Article,
Communication and uncertainty in concurrent engineering
Management Science, 44 (8): 1032-1048 (1998)
Abstract
We present an analytical model of concurrent engineering, where an
upstream and a downstream task are overlapped to minimize time-to-market.
The gain from overlapping activities must be weighed against the
delay from rework that results from proceeding in parallel based
on preliminary information. Communication reduces the negative effect
of rework at the expense of communication time. We derive the optimal
levels of concurrency combined with communication, and we analyze
how these two decisions interact in the presence of uncertainty and
dependence. Uncertainty is modeled via the average rate of engineering
changes, and its
reduction via the change of the modification rate over time. In addition,
we model dependence by the impact the modifications impose on the
downstream task. The model yields three main results. First, we present
a dynamic decision rule for determining the optimal meeting schedule.
The optimal meeting frequency follows the frequency of engineering
changes over time, and it increases with the levels of uncertainty
and dependence. Second, we derive the optimal concurrency between
activities when communication follows the optimal pattern described
by our decision rule. Uncertainty and dependence make concurrency
less attractive, reducing the optimal overlap. However, the speed
of uncertainty reduction may increase or decrease optimal overlap.
Third, choosing communication and concurrency separately prevents
achieving the optimal time-to-market, resulting in a need for coordination.
Tags
- changes;
- communication
- concurrent
- development;
- engineering
- engineering;
- frontloading;
- optimization
- overlapping;
- policy;
- product
- simultaneous
