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Concurrent engineering can help manufacturing enterprises to achieve shorter time to market, reduced development costs, and high‐quality products. In order to realize the concurrent engineering, a lot of integrations are required according to parallel development technique, such as the integration of the people with different disciplines, the integration of the software of design methods and design data, and so on. This paper discusses the integration of the software of existing design methods for concurrent engineering by using axiomatic design. The results show that a very complicated software system for concurrent engineering becomes simple and consists of 26 modules corresponding to 26 design methods and one main module which contains all the junctional properties at each level. The task of the programmer for the integration becomes clear and is mainly programming for the main module.

Continuous quality improvement is now the focus of research and application in quality engineering. To achieve continuous improvement, it’s necessary to integrate quality tools and to plan, design and control the whole process of creating quality. Based on the extensive literature review and the philosophy of concurrent quality engineering, the paper analyzes the relationships among major quality tools such as QFD, FMEA, DOE and SPC and presents a basic model and structure for the integration of quality tools.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the historical approach to concurrent engineering (CE) which has resulted in product line management (PLM) and then evaluates the theoretical models that have been proposed for design for Six Sigma (DFSS) in order to determine which model is able to provide the most consistent approach with historical development of PLM.

The approach begins with an overview of the approach taken by the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers (JUSE) in the development of a coherent quality methodology for structured analysis and problem solving – the Deming Wheel of plan‐do‐check‐act (PDCA) which has become the standard model in Japanese total quality management to define a logical decomposition in process management. In Japan, PDCA is the single logical model which has been broadly accepted as the construct for understanding how to develop both strategic and operational quality methods. The second step in the approach is to examine a similar American development of the model for statistical problem solving that is applied in the Six Sigma method for statistical problem solving: define‐measure‐analyze‐improve‐control (DMAIC). Next, the paper examines the historical sequence in the way the product development process has developed over the past forty years, with emphasis on its military origins (especially CE) and which resulted in the generic model for PLM. The final part of this paper examines the models that have been proposed to implement DFSS over the past ten years and evaluate their logical congruence with the engineering community's design process.

Problems in alignment with the engineering design process were identified with all of the DFSS models and with the non‐structured or “heuristic” approach to developing a coherent body of knowledge related to DFSS.

This paper provides a challenge to the quality community as well as to the academic community. The paper points out the need for rigorous examination of logical models that are proposed for guiding the thinking of practitioners in the use of quality methods for both the engineering of products and business systems. An expose of lack of rationality in the way an approach to DFSS has been investigated calls for more responsibility in the management of the development of this body of knowledge.

New product development (NPD) is the cornerstone of manufacturing companies. An engineer‐to‐order (ETO) company can achieve its business objectives by reducing design iterations and rework, recognizing customer’s requirements up‐front and building quality into design and manufacturing. This paper discusses differences between ETO and make‐to‐stock (MTS) companies and justifies the need for a separate framework for ETO in NPD. Four frameworks from published literature were analyzed and it was found that the frameworks were not suitable for ETO companies due to the differences in operations and product design activities. This paper proposes a set of requirements for establishing a design and manufacture framework specifically for ETO companies. The framework can aid design and manufacturing engineers to plan their work to include customers, suppliers, consultants, contractors and manufacturing concern during the design stage. The framework requirements can serve as a foundation of further work to be carried out in this area.

This paper deals with total quality management (TQM) with an emphasis on developing suitable strategies for improving quality and productivity in manufacturing systems. In recent years, TQM has been seen as an important strategy for achieving success in business both in terms of quality and productivity. However, there seem to be no clear strategic framework and guide‐lines for implementing TQM in manufacturing in the light of available advanced production concepts and technologies. A review of previous implementation approaches of TQM in practice has been presented in order to gain further insights into the implementation aspects of TQM. The main objective of this paper is to present a general framework for the development of TQM in manufacturing organizations considering the recent developments in production concepts and technologies and competitiveness among firms to utilize quality as a competitive weapon.

Design for manufacture (DFM) is accepted as an important tool to improve manufacturing competitiveness. Reports on the results of the first phase of a study conducted by Cranfield University to establish the user requirements for “design for manufacture” within a complex design and manufacture supply chain.

This article investigates the relationship between the functional areas of manufacturing and human resources by analysing the practices of human resource management associated with the competitive priorities of manufacturing strategy, e.g. quality, delivery performance, flexibility and cost. Within strategic business management, both the competitive priorities of manufacturing and the practices of human resource management need to be observed by the whole organisation. In this way, this study presents how human resource management practices are aligned to business strategies based on cost reduction, quality, delivery performance and product innovation. These practices may also be arranged in different ways in a particular competitive strategy.

Explores the issues surrounding process improvements in the software development function of product development, an area traditionally neglected by corporate quality programmes. Explains the need for implementation of software process improvement, the current state of such initiatives in industry, and cites a case study of successful implementation at Hewlett Packard. Provides guidelines on identifying the need for such a programme in an organization, information on Carnegie Mellon University′s Software Engineering Institute (SEI) and instructions for receiving additional information.

Enterprises are used to managing quality together with productivity but neglecting environmental management. This involves higher costs and lower benefits than if they were managed jointly. Therefore, efforts must be made to link all of the main aspects of the global performance/efficiency. In recent years several methodologies have been developed and implemented to consider and sort out single aspects of performance (concurrent engineering, quality function deployment, rapid prototyping, lean production, design for assembly and disassembly, total quality management, LCA) seeks to propose a method to attain such a result, within a continuous improvement environment.

The method is based on the correlation between 12 aspects of performance/efficiency in the production processes, general specifications of the project, detail specifications for sub‐systems, and productive modalities.

It is found that this can be done by constructing specific matrices, by utilizing both technical and economic data, which permit to identify the modifications to introduce in the process/product to improve the various aspects of performance.

The way to follow is necessarily the adoption of methodologies able to integrate all aspects, to pursue and achieve an increasing efficiency.

Despite the fact that agile manufacturing has been frequently promoted as a means of improving business competitiveness, little empirical evidence exists in the literature validating its positive link with business performance. The purpose of this research paper is to analyse agile manufacturing in Spain and study whether it is a critical factor for success in different industries.

A conceptual model is drawn up, based on the literature and a previous case study, to relate turbulence in the environment with agile manufacturing practices and business performance. The model is tested on a large sample of Spanish manufacturers using a survey methodology to obtain information and a structural equation model to analyse the data.

The results obtained show that, in turbulent environments, the integrated use of agile manufacturing practices promotes manufacturing competitive strength, leading to better operational, market and financial performance.

This study has two main limitations. First, it is difficult to determine the most suitable unit of analysis when studying agile manufacturing. Second, single respondent bias may be considered a limitation.

Managers should consider the integrated implementation of agile manufacturing practices in order to develop manufacturing strength and to outperform competitors in turbulent business environments.

This study adopts a systematic approach to the analysis of agile manufacturing, considering various agility practices or enablers in an integrated way and relating them not only to environmental characteristics but also to business performance. This approach is especially interesting because most of the literature on agile manufacturing deals with agility strategies or techniques in an isolated way. The study also tests the suitability of agile manufacturing in real organisations – for the first time in the Spanish context.