledge gaps quickly is an important advantage. Decision mapping is a technique that helps to...
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Interface, a modular carpet manufacturer from LaGrange, Georgia, USA started its Lean Product Development Journey as part of the new sustainability business strategy, a Directive Mission Zero established by its chairman and CEO in 1994. [su_spacer size="20"] To streamline the product development processes, Interface conducted Value Stream Mapping (VSM) workshops revealing several improvement opportunities enabling them to build an action plan to improve their product development process. [su_spacer...
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Pratt & Whitney, part of UTC (United Technologies Corporation) headquartered in East Hartford, Connecticut, USA, is a world leader in the design, manufacture, and service of aircraft engines and auxiliary power units. To continuously deliver excellence to the customers, a well-defined and up-to-date metrics needs to be in place. [su_spacer size="20"] [row] [column lg="9" md="12" sm="12" xs="12" ] Pratt & Whitney (part of United Technologies Corporation - UTC) is a...
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In the second half of 2013, CMI Defence, a weapons systems manufacturer from Belgium, started to explore Set-Based Concurrent Engineering (SBCE), its advantages, principles and tools associated with the approach. This is not the first time CMI Defence came across SBCE, but it was the first time they committed to it. The implementation was kicked-off at the engineering department, later followed by a first round...
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Pratt & Whitney, a world leader in the design, manufacture, and service of aircraft engines and auxiliary power units is headquartered in East Hartford, Connecticut, USA. [su_spacer size="20"] Excellence is one of seven Pratt & Whitney’s (P&W) core values. With the aim to continuously improve the company’s processes and ensure excellence is represented in all and every product and service its customers receive, P&W applies lean product...
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Kane Alward is General Manager of Product Development at Fisher & Paykel Appliances; a company that designs, develops and produces premium home appliances for kitchen and laundry. Being responsible for over 350 product development professionals, Kane has years of hands-on experience from product and technology strategy to lean leadership and implementation for a global business with revenue over $1 Billion.
Fisher & Paykel Appliances completely changed from stage-gate to a lean “Learning-First” Product Development philosophy and system in 2006. Since then, the company’s 350 designers, engineers, and scientists have driven significant improvements in Product Development productivity and quality from a lean focus on the knowledge required to deliver value to the customer.
Innovations are like people: they are born, they continuously grow, they saturate, and decline. In the past 15 years, a product’s life cycle has shortened fourfold. At the same time, 6 out of 7 innovation projects never reach the market. This means innovation is more essential than ever, but also remains rather risky. . According to the Accenture study, 70% of CEOs identified innovation as strategic, while...
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During my career, I have often been confronted with a range of issues which almost seem insurmountable to my teams. By asking this one question, “what is your core technology and is it fully understood”? the scale of the issues can be reduced significantly. This article will discuss this in detail and aims to show the significant benefits of understanding the core. I will use an actual example to allow you to draw comparisons to your business.
