Concurrent engineering (CE) or concurrent design and manufacturing is a work methodology emphasizing the parallelization of tasks (i.e. performing tasks concurrently), which is sometimes called simultaneous engineering or integrated product development (IPD) using an integrated product team approach. It refers to an approach used in product development in which functions of design engineering, manufacturing engineering, and other functions are integrated to reduce the time required to bring a new product to market.
By completing the design and manufacturing stages at the same time, products are produced in less time while lowering cost. Although concurrent design and manufacturing requires extensive communication and coordination between disciplines, the benefits can increase the profit of a business and lead to a sustainable environment for product development. Concurrent design and manufacturing can lead to a competitive advantage over other businesses as the product may be produced and marketed in less time. However, poorly implemented concurrent engineering can lead to issues.
Introduction
The success behind concurrent design and manufacturing lies within completing processes at the same time while involving all disciplines. As product development has become more cost and time efficient over the years, elements of concurrent engineering have been present in product development approaches. The elements of concurrent engineering that were utilized were cross-functional teams as well as fast time-to-market and considering manufacturing processes when designing. By involving multiple disciplines in decision making and planning, concurrent engineering has made product development more cost and time efficient. The fact that concurrent engineering could result in faster time-to-market is already an important advantage in terms of a competitive edge over other producers. Concurrent engineering has provided a structure and concept for product development that can be implemented for future success.
A 2008 publication described concurrent engineering as a new design management system that has matured in recent years to become a well-defined systems approach to optimizing design and engineering cycles. Concurrent engineering has been implemented in a number of companies, organizations, and universities, most notably in the aerospace industry. Beginning in the early 1990s, CE was also adapted for use in the information and content automation field, providing a basis for organization and management of projects outside the physical product development sector for which it was originally designed. Organizations such as the European Space Agency's Concurrent Design Facility make use of concurrent design to perform feasibility studies for future missions.
The basic premise for concurrent engineering revolves around two concepts. The first is the idea that all elements of a product's life-cycle—from functionality, production, assembly, testing, maintenance, environmental impact, and finally disposal and recycling—should be taken into careful consideration in the early design phases.
The second concept is that design activities should all be occurring at the same time, i.e., concurrently. The idea is that the concurrent nature of these activities significantly increases productivity and product quality. This way, errors and redesigns can be discovered early in the design process when the project is still flexible. By locating and fixing these issues early, the design team can avoid what often become costly errors as the project moves to more complicated computational models and eventually into the actual manufacturing of hardware.
As mentioned above, part of the design process is to ensure that the product's entire life cycle is taken into consideration. This includes establishing user requirements, propagating early conceptual designs, running computational models, creating physical prototypes, and eventually manufacturing the product. Included in this process is taking into full account funding, workforce capability, and time requirements. A 2006 study claimed that a correct implementation of the concurrent design process can save a significant amount of money, and that organizations have been moving to concurrent design for this reason. It is also highly compatible with systems thinking and green engineering.