Role change of design engineers in product development

Abstract

Product development is recognized as cross-functional, knowledge-intensive work that has become increasingly important in the fast-paced, globally competitive environment. Researchers and practicing managers contend that design engineers may play an important role in product development efforts. However, their effect on the product development process is not well understood and the extent of their impact on product development performance has not been adequately accessed. This research defines the changing role of design engineers, and it discusses their impact on setting clear project targets and sharing knowledge about customers. The study investigates the impact of these variables on product development productivity. Data collected from 205 manufacturing firms were used to create valid and reliable instruments to assess role change of design engineers, clarity of project targets, shared knowledge about customers and product development productivity. Results from structural equation modeling indicate that as the role of design engineers expands the clarity of project targets increase. This increase impacts the extent of shared knowledge about customers. Increases in the clarity of project targets and shared knowledge about customers appear to enhance product development productivity. #

Antecedents and Consequences of Knowledge Integration in Product Development: An Empirical Evidence

“…Higher levels of knowledge base capabilities lead to higher levels of performance. This finding about the effect of knowledge integration replicates and extends research by Hong et al (2005) who find a positive relationship between knowledge sharing and firm performance in product development.…”

“…design engineers) and downstream knowledge workers (e.g. market experts) (Hong et al,2005). In spite of significant progress in the use of integrative techniques such as multifunctional teams, concurrent engineering, design for manufacturing and quality function deployment lately, complete integration of all functions involved in product development remains a major management challenge (Mallick and Schroeder, 2005;Koufteros et al, 2005).…”

“…Integration has to occur on a conceptual level -beyond operational work (Hong et al, 2005). That means that the members who are involved in the sharing process should be able to interpret the same meaning on the data or information as the other member.…”

Managing knowledge within the manufacturing enterprise: an overview

“…Together these factors can enhance productivity. Design engineers are in a position to integrate manufacturing at the conceptual stage because they possess the knowledge to enable it within a cross functional team setting (Honga et al, 2005). Morton et al developed a management support tool to show the impact of relationships at the boundaries of internal and external activities.…”

“…Huang and Liang propose a method to retrieve design knowledge through data mining of design databases. Formal modelling of modular products (formulae and production rules) supports the method (Honga et al, 2005). Gardoni et al present a novel approach to provide manufacturing knowledge to design teams by storing and retrieving text and sketches .…”