Concurrent Engineering

Concurrent engineering is a business strategy which replaces the traditional product development process with one in which tasks are done in parallel and there is an early consideration for every aspect of a product's development process. This strategy focuses on the optimization and distribution of a firm's resources in t he design and development process to ensure effective and efficient product development process.
Need for Concurrent Engineering
In today's business world, corporations must be able to react to the changing market needs rapidly, effectively, and responsively. They must be able to reduce their time to market and adapt to the changing environments. Decisions must be made quickly and they must be done right the first time out. Corporations can no longer waits time repeating tasks, thereby prolonging the time it takes to bring new products to market. Therefore, concurrent engineering has emerged as way of bringing rapid solutions to product design and development process.
Concurrent engineering is indisputably the wave of the future for new product development for all companies regardless of their size, sophistication, or product portfolio. In order to be competitive, corporations must alter their product and process development cycle to be able to complete diverse tasks concurrently. This new process will benefit the company, although it will require a large amount of refinement in its implementation. This is because, concurrent engineering is a process that must be reviewed and adjusted for continuous improvements of engineering and business operations.
The Concurrent Engineering Approach
Concurrent engineering is a business strategy which replaces the traditional product developm ent process with one in which tasks are done in parallel and there is an early consideration for ever y aspect of a product's development process. This strategy focuses on the optimization and distribut ion of a firm's resources in the design and development process to ensure an effective and efficient product development process. It mandates major changes within the organizations and firms that use i t, due to the people and process integration requirements. Collaboration is a must for individuals, groups, departments, and separate organizations within the firm. Therefore, it cannot be applied at leisure. A firm must be dedicated to the long term implementation, appraisal, and continuous revisi on of a concurrent engineering process.
Strategic Plan of Concurrent Engineering
Concurrent engineering is recognized as a strategic weapon that businesses must use for effec tive and efficient product development. It is not a trivial task, but a complex strategic plan that demands full corporate commitment, therefore strong leadership and teamwork go hand and hand with suc cessful concurrent engineering programs.

Human Factors in Engineering and Design

Who people are human factor people?

Ans: Human factor people are: Psychology, Engineering, Human factors/ergonomics, Medicine, Physiology, Life science, Education, Industrial design, Business administration, Computer science, others.

What are the principal areas of human factors people?

Ans: The principal areas of human factors people are given below:

Ø Computers

Ø Aerospace

Ø Industrial processes

Ø Health and safety

Ø Communication

Ø Transportation

Ø Others

What activity do human factor people perform?

Ans: The activity do human factors people perform are given below:

Ø Communication:

ü Write report

ü Conduct formal briefing and presentations

ü Edit report written by others

ü Write proposal

Ø Management:

ü Schedule project activity

ü Manage and supervise others

ü Prepare budgets and minor financial matter

Ø System development:

ü Determine system requirements

ü Verify system design meets human factors standards

ü Write system goals and objectives

ü Perform task analysis

Ø Research and evaluation:

ü Development experimental designs to test theories

ü Design data collection instruments and procedures

ü Determine proper statistical test for particular data set

ü Plan and conduct user-machine evaluations

ü Collect data in controlled laboratory setting

ü Develop criterion measures of human-system performance

What is system and subsystem?

Ans: System:

A system is an entity that exists to carry out some purposes. A system is composed of humans, machine and others things that work together to accomplish some goal which these same components could not produce independently. A system receives inputs from the environment and makes outputs to the environment.

Subsystem:

Subsystem is a part of a system. Each subsystem carries out part of the system function.

Human machine system:

Human machine system is a combination of one or more human beings and one or more physical components interacting to bring about for given input, some desired outputs. A human machine system can be a person with a hoe, a hammer or a hair curler.