Lean Applications in Product Development

There is stiff competition in the market these days from Europe and Emerging Markets so, therefore, it is very important for organizations to create their products (software, widgets, etc) quickly. The product development of an organization is its greatest asset because it helps to develop products which are better, and reach the customers when and how they want it. The entire focus of Lean applications has been in the manufacturing domain and not on product development. The companies (Pratt &Whitney, Toyota, and Apple) who have applied the concepts of Lean (like cycle time reduction) in the arena of product development have achieved significant results. Lean devotees say that there are “seven basic principles” which account for optimized product development process. I will list and detail each principal.

1. Holistic, Approach to Systems

The fundamentals of the product development system like people and processes should be coordinated with each other. The team working on a product should be highly skilled, and be able to use the resources optimally. The skills should be matched with the process’ complexity. The concept must be right and everybody must be clear about the solution. The right blend of all the elements like personal, technical applications, management, and structure of the teams will lead to a synergistic system.