The Lean Innovation Roadmap - A Systematic Approach to Introducing Lean in Product Development Processes and Establishing a Learning Organization

Abstract

The application of Lean principles in the field of product development is the subject of a growing number of publications. In the past, significant efforts have been undertaken to identify and describe the practices of a Lean Product Development (Lean PD) system. The important question of how these elements of Lean PD can be implemented in a company, however, remains underinvestigated. The thesis at hand examines the process of implementing Lean PD and gives recommendations for a successful introduction of Lean principles in product development. Following a systematic approach, at the beginning of this work the basics of Lean Thinking and product development systems are reviewed. Existing approaches to Lean PD in literature are discussed. Building upon this, a novel and coherent definition of a Lean PD system, consisting of eleven distinct Lean PD components, is derived. The components of Lean PD are described in detail and investigated with regard to their interdependencies. The findings of this analysis serve as a basis to derive five major hypotheses on the efficient introduction of Lean PD.