What is it?
In order to make a product development process lean we must work on a number of aspects. First of all on people in order to increase not only their professional skills, but also their motivation and their teamwork attitude. Particularly important is the selection, motivation and training of team leaders.
Another important aspect are processes. In order to make them leaner it is necessary to use correct methodologies both for Product Conception (selection of potentially successful products) and for Technical Design (process that transform the idea of a product into a saleable article).
Both these processes require the involvement not only of Technical Designers, but of all areas especially Marketing and Manufacturing.
As for Technical Design, it must be managed as a flow capable to bring out new products in the shortest possible time.
A third important aspect is that of tools. Technical designers must have at their disposal effective and up to date software and they must use practical, simple methodologies based on visual planning and control systems.
A last aspect is the use of a performance evaluation system which measures the performance of Technical Design in terms of efficiency, effectiveness, proactive attitude and impact on profitability.
Read more: OOBEYA: The “Big open office” that promotes more innovation, lower costs, higher quality, and fewer last-minute changes.
Read more: Suggestions to improve Product development department performace
“My experience in the design of world champion motorcycles taught me that an excellent Technical Design Department must follow a few basic principles: the presence of very good Team leaders, a solid team spirit, a very high motivation, the capacity to react quickly, a very good relationship with all the other areas of the company. In a word the Technical Design Department should work according to lean principles exactly as any other part of the company”.
