Lean Product Development Workshop

This two- to three-day workshop addresses the principles and practices of lean product development which is focused on reducing waste, work-in-process, and cycle time for product development. It also addresses lean design which focuses on reducing waste in the form of higher cost and poor quality in the design of the product itself.

This workshop is conducted onsite for individual clients and customized to the nature of the client’s products, development processes, and production processes and to the depth of coverage in various topics.

1. LEAN PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK

  • Lean Product Development Objectives: Less Resources, Time, Cost & Waste
  • The Five Lean Product Development Principles
    1. Define Value to the Customer
    2. Identify the Value Stream and Eliminate Waste
    3. Make the Value-Creating Steps Flow
    4. Empower the Team
    5. Learn and Improve
  • Seventeen Practices and Tools of Lean Product Development

2. FIRST PRINCIPLE: DEFINE VALUE TO THE CUSTOMER

  • Practice 1: Voice of the Customer
    • Developing Customer Focus as a Basis for Maximizing Customer Value
    • Starting Point: Understanding the Voice of the Customer
    • The Kano Model
    • Methods for Voice of the Customer Investigation
    • Digging Deeper than Stated Customer Needs with Observation
    • Determining the Value of Customer Needs with Conjoint Analysis
    • Organizing and Distilling Customer Needs with Affinity Diagramming and Customer FAST Diagrams
  • Practice 2: Quality Function Deployment (QFD)
    • Planning Products with Quality Function Deployment (QFD) to Assure a Correct Focus on Customer Needs
    • Competitive Analysis: Developing the Product Strategy and the Customer Value Proposition
    • Maximize the Value Proposition – Avoid Unnecessary/Low Priority Functions, Features and Capabilities
    • Making Tradeoffs to Maximize Customer Value
  • Practice 3: Lean Design
    • Target Costing – A Basis for Customer Value
    • Applying Design to Cost (DTC) to Achieve a Target Cost
    • Exercise: Deriving a Target Cost
    • A Comprehensive Approach to DTC Achievement During the Four Development Phases
      • Concept Development
      • Assembly Design
      • Part Design/Selection
      • Process Design
    • Value Engineering & Function Analysis
    • Exercise: Function Analysis
    • Brainstorming and Other Creativity Techniques
    • Design for Manufacturability/Assembly (DFM/A)
    • Exercise: Design for Manufacturability/Assembly
    • Early Supplier Involvement and Supplier Cost Reduction
    • Lean Transition to Production with 3P (Production Preparation Process)
  • Practice 4: Platforms, Modularity, Standardization and Design Re-Use
    • The Benefits of Product/Technology Platforms and Modularity
    • Planning and Managing Platform Development and Modularity
    • The Benefits of Design Re-Use
    • The Benefits of Standardization and Common Parts
  • Practice 5: Rapidly Explore Alternatives
    • Impediments to Exploring Alternatives
    • Point-Based Design vs. Set-Based Design
    • Concept Selection Method and Case Study

3. SECOND PRINCIPLE: IDENTIFY THE VALUE STREAM AND REMOVE WASTE

  • Practice 6: Streamline the Development Process
    • Lean Gate Review Process to Streamline the Development Process
    • Creating a Flexible, Adaptable Development Process
    • Removing Waste from the Product Development Process
    • The Seven Wastes in Product Development
    • Value Stream Mapping and Process Mapping to Identify and Remove Waste
    • Lean Project Management – Streamline the Project Management Process
  • Practice 7: 5S Workplace
    • Applying the 5S Concepts to Product Development
    • Sort, Straighten and Sweep Project Data
    • Use PLM to Systematize Product Data
  • Practice 8: Standardize Work
    • Standardize the Development Process to Simplify Planning and Avoid Relearning
    • Develop and Apply Architecture and Design Standards to Avoid Reinvention
  • Practice 9: Integrate Design Tools
    • Integrated vs. a Non-Integrated Process
    • Common Issues with Design Tools

4. THIRD PRINCIPLE: MAKE THE VALUE CREATING STEPS FLOW

  • Practice 10: Pipeline Management
    • Use of Portfolio Management to Prioritize Projects
    • Build a Business Case and Use a Phase-Gate Process to Minimize Waste with Less Opportune Projects
    • Control the Product Pipeline to Avoid Overload and Reduce Cycle Time
    • Queuing Theory and the Impact of Pipeline Overload
    • Defining Capacity and Determining Project Resource Requirements
    • Planning Overall Resource Requirements
    • Actions to Address Resource Overload and Manage the Pipeline
  • Practice 11: Flow Process and Pull Scheduling
    • Impact of Utilization of Queue Time and Lead Time
    • Project Staffing and Implications on Project Performance
    • Use Project Milestones to Pull Scheduling of Activities
    • Critical Chain Project Management – a Method for Lean Project Management
    • Creating a Cadence with Product Development to Maintain a Smooth Flow Through the Product Pipeline
    • Bead Exercise
  • Practice 12: Reduced Batch Sizes
    • Effect of Cycle Time, Resource Utilization and Batch Size
    • Architecture Principles for Reduced Batch Sizes
    • Move Platform Development Offline
    • How to Reduce Batch Sizes with Hardware Development
    • How to Reduce Batch Sizes with Software Development
  • Practice 13: Synchronize Activities
    • Focus on Interfaces and Handoffs
    • Collocation Improves Coordination and Communication
    • Applying Visual Management Techniques, a Standard Lean Practice, to Product Development
  • Practice 14: Defer Commitment
    • Avoid Changes by Deferring Commitment
    • Steps to Defer Commitment
    • Concept of the “Last Responsible Moment”
    • Enabling Architecture
    • Defer Planning with Lean/Agile Project Planning

5. FOURTH PRINCIPLE: EMPOWER THE TEAM

  • Practice 15: Cross-Functional Team
    • Cross Functional Teams Create a Product Development Work Cell
    • Relationship to Functional Management vs. Program Management
    • Steps to Create Effective Cross-Functional Teams
    • Importance of Collocation or Virtual Collocation
    • Exercise: Cross-Functional Team
  • Practice 16: Workforce Empowerment
    • Empowerment as a Basis for Lean Product Development
    • What Does Empowerment Mean?
    • Pushing Down Decision-Making to Lowest Effective Level
  • Practice 17: Right Resources
    • Going Beyond Assignment to Adequate Involvement
    • Impact of Experience and Skill Level on Team Effectiveness

6. FIFTH PRINCIPLE: LEARN AND IMPROVE

  • Practice 18: Amplify Learning
    • The Learning Enterprise: “Do it right the first time” or “Fail often and fail early”
    • Prototyping, Learning and Feedback
    • Advance Quality Planning or Like Product and Process Review
    • Project Reviews as a Learning Mechanism
    • Closed-Loop Improvement Approach

7. LEAN PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT SUMMARY

  • Summary – The Product Development Factory
  • Transition to a Lean Product Development Environment
  • Structuring an Action Plan for Improvement
  • Workshop Wrap-Up and Final Questions