Thinking Beyond Lean Reviewed by Alexander Kuhne Kwakye Oppong Adekunle Okunoye

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Thinking Beyond LeanReviewed byAlexander
KuhneKwakye OppongAdekunle Okunoye
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Introduction

• From Lean Management to Multiproject Concept
• Typology of various strategy
• Relationship of Organisation to Business Process
  reengineering
• Description of traditional approches towards
  organisation
• Center Organisation

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Organisation in Reengineering Processes(I)

• Organisation is sensitive to a set of variables
• Business Processes
• Infromation Technology Use
• Orgnisational Form
• People Skills
• All the elements are interdependent
• El Sawy focuses on Business Processes while
  Cusumano and Nobeoka concentrated on
  Organisational form
• Restructuring of any of the elements has effect
  on the performance of the Organisation

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Organisation in Reengineering Processes(II)
El Sawy Omar
Cusumano Nobeoka
Leavitt Diamond
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Overview of Traditional Approaches towards
Organisation

• Matrix Organisation
• Combines projects with functional engineering
  department
• Differential Matrix
• Characteristics of Matrix
• Row/Column
• Engineers reports to two different heads
• Projects Head
• Functional Head

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MATRIX ORGANISATION
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Product Team Organisation

• Organisation that create independent projects
  that focus on building one project at a time
• Duplication of many functional activities and
  component development efforts
• Integration of functional departments of product
• Encourages lean practices

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PRODUCT TEAM ORGANISATION
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Key Features of Product Development Process(I)

• Complex and Multiple components
• Simultaneous projects
• Lead Time
• Engineering hours
• Functional Activities
• Concept generation
• Product Planning
• Advanced Engineering
• Product Engineering
• Product Engineering
• Pilot Production

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Key Features of Product Development Process(II)

• Challenges
• Organisation of Project around Functional
  Activities
• Scale and Scope economies
• Whole Product development Process
• Best result is derived from balancing of the two
  options
• Company performance is directly propotional to
  efficeint management of projects
• Global and high competition
• Adoption of Common Platform

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Key Features of Product Development Process(III)

• Platforms
• it defines the basic structure and performance
  charateristics of the product and incorporates
  critical aspects of design and manufacturing
  know-how
• Technology and Knowledge transfer between
  projects
• Platform component is most expensive part of
  product development , hence sharing platform is
  considered as extremely cost effective
• Quick response to market changes

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Typology of Multiproject Strategy

• New Design
• Concurrent TechnologyTransfer
• Sequential Technology Transfer
• Design Modification

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New Design

• Subsumes Projects starting to develop a platform
  from scratch
• No technology transfer between projects
• Most appropriate for project that requires latest
  technology or totally new design

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Concurrent Technology Transfer

• Targeted towards technology sharing between
  projects
• Sharing of platforms between projects before
  completion of the preceding or base project
• Encourages Collaboration, Coordination and
  Communication in design phase
• Cost effective and flexible

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Sequential Technology Transfer

• Reuse base platforms but not concurrently
• Inherit the relatively old platforms of completed
  projects
• Risk of too many design compromise and poor
  integration of product features and subsystems

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Design Modification

• Takes over the base platform of the existing
  product
• Platform is not inherited from another product
  but from its predecessor

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Concurrent Technology Transfer and Knowledge
Transfer

• Most efficient
• Engineering Hours
• Reuse of technology
• Mutual Adjustments
• Conduct Joint design work
• Shorter Time lag
• Feasibility and Efficiency of Communication
  depends on several factors

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Concurrent Technology Transfer and Knowledge
Transfer(II)

• These Factors can be broken down into 5 different
  area
• Advance Planning
• Mutual Adjustment, task sharing, and joint design
• Transfer of fresh vs dated design
• Problems of anonymous designs
• Role of a General Manager for Multi-project
  management

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Advance Planning for Technology Transfer

• Platform transfer requires base platforms design
  adjustment to fit the new architecture and
  specifications
• Factors responsible for changes in platform
  design includes
• Target Market
• Performance requirement
• Changes in Fashion

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Advance Planning for Technology Transfer(II)

• The other two strategies has a long time lags
  bewteen base projects
• Due to lack of planning to transfer it to future
  projects
• Difficulty in problem of predicting when there
  is a long time lag bewteen two projects

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Multi-Project Strategies and Average Lead Time
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Mutual Adjustment, Task Sharing, and Joint Design

• Adjustment processes are complicated
• Requires multiple iterations of feedback between
  two projects
• Advance planning has no effect
• Possible in Concurrent technology transfer
• Task Sharing
• Joint Design

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Mutual Adjustment, Task Sharing, and Joint
Design(II)
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Transfer of Fresh Designs vs Dated Designs

• Dated Design used in Sequential technology
  transfer and design modification
• Problem with linking the old platform with new
  components
• Design changes causes increase in Engineering
  hours

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Problem of Anonymous Designs

• Problem of continuity in transfering the design
  from base projects
• Engineer movements
• Drawings and Written specification
• It is difficult to transfer intangible or tacit
  understanding without chronological overlap and
  direct interactions

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Role of GM for Multi-Project Management

• Executives can take quick decision on resources
  allocation that will enable a product to be
  reusable for more than one projects

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Center Organisation
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Center Organisation

• Center Organsation
• Clusters of similar projects
• Duplication of some funtional departments for
  groups of similar projects
• Semi Center
• Clusters of similar projects
• Centralised Functional departments
• Largest firms use Centers or Semi Center
  structure while smaller firms use Matrix
  Organisation

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Center Organisation(II)

• It simplify project management and promote
  component sharing
• Encourages frequent development of quick
  products with lower costs
• Ideal organisation that supports knowledge
  transfer

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Functional vs Project-Centered Organisations

• Project-centered
• Breaks wall between functional departments.
• Engineers gain from cross-group meetings and
  interactions with other engineers
• Functional organisations
• Engineers up-to-date
• Better position to produce radical innovation
• Project Centered vs Functional Organisation
• Rate of technical Changes
• Length of Development project
• Degree of Interdependency

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Organisational Requirements for Multiple Projects

• Communication and Coordination Mechanisms
• Engineers has to communicate well and coordinate
  their work properly
• Component transfer is related to its
  interdependency on other components
• Knowledge Retention and Transfer Mechanisms
• Local Knowledge
• System or Integrative Knowledge

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Conclusion

• Changes in project organisational structures
  affects product development processes
• Concurrent technology transfer is the best
  strategy that supports Knowledge transfer and
  sharing
• Organisation form and Business processes as
  elements of organisation when adjusted has effect
  on the performance of the organisation.

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References

• Cusumano et al(1998) Thinking Beyond Lean- How
  Multi-Project Management Is Transforming Product
  Development at Toyota and Other Companies New
  York The Free Press
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• El Sawy Omar (2000) Redesigning Enterprise
  Processes for e-Business McGraw-Hill
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• Nonaka, I(1994) Dynamic Theory of Organisational
  Knowledge Creation Organisation Sceince/ Vol. 5
  No 1 ,14-37