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Abstract:
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This brief paper considers the New Product Development (NPD)
strategies and practices recently employed by the Ford Motor Company as
a base for a substantial, near-term improvement in automotive vehicle
development performance. The recognition of current industry "best
practices" in lean design and manufacturing coupled with consumer
desires for niche vehicles provides an opportunity to significantly reduce
the time-to-market for new vehicle designs. This paper proposes that a
Special Vehicle Operations plant be established as an ongoing facility to
develop and manufacture technology demonstration vehicles for corporate
research use and public sale. Such a facility, a manufacturing "proving
ground" akin to vehicle test facilities, would support the more rapid
introduction of advanced vehicle technologies by routinizing design
experiments in a quasi-mass production setting. The expected result
would be a steadier and more continuous introduction of advanced
processes into mainstream products. The scheduling, technical, financial,
and quality risks inherent to such introductions would be lessened as well.
The research foundation of this paper is an International Motor Vehicle
Program-sponsored report supervised by Professor Michael Cusumano of
MIT on the NPD practices under implementation by the Ford Motor
Company. Other primary source materials include articles on advanced
product development initiatives taking place in the automobile industry. |
