High performance product development: A systems approach to a lean product development process.

Abstract

The ability to bring new and innovative products to market rapidly has become a hallmark of the successful consumer driven enterprise. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the auto industry where radically shortened product development cycle times and drastically increased product quality levels are crucial differentiating factors between the best performing companies and the rest of the industry. Toyota's product development performance as measured by product quality, speed to market, and subsequent manufacturing efficiency surpasses most, if not the entire automotive industry. This research compares and contrasts Toyota's product development system to that of a North American competitor through an in-depth analysis of the automotive body development process in an attempt to understand how Toyota is able to consistently outperform their competitors in product development speed and quality and what, if any, is the link between Toyota's product development process and the effectiveness of The Toyota Production System. By examining both companies body development processes this study identifies the underlying principles that form the core of the powerful systems approach to product development used by Toyota in which the fundamental system elements of process, people, and tools and technology are found to be mutually supportive and coherent in nature. This holistic systems approach to product development is central to Toyota's outstanding performance in product development and a key enabler of the Toyota Production System.

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