4.3.1 Effectiveness of Systems Engineering Techniques on New Product Development: Results from Interview Research at Corning Incorporated

Abstract

This paper reports on the findings from interview research conducted by a joint team from the Systems Engineering Directorate at Corning Incorporated and the Systems Engineering Program at Cornell University to test for systems engineering (SE) effectiveness in product development in a commercial setting. Between April 2008 and March 2009, the team conducted 19 interviews of systems engineers and project managers within Corning to evaluate the extent to which they used a range of systems engineering techniques, and the effectiveness of those techniques in improving project performance. Both quantitatively and anecdotally, the expectation of a correlation was met, with strongly performing projects having generally higher use of SE, and struggling projects having difficulties that could be traced back to shortcomings in the use of SE. Both the findings and the underlying methodology are discussed, with the aim of interesting others in the field in repeating this type of research within other enterprises.