Design Management of Products with Variability and Commonality - Contribution to the Design Science by elaborating the fit needed between Product Structure, Design Process, Design Goals, and Design Organisation for Improved R&D Efficiency

Abstract

The research objective is to find solutions for how companies manufacturing physical products are able to increase profitability and efficiency with products using variability and commonality. The focus of this research is on managing the product development of such products. This thesis serves the companies need to increase profitability and R&D efficiency to satisfy the expectations of shareholders in the stock market. The aim of this research is to provide new insight and enhance knowledge in the field of Design Management as part of Design Science. Therefore, this research has two objectives: 1) To describe the development process of Technical Systems that have variability and commonality, and 2) To describe management tasks that improve the R&D efficiency when developing a Technical System that has variability and commonality. The objectives are transformed into three research questions: 1) Which elements of a Technical System enable variability and commonality? 2) How to develop a Technical System that has variability and commonality? 3) How to improve the R&D efficiency when developing a Technical System that has variability and commonality? The research process follows the traditions of Design Science and supplements it by using the Cultural Historic Activity Theory. The data was gathered during 1999 to 2008 from the Nokia Corporation, the Finnish Maritime industry, and from the relevant, state‐of‐the‐art literature in the research field. After the analysis of theory basis, the state of the art and data from the Cases, this research provides answers. The answer to the first research question is: Technical System elements enabling variability and commonality are Standard, Configurable, One‐of‐a‐kind and Partly‐Configurable Product Structure types. The answer to the second research question is to have: 1) Design Process for each product structure type 2) The fit between Product Structure type and Design Process type, and 3) The fit between Design Process and Project Management Process This research answers to the third research question by listing actions by which the R&D efficiency can be improved. Those items are: 1) Managing the fit between Product Structure and Design Process 2) Managing the fit between Design Process and Project Management Process 3) Decreasing work effort needed for capturing ready‐made synthesis 4) Managing the designing within Force Field, and 5) Managing the distributed design activities in many organisations using different operational modes.This thesis discusses the research results, the research process, and future research topics. The conclusions are drawn upon the results and discussion. Based on the discussion and conclusion the researcher concludes that this research contributes to Design Science by elaborating the Management & Goal system and validating dependencies between design goals, the characteristics of Technical System and characteristics of Design Processes. Finally, it provides recommendations on how the management is able to increase R&D efficiency. This research describes development process for Technical Systems that have variability and commonality. It also describes management tasks that improve the R&D efficiency when developing a Technical System that has variability and commonality, and provides answers to the research questions thus fulfilling the research objectives. This research provides new insight and enhances knowledge in the field of Design Management as part of Design Science thus meeting the research aim.