Systematic approach to adopt Lean Production System principles in product development

摘要

The profitability of a product is mainly based on decisions in product development. However, in the last decades most enterprises concentrated their optimization efforts on the production. A common approach to increase the productivity is a Lean Production System (LPS). The aim of a LPS is the reduction of waste and the implementation of a continuous improvement process to assure a sustainable profit Challenges in the product development, like growing complexity and shorter product life cycles, force enterprises to develop and launch new products within shorter periods with higher efforts. A systematic approach like LPS in the production could achieve similar benefits in the field of product development. The Toyota Product Development System (TPDS) shows the potential of using such an approach. With regards to the benefits of the TPDS, enterprises start developing an individual enterprise-specific Lean Development System. A possible approach is the transformation of the LPS principles. To identify the benefit of the LPS principles the applicability of the principles to the product development process has to be considered. Besides that, the positive impact of the LPS principles on the targets of development is evaluated. Based on this analysis the paper shows an approach to transfer relevant principles to the specific requirements of product development.