At IiM, several Esprit projects that had been underway for a while were into the demonstrative stage while new projects seemed to be developed through alliances created on the exhibition floor. As groups of people mingled and gave out their business cards, there was a strong sense that the networking was more than an informal exchange of ideas but more of a reaching out for partners in some long-range programs.

When conference chairman and host Nils M�rtensson, professor at G�teborg's Chalmers University of Technology, started the proceedings by introducing P�r Malmberg of SKF, one of the largest global bearing manufacturers, the stage was set for two and one-half days of extensive information transfer. SKF, based in G�teborg, has integrated its CAD (computer-aided design) development operation with its manufacturing facilities to better exploit rapid improvements in technology. With market leadership, SKF needs to find continuing methods of differentiating its products from others while maintaining the ISO standards in external dimensions that make bearings interchangeable. It's a case of improving the product without being able to change the packaging — not an easy task. By adopting integrated systems as a value-added aspect of its product, however, SKF has found a way to meet the challenge.

The SKF story was repeated with variety at many of the sessions, where companies explained their work in integrating design, research, development, production and business functions into a cohesive flow of ideas into products.

Among the recurring conference themes was one familiar to manufacturing executives in most countries: concurrent engineering. The growing demand for complex products developed in amazingly short time frames and often with extremely short life cycles — electronics, computers and semiconductors quickly come to mind — has mandated a change in the mind-set of many manufacturing organizations. One direction is toward a concurrent development model where functional entities stop being "silos" and become conduits, feeding core competency into a variety of fast changing teams. A plenary presentation at the G�teborg conference epitomized this trend in a practical way.


The view from Volvo

Hans Gustavsson, senior vice president of the Volvo Car Corporation — which has its headquarters in G�teborg — explained in detail the methods Volvo used to create its latest vehicle, the S80. According to Gustavsson, "The sequential process has been left behind for parallel procedures and we are quickly approaching what we, at Volvo, call instant engineering. Increasing competition coupled with demand for shorter lead times has forced the change. Products become obsolete and lose their competitive edge as soon as the design decision is taken. Time to market means profit!"

At Volvo, speed, flexibility and the ability to adapt knowledge are crucial to the development process. Gustavsson believes, "In order to achieve speed, flexibility and knowledge, we require new thought patterns and the development of a new approach to work methods — and to management itself."


An uncommon common approach

Volvo uses cross-functional teams comprised of all required compencies to complete the assignment. These are the norm now. The entire car is developed as modules and there is one module team for each major component or subassembly. Again, Gustavsson: "For example, one module team can be for doors and that team will develop all doors for every car to be built on the specific platform. The platform concept has been created to develop a complete range of vehicles built on a common modular structure using common systems and components. These cars are manufactured by common, flexible production processes in cooperation with long-term, supplier-partners using common work methods."

The extension of the development and production functions to include suppliers is another growing trend. Volvo takes the view that a module team should include external as well as internal skills such as product and process designers, purchasers, testing and quality control, accounting, and suppliers for all components, material and assemblies. In Gustavsson's words, "To strengthen technological solutions for our projects, we've now taken the first steps in transforming the traditional, functional departments into competence centers."


The mark of CE

With three tracks on the subject of concurrent engineering, many other companies were explaining how they are achieving results with this methodology. Several new projects for adding benefits to those developing concurrently were explained. The COSIGA project, for example, is intended to develop and validate a multimedia simulation game for the education of engineers, designers, executives and students in product design in a concurrent environment. Before you dismiss the idea of a game, be aware that simulation is a proven method for both catching and holding the attention while providing an avenue for interactive modeling of situations and results. Besides, it's more fun to learn that way.

The Cosgia game can be played by individuals, against the computer or teams against each other using telecommunications. Players interact in a product development scenario where they have to create a product for a specific market. This involves drawing market specifications, product specifications, designing the configuration model and assembling the product. The product's "manufacturability" is put to the test in the simulated factory. All of this must be achieved by players working together effectively with other — real or virtual — players. Participants receive direct feedback as a result of their actions. Cosiga's project is coordinated at the Universite Thomson in France and information can be accessed at the home page: http://www.biba.uni-bremen.de/projects/cosiga

Another concurrent engineering Web site of interest is from the CE-NET (Concurrent Engineering Network of Excellance) group at http://esoce.pl.ecp.fr/pub/english.cgi/0/5782 Here you'll have an opportunity to fill in an online questionnaire about your own experiences with concurrent engineering and share such information with and from others.


Wherever you go, ISO

Regardless of your geographical location, some things are universal. One of these is the demand for exceptional quality in all products and processes. The ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 standards are often used to validate the company's stated belief in producing the highest quality in all areas. But small- to medium-sized companies are often hard pressed to afford the rigorous and lengthy audits and restructuring that accompanies the ISO certification. If they do attempt and complete the process, the results are often a one-time benefit with minimal follow through for similar cost reasons.

Esprit Project 25778, IMPROvement support for Total Quality Management — known simply as IMPRO — is intended to help such companies develop and use the standards necessary for ISO 9000 certification.


Keeping up the IMPROvement

A fact of life at all too many companies is that once the certification process has been completed and that hard-won plaque is on the wall, the documents generated become empty promises. Companies find they are lost without the guidelines of the ISO 9000 certification process and fail to continue on the path to total quality management that the certification work leads them down. IMPRO has been developed from experience with the best practices methodologies and provides the required expertise to enable users to generate and operate their own quality systems, compliant with ISO 9000 but focused on the individual business not on the standard alone. IMPRO also supports post quality system development to facilitate a dynamic quality program and continuous improvement. It provides a more flexible method of changing the quality documents to enable the user to react more effectively to changes in the quality system. The IMPRO consortium can be contacted through their Web site


IMS for a global economy

While Esprit is a European Commission directorate, IMS is a fully international body with members from the United States, EU, Switzerland, Japan, Norway, Australia and Canada. Korea is in the formative stages of membership. Like Esprit, IMS creates and funds projects in specific core areas via the consortia approach. Several reports were presented during a special one-day session following the IiM conference. Among them was a report on experiences with the Globeman 21 program which is aimed at creating the new processes and technologies for manufacturing in the 21st Century. Three areas of research are paramount in this project: development of a virtual manufacturing environment to reduce lead times from production line planning to design and production of the product itself; distributed autonomous manufacturing technology for flexible manufacturing, and global manufacturing taking full advantage of worldwide information technology infrastructures. It is one of the widest ranging projects currently under development.

Dr. Willy van Puymbroeck, principal scientific officer at the European Commission and representative of the IMS, summarized the value of the IMS initiative by noting the benefits of participation. "While companies, academic institutions and government agencies can, of course, develop projects independent of the IMS, by doing them under the strict guidelines of IMS they gain the advantage of carrying out their R&D; in a stable, equitable framework where their commitment will be evident and acknowledged. You become part of a club whose members are equally dedicated to finding solutions to the myriad of problems we all face in manufacturing today. The investment you make is easily leveraged by that of your consortium partners and the funding that often flows to these projects. And, perhaps most important, the results have the IMS 'seal of quality' for they represent research done under the highest standards."

An important aspect of working within the IMS structure is the protection of intellectual property rights in the results of the project. Like Esprit, IMS encourages the commercial development of research done under its umbrella by the participants. To protect the results, each cooperating region has been examined for its established, implemented, equitable and enforced intellectual property rights and laws.

IMS ongoing projects begin with an abstract presented to the organization and, when approved, developed into a full proposal. Proposals are evaluated three times per year. For more information on existing projects and how to submit an abstract, visit their Web site at http://www.IMS.org

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