Managing mechanisms for collaborative new-product development in the ceramic tile design chain

This paper focuses on improving the management of New-Product Development (NPD) processes within the particular context of a cluster of enterprises that cooperate through a network of intra- and inter-firm relations. Ceramic tile design chains have certain singularities that condition the NPD process, such as the lack of a strong hierarchy, fashion pressure or the existence of different origins for NPD projects. We have studied these particular circumstances in order to tailor Product Life-cycle Management (PLM) tools and some other management mechanisms to fit suitable sectoral reference models. Special emphasis will be placed on PLM templates for structuring and standardizing projects, and also on the roles involved in the process.This work was partially supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología; Dirección General de Investigación under the Plan Nacional de I+D+i programme for Research Promotion (Project DPI2002_02141. CE-TILE). We also acknowledge the help given by Capgemini España S.L.U., TAU Cerámica S.A., Esmalglass S.A., Macer S.A. and Cerámica Kersa S.L. in the new ceramic product design and development pilot experience, which was carried out within the framework of the project

Applied business analytics approach to IT projects – Methodological framework

The design and implementation of a big data project differs from a typical business intelligence project that might be presented concurrently within the same organization. A big data initiative typically triggers a large scale IT project that is expected to deliver the desired outcomes. The industry has identified two major methodologies for running a data centric project, in particular SEMMA (Sample, Explore, Modify, Model and Assess) and CRISP-DM (Cross Industry Standard Process for Data Mining). More general, the professional organizations PMI (Project Management Institute) and IIBA (International Institute of Business Analysis) have defined their methods for project management and business analysis based on the best current industry practices. However, big data projects place new challenges that are not considered by the existing methodologies. The building of end-to-end big data analytical solution for optimization of the supply chain, pricing and promotion, product launch, shop potential and customer value is facing both business and technical challenges. The most common business challenges are unclear and/or poorly defined business cases; irrelevant data; poor data quality; overlooked data granularity; improper contextualization of data; unprepared or bad prepared data; non-meaningful results; lack of skill set. Some of the technical challenges are related to lag of resources and technology limitations; availability of data sources; storage difficulties; security issues; performance problems; little flexibility; and ineffective DevOps. This paper discusses an applied business analytics approach to IT projects and addresses the above-described aspects. The authors present their work on research and development of new methodological framework and analytical instruments applicable in both business endeavors, and educational initiatives, targeting big data. The proposed framework is based on proprietary methodology and advanced analytics tools. It is focused on the development and the implementation of practical solutions for project managers, business analysts, IT practitioners and Business/Data Analytics students. Under discussion are also the necessary skills and knowledge for the successful big data business analyst, and some of the main organizational and operational aspects of the big data projects, including the continuous model deployment

Complexity Reduction. Managing the complexity of global product development to enable component reuse

Problem Complexity drives cost as it makes standardization and control difficult. The problem studied here is to identify which parts of these costs that are justified by creating competitive advantage and value to customer. What parts of the ConsEl new product development process add value, and how is this added value utilized? How can the non-value adding complexity of the new product development process at ConsEl be reduced? Why does the complexity need to be reduced? Is it based on customer need or is it some other stakeholder that would gain from it? This leads us to the main problem of this thesis: In what ways does the new product development processes of ConsEl need to be modified in order to reduce complexity while maintaining customer value? Purpose a)To gather current issues and suggestions for improvements of the new product development process from the respondents and determine how the value added by the new product development process can be increased by comparing the current situation at ConsEl with relevant literature by performing a gap analysis. b) To identify drivers of complexity2 in the ConsEl new product development process. c) To give suggestions on how the ConsEl new product development process can be modified in order to facilitate complexity reduction. Methodology The thesis is based on a qualitative single case study of the new product development process at ConsEl. Data was mainly gathered using personal interviews, internal ConsEl data and studies of relevant literature. Literature studies resulted in a comprehensive theoretical framework for understanding the complexity of new product development. Two different rounds of personal interviews where performed. This data was then analyzed using gap analysis. The gaps where then analyzed to identify non-value adding complexity and draft suggestions for improvements. Theoretical framework About new product development is said that many companies have had too much of a “tech push” orientation for their new product development and need to realign their development towards a “market pull” orientation. Many companies need to improve their capabilities for developing and launching new products, not just extensions and incremental updates, but new innovative products that deliver sustainable competitive advantage to the company. New product development is studied from three different perspectives, namely from a Lean Product Development System perspective, from a Process perspective and from a Project perspective. Important to realize is that these three perspectives on new product development represent different levels of abstraction for which new product development can be approached. A lean perspective deals with the balance between process, humans and technology. The process and project perspectives are, as the names suggest, mainly focused on processes and projects respectively. If the process is a road leading from market demand to customer satisfaction then a project is a car driving on that road. Since the thesis is written from the perspective of the Procurement department, the area of Purchasing involvement in New Product Development is studied. It is today widely accepted that involving suppliers in product development can lead to shorter lead time, lower costs and enhance quality. Modularization and Value Analysis are tools that in combination are believed to have the role of a catalyst in reducing non-value adding complexity. Modularization is a way to manage variety. Important to realize is the difference between internal and external variety and that it, using modularization is possible to have external variety even though the internal variety is standardized. The area of Knowledge Management is intended to facilitate the sustainable repetitiveness of New Product Development at ConsEl. Many argue that an organizations ability to learn and adapt is in fact the only sustainable source of competitive advantage in today’s economic environment. Conclusions The analysis indicates that there are three main drivers of complexity that drive complexity rather than customer value. These are product silos, functional silos and a general distrust of standardization. Based on these three drivers of complexity the author identified seven key management areas for complexity reduction. These are Aligning planning horizons, Global coordination, Cross-functional communication and knowledge, Project implementation, Procurement as a facilitator in new product development, Enable modularization and Long term strategic technology development

Advancement of the scientific-research potential of the Faculty of Metallurgy through the implementation of infrastructure projects

Metallurgical production is considered as one of the drivers of the world economy. Metallurgy is a traditional, profitable and export-oriented industry branch in the Republic of Croatia. Excellence can be based on investment in highly sophisticated equipment as a potential for acquiring new and/or innovative knowledge, creativity and recognition on the European research map. The investment potential is based on the infrastructure projects Center for Founding - SIMET (KK.01.1.1.02.0020) of the Faculty of Metallurgy University of Zagreb in partnership with the Sisak-Moslavina County and VIRTULAB – Integrated laboratory for primary and secondary raw materials (KK.01.1.1.02.0022) in which the Faculty of Metallurgy is one of the partners. The projects were funded by the European Fund for Regional Development in the framework of Operational Program Competitiveness and Cohesion (2014 2020). Investment in equipment is not an end in itself! The created research potential forms the basis for investments in the knowledge, skills and competences of employees and students, while opening opportunities for economically targeted activities. Today, self-sustainability must be achieved by delivering excellent research results to stakeholders. Specific scientific research and professional projects as well as targeted education and training for critical and innovative thinking based on sophisticated equipment purchased through infrastructure projects will stimulate innovations in metallurgy. Raising the level of research quality with the motto “From idea to final product” will promote the competitiveness, recognition and general importance of ideas and innovations in metallurgy and metal industry as an important sector of the economic development of the Republic of Croatia

Advancement of the scientific-research potential of the Faculty of Metallurgy through the implementation of infrastructure projects

Metallurgical production is considered as one of the drivers of the world economy. Metallurgy is a traditional, profitable and export-oriented industry branch in the Republic of Croatia. Excellence can be based on investment in highly sophisticated equipment as a potential for acquiring new and/or innovative knowledge, creativity and recognition on the European research map. The investment potential is based on the infrastructure projects Center for Founding - SIMET (KK.01.1.1.02.0020) of the Faculty of Metallurgy University of Zagreb in partnership with the Sisak-Moslavina County and VIRTULAB – Integrated laboratory for primary and secondary raw materials (KK.01.1.1.02.0022) in which the Faculty of Metallurgy is one of the partners. The projects were funded by the European Fund for Regional Development in the framework of Operational Program Competitiveness and Cohesion (2014 2020). Investment in equipment is not an end in itself! The created research potential forms the basis for investments in the knowledge, skills and competences of employees and students, while opening opportunities for economically targeted activities. Today, self-sustainability must be achieved by delivering excellent research results to stakeholders. Specific scientific research and professional projects as well as targeted education and training for critical and innovative thinking based on sophisticated equipment purchased through infrastructure projects will stimulate innovations in metallurgy. Raising the level of research quality with the motto “From idea to final product” will promote the competitiveness, recognition and general importance of ideas and innovations in metallurgy and metal industry as an important sector of the economic development of the Republic of Croatia

Characterization and Assessment of Household Waste from Electrical and Electronic Devices (WEEE) in Chile. A Proposal Towards a More Eco-Efficient Product Design

The aim of this study is to propose a protocol for incorporating procedures to evaluate, characterize and establish general parameters applicable to the management of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE). This protocol can be applied within the framework of common product design and development processes. The proposed protocol provides key information for design projects, with emphasis on the potential future recovery of parts, components and raw materials. To achieve this objective, this article first addresses the general problem and defines the objectives, focusing on Chile as a valid case study in Latin America. The method used was applied to ten small household appliances, yielding promising results. Additionally, a user-friendly and easily applicable method is proposed, suitable for training new designers and working with small companies and relevant stakeholders in recycling and recovery processes. In conclusion, this study contributes relevant results aimed at promoting projects of technological and economic interest, with a focus on the sustainable management of waste at the end of its lifespan

THE USE OF PROJECT TECHNOLOGY TO INTRODUCE SCHOOLCHILDREN TO ELEMENTS OF THE GENERAL TOPOLOGY

Preparing a student with project skills is one of the urgent tasks facing education. At present, the general education school of Russia is moving to new educational standards, which provide for the mandatory formation of students' skills in using project activities. The article contains an analysis of the experience of involving students of different age groups in project activities during their acquaintance with the basic topological concepts within the framework of the author's elective discipline "Get to know topology".At the preparatory stage of teaching, the content of the modern section of mathematics was reasonably selected, different types of practical tasks were modeled, the topic of projects, possible options for the product of project activities, assessment criteria were selected, questionnaires were developed.The article describes the results of experimental teaching, which was carried out for three years in educational institutions of different levels. The article is illustrated with examples of methods of organizing project activities in the course "Get to know topology" and approaches to evaluating project products; the analysis of questionnaires of different groups of students was carried out. The results of the study confirm that project-based learning increases the involvement and interest of schoolchildren in mathematics, allows them to understand a new problem, contributes to the development of communication and cooperation skills of students, creates conditions for the development of students' creativity.

Success Factors of Participatory Processes in Urban Development

More than half of the world’s population now lives in urban areas. In 2050, it will be even two thirds. Global problems such as climate change and scarcity of resources constitute new challenges especially for cities. The City of Vienna is meeting these challenges with the Smart City Wien Framework Strategy (SCWR) – a long-term umbrella strategy for the period up to 2050 with objectives regarding three dimensions: resources – quality of life – innovation. The City of Vienna considers participation crucial for implementing the SCWR. The requirements for this are still very general and need to be put into concrete terms. The realisation of participation within the SCWR is closely linked to the development and implementation of relevant programmes and projects of urban planning. This paper addresses the question of what the key success factors are in drawing up participatory processes within the context of these programmes and projects. The methodological approach was to combine available results of research and data analyses with analyses of case studies. The method of evaluation chosen is a summary analysis of the criteria deduced. The major findings of this thesis are the following: in order to achieve high-quality municipal programmes and projects, essential success factors need to be considered: - division of the process into separate phases - paying special attention to the initial phase - involvement of relevant stakeholders - openness to ideas - simultaneity of product and process - attractiveness of process design - external communication - conducive attitude and values. High-quality participatory processes entail particular benefits for the implementation of the SCWR. For instance, they can help to activate the innovation potential more efficiently and contribute to getting closer to the citizens

The Academic-enterprise experiences framework as a guide for design education

The establishment of support platforms for the development of a new culture in design education, in order to achieve both research exploitation and its results, as an approach to the industrial community, challenges higher education institutions to rethink their functioning, divided between investigation on their own initiative or on demand, and its usefulness / practical application. At the same time, through design education, how can they be the engine that aggregates all these frequently antagonistic interests? Polytechnic institutes are predisposed to collaboration and interdisciplinarity. In our course of Technology and Design of Furniture, the availability of a production unit, testing laboratories, and expertise in engineering, design and marketing, encourage the development of a holistic project. In order to develop such knowledge, we adapt three important ways of thinking in designing interactions influenced by the traditional approach, namely, 1) identifying and understanding a design problem, i.e. a market need, 2) defining the design process and knowing what can be used for design education, i.e. opportunities for design education, and 3) sustainability of this framework and design projects' alignment with education in the same field. We explain our approach by arguing from the academicenterprise experiences perspective. This concept is proposed as a way to achieve those three ways of thinking in design education. Then, a set of interaction attributes is defined to explain how engineering and product design education can enhance meaningful relations with manufacturers, stakeholders and society in general. A final discussion is presented with the implications and benefits of this approach. The results suggest that through academic-enterprise partnerships in design, several goals such as students' motivation, product design innovation and potential for knowledge transfer to industries can be achieved

Managing design variety, process variety and engineering change: a case study of two capital good firms

Many capital good firms deliver products that are not strictly one-off, but instead share a certain degree of similarity with other deliveries. In the delivery of the product, they aim to balance stability and variety in their product design and processes. The issue of engineering change plays an important in how they manage to do so. Our aim is to gain more understanding into how capital good firms manage engineering change, design variety and process variety, and into the role of the product delivery strategies they thereby use. Product delivery strategies are defined as the type of engineering work that is done independent of an order and the specification freedom the customer has in the remaining part of the design. Based on the within-case and cross-case analysis of two capital good firms several mechanisms for managing engineering change, design variety and process variety are distilled. It was found that there exist different ways of (1) managing generic design information, (2) isolating large engineering changes, (3) managing process variety, (4) designing and executing engineering change processes. Together with different product delivery strategies these mechanisms can be placed within an archetypes framework of engineering change management. On one side of the spectrum capital good firms operate according to open product delivery strategies, have some practices in place to investigate design reuse potential, isolate discontinuous engineering changes into the first deliveries of the product, employ ‘probe and learn’ process management principles in order to allow evolving insights to be accurately executed and have informal engineering change processes. On the other side of the spectrum capital good firms operate according to a closed product delivery strategy, focus on prevention of engineering changes based on design standards, need no isolation mechanisms for discontinuous engineering changes, have formal process management practices in place and make use of closed and formal engineering change procedures. The framework should help managers to (1) analyze existing configurations of product delivery strategies, product and process designs and engineering change management and (2) reconfigure any of these elements according to a ‘misfit’ derived from the framework. Since this is one of the few in-depth empirical studies into engineering change management in the capital good sector, our work adds to the understanding on the various ways in which engineering change can be dealt with