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Antecedents and outcomes of manufacturability in integrated product development

William J. Doll (Department of Management, University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio, USA)
Paul Hong (Department of Information Operations and Technology Management, College of Business Administration, University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio, USA)
Abraham Nahm (Department of Management and Marketing, University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire, Eau Claire, Wisconsin, USA)

International Journal of Operations & Production Management

ISSN: 0144-3577

Article publication date: 20 July 2010

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present a model linking the role of design engineers to shared team knowledge, enhanced manufacturability, and product development outcomes. New product manufacturability is a quality of the product design that indicates the ease and reliability by which an organization develops products by using its manufacturing and supply chain resources.

Design/methodology/approach

The model is tested using a sample of 205 product development projects from firms in the USA and Canada.

Findings

The findings of the large‐scale empirical study suggest that by facilitating informing practices among functional specialists, design engineers help translate a functional portrayal of the product in terms of customer attributes, to a form description in terms of engineering characteristics, and then to a fabrication view in terms of manufacturing processes.

Practical implications

New product manufacturability can be a distinctive competency that provides competitive advantage by lowering costs, improving customer value, and speeding products to market.

Originality/value

In contrast to previous research that showed that role changes of design engineers have a narrow impact on development productivity (e.g. improving resource allocation), this paper suggests that these role changes of design engineers have a much broader impact on manufacturability and, through this, improve manufacturing cost, time‐to‐market, and value‐to‐customers.

Keywords

Citation

Doll, W.J., Hong, P. and Nahm, A. (2010), "Antecedents and outcomes of manufacturability in integrated product development", International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Vol. 30 No. 8, pp. 821-852. https://doi.org/10.1108/01443571011068180

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2010, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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