This special issue on innovative product development contains seven invited papers from the CIRP-sponsored 6th International Conference of Digital Enterprise Technology, held at the University of Hong Kong on the 14th – 16th December 2009 (DET 2009). The conference addresses aspects of electronic business and digital enterprise technology, bringing academic rigour and novelty to industrial applications. Over 120 delegates from 12 countries attended the conference

Baxter, David

Gao, James

Li, Yingguang

Greenwich Academic Literature Archive

Editorial	for	the	International	Journal	of	Product	Lifecycle	Management		Special	issue	on	Innovative	Product	Development		David	Baxter	1,	James	Gao	2,	and	Yingguang	Li	3	1	Centre	for	Innovative	Products	and	Services	School	of	Management	Cranfield	University		Cranfield,	MK43	0AL,	UK	E-Mail:	d.baxter@cranfield.ac.uk		2	Centre	for	Innovative	Product	Development	School	of	Engineering		University	of	Greenwich		Chatham	Maritime,	ME4	4TB,	UK	E-Mail:	j.gao@gre.ac.uk		3	College	of	Mechanical	and	Electrical	Engineering,		Nanjing	University	of	Aeronautics	and	Astronautics,		Nanjing,	29	Yudao	Street,	210016,	China	E-mail:	welcome.li@nuaa.edu.cn		This	special	issue	on	innovative	product	development	contains	seven	invited	papers	from	the	CIRP-sponsored	6th	International	Conference	of	Digital	Enterprise	Technology,	held	at	the	University	of	Hong	Kong	on	the	14th	–	16th	December	2009	(DET	2009).	The	conference	addresses	aspects	of	electronic	business	and	digital	enterprise	technology,	bringing	academic	rigour	and	novelty	to	industrial	applications.	Over	120	delegates	from	12	countries	attended	the	conference.		We	invited	those	authors	from	the	conference	who	presented	high	quality,	novel,	and	promising	work	to	submit	their	work	to	this	special	issue.	The	contributions	reflect	a	wide	range	of	topics	relevant	to	Product	Lifecycle	Management,	the	core	subject	are	of	the	journal,	and	innovative	product	development,	as	a	special	area	of	interest	for	the	editors.	Initially,	15	papers	were	selected	from	over	130	included	in	the	proceedings.	The	papers	were	substantially	revised	and	rewritten	to	include	the	authors’	latest	research	outcome	for	submission	to	this	special	issue,	and	each	one	was	subject	to	a	double	blind	peer	review	process	by	at	least	2	reviewers.	The	editors	also	reviewed	each	paper,	assisted	authors	in	interpreting	and	responding	to	referee	comments,	and	reviewed	all	author	revisions.	After	several	iterations	of	reviews	and	revisions,	we	recommend	7	papers	to	the	editor	of	the	International	Journal	of	Product	Lifecycle	Management	for	publication.	The	first	2	papers	propose	methods	to	assess	product	design	through	performance	modelling	and	cost	modelling.	The	following	3	propose	new	methods	to	manage	design,	focusing	on	failure	reduction,	sustainable	manufacture	and	reverse	engineering.	The	next	paper	addresses	knowledge	management	system	design.	The	final	paper	examines	contributors	to	new	product	success.	It	is	of	particular	interest	since	through	their	findings	that	the	product	team	is	thought	to	be	the	major	contributor	to	success.	It	serves	as	a	reminder	that	product	development	is	a	complex	process	of	integrating	individual	capabilities,	and	that	digital	technologies	ultimately	serve	to	support	human	processes.	Here,	we	outline	the	content	of	each	paper:		Nguyen,	Vignat	and	Brissaud	identify	that	the	performance	of	a	manufactured	product	will	always	be	different	than	a	prediction	based	on	a	perfect	product,	since	the	perfect	product	(or	nominal	CAD/CAM	model)	cannot	be	achieved	in	practice.	Manufacturing	methods	will	always	result	in	a	degree	of	variation	from	the	nominal	model.	They	present	a	method	to	model	product	performance	that	takes	geometrical	variation	into	account.	This	enables	designers	to	model	expected	product	performance	in	advance	of	manufacturing,	potentially	saving	significant	redesign	effort.		Cheung,	Newnes,	Marsh	and	Lanham	develop	a	new	approach	to	cost	modelling	that	overcomes	limitations	of	existing	methods	by	integrating	costing	in	the	PLM	environment.	Their	proposal	enables	life	cycle	cost	estimates	of	large	scale,	novel	and	complex	products	to	be	carried	out	at	an	early	stage	of	design.	They	also	provide	support	for	collaboration	in	the	costing	process.		Dai,	Maropoulos,	Cheung	and	Tang	present	a	novel	method	to	manage	the	risk	of	product	failure	through	design.	The	method	uses	data	from	past	failure	events	to	identify	relationships	between	failure	scenarios	and	quality	characteristics,	which	enables	the	calculation	of	priorities	to	address	product	quality	in	a	new	design.	They	suggest	that	the	method	overcomes	limitations	of	quality	function	deployment	(which	is	difficult	to	manage)	and	failure	mode	and	effect	analysis	(which	does	not	link	related	failure	modes).		Wang	and	Tseng	propose	a	methodology	for	sustainable	manufacturing,	which	allows	manufacturing	companies	to	consider	the	issues	of	material	usage	and	end	of	life	disposal	early	in	the	design	stage.	Their	method	applies	a	novel	measure	to	describe	product	modules	from	an	end	of	life	perspective:	life	cycle	commonality.	This	metric	enables	designers	to	consider	the	economic	impact	of	a	given	end	of	life	strategy,	and	to	maximise	total	value	recovered.	They	indicate	that	their	approach	needs	to	be	extended	to	include	whole	life	cost,	recognising	that	this	requires	different	methods	from	producer	and	customer	perspectives.	That	is,	the	producer	is	concerned	with	production	and	disposal	costs,	whereas	the	customer	is	concerned	with	purchase	and	operating	costs	and	residual	value.		Tang,	Zhu,	Chen,	Zang	and	Xu	present	a	method	for	reverse	engineering.	They	identify	that	reverse	engineering	focused	exclusively	on	geometry	(i.e.,	scanning	a	product	to	reproduce	a	CAD	model)	has	a	number	of	limitations,	including	the	failure	to	reproduce	design	intent.	Their	methodology	-	functional	reverse	design	-	includes	the	additional	steps	of	functional	modelling	and	functional	reengineering,	first	to	reproduce	the	original	product	function	structure,	and	then	to	improve	on	the	original	structure.	They	term	this	‘secondary	innovation’	-	product	redesign	from	a	functional	perspective.		Zhang,	Gao	and	Wang	present	a	methodology	to	specify	a	knowledge	management	system	for	product	development,	based	on	Enterprise	Architecture	Frameworks.	A	standard	framework	is	extended	with	a	method	to	capture	and	refine	user	requirements.	They	discuss	the	need	for	an	enterprise	knowledge	framework	that	identifies	the	various	sources	of	knowledge	relevant	to	each	user,	with	the	intention	to	make	them	available	through	a	common	system.	In	addition	to	the	reflection	that	enterprise	knowledge	is	critical,	they	identify	a	key	limitation	of	such	frameworks;	that	some	of	the	people	interviewed	could	not	specify	precisely	what	they	need.	As	a	potential	limitation	of	the	methodology,	this	also	reflects	the	opportunity	for	a	knowledge	management	system	to	partially	fill	that	gap.		Chan	and	Ip	administered	a	questionnaire	investigating	two	key	constructs	which	contribute	to	new	product	success:	the	innovation	process	and	the	project	team.	They	found	that	the	project	team	has	a	greater	perceived	impact	than	the	innovation	process.	Their	novel	approach	focused	on	a	large	sample	within	a	single	leading	company,	demonstrating	that	there	are	significant	differences	across	management	grades	in	the	perceptions	of	which	factors	influence	product	success.	This	has	important	implications	for	existing	and	future	survey	studies	relying	on	a	single	respondent	within	each	firm.	The	findings	of	this	paper	should	enable	engineers	and	business	managers	to	reflect	on	the	essential	character	of	product	development	as	a	knowledge	intensive,	collaborative	activity	seeking	to	bring	together	the	diverse	expertise	of	a	number	of	specialists.	Even	when	it’s	all	about	technology,	it’s	not	all	about	technology.			Bio	Information	of	Guest	Editors		David	Baxter	is	a	Senior	Research	Fellow	in	the	Innovation	Group	of	the	School	of	Management,	Cranfield	University,	UK.	He	obtained	his	PhD	in	engineering	management	from	Cranfield	University	(UK)	in	2008.	Dr	Baxter	has	extensive	research	experience	in	knowledge	management	for	innovation,	in	collaboration	with	leading	UK	and	international	companies	such	as	Rolls-Royce,	Edwards	Vacuum,	and	ArvinMeritor.	He	has	published	over	20	papers,	including	articles	in	Research	Technology	Management,	Research	in	Engineering	Design,	and	International	Journal	of	Production	Research.	He	has	also	acted	as	a	guest	editor	for	special	issues	of	the	Journal	of	Engineering	Design,	Robotics	and	Computer-Integrated	Manufacturing,	and	International	Journal	of	Production	Research.	His	current	research	is	developing	the	theme	of	how	R&D	managers	can	make	the	most	of	tacit	knowledge.	James	Gao	holds	the	Medway	Chair	of	Manufacturing	Engineering,	and	is	the	Head	of	Centre	for	Innovative	Product	Development,	School	of	Engineering,	University	of	Greenwich.	Prior	to	his	current	position,	he	was	a	lecturer/senior	lecturer	at	Cranfield	University	from	1993-2006.	James	Gao	is	a	Fellow	of	the	Institution	of	Mechanical	Engineers.	He	obtained	BSc	in	mechanical	engineering	in	1984	from	Dalian	Institute	of	Technology	(China),	then	obtained	MSc	and	PhD	from	the	University	of	Manchester	Institute	of	Science	and	Technology	(UK)	in	1987	and	1989	respectively.	He	has	over	170	publications	in	international	journals	and	conferences,	and	directed	a	large	number	of	research	projects	in	the	areas	of	knowledge	and	innovation	management,	product	lifecycle	management	and	computer	aided	design	and	manufacturing.	Yingguang	Li	is	a	professor	in	the	College	of	Mechanical	and	Electrical	Engineering,	Nanjing	University	of	Aeronautics	and	Astronautics,	China.	He	obtained	his	PhD	in	Manufacturing	Engineering	of	Aerospace	Vehicle	from	Nanjing	University	of	Aeronautics	and	Astronautics	in	2004.	He	directed	a	large	number	of	research	projects	funded	by	the	Chinese	Government	in	collaboration	with	industry.	His	current	research	interests	include	feature	based	product	design	and	manufacturing,	product	lifecycle	management	and	knowledge	management,	and	he	has	authored	or	co-authored	over	70	papers	in	these	fields.	

Innovative product development (Editorial)

http://gala.gre.ac.uk/17746/7/17746%20GAO_Editorial_2011.pdf

Innovative product development (Editorial)

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