Chapter 8 – Manufacturing Development

Publisher Summary This chapter explains several topics with respect to the manufacturing of the new product. Manufacturing development is an integral part of the new product development process. The development of a new product is an interdisciplinary process and involves the integration of multiple disciplines into the development process. The basic philosophy behind the design for manufacture is to design, arrange, and position elements to go together in a preferentially compatible manner. There is no single optimized solution to an effective manufacturing system for all product lines. Each product line within the organization might require its own optimized solution. It explains product configuration and how careful consideration must be given to how the product line is conceptualized and structured taking into consideration the design and manufacturing stability. The certification of manufacturing personnel explains that all systems require training of manufacturing personnel and discusses the certification of the operation stations, refresher training of personnel and explains that inspection is not a substitute for certified training and that handling of critical components is more than a guideline. The importance of field monitoring is discussed as part of field problems and event status monitoring along with a model for quality management. Forecasting explains the link between the customer sales/marketing and manufacturing disciplines along with the importance of materials, labor, and throughput and the requirement for accuracy. Cycle time management explains the importance of planning the lead times, material and workload management, vendor cooperation, and the importance of revenue generation.