PROJECT-LEVEL INFLUENCES ON THE MANAGEMENT AND ORGANISATION OF PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT IN ENGINEERING

Many current models of the product development process pay insufficient attention to the impact of project-level influences. This paper looks at the case of the engineering industry in which product development is seen to proceed in two very distinct ways: the traditional process in which development takes place "off-line", and the contract process in which development takes place as part of a contract to manufacture a product for a specific customer. Drawing on two recent studies of engineering product development projects, the paper looks at how project-level influences lead to differences in project organisation and management in terms of the particular project structure adopted and in the involvement of different disciplines, internal and external to the company. This has implications for the way in which companies should interpret generic prescriptions regarding product development.