Concurrent engineering

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. 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.