Vägen till lyckade projekt går genom en väl utförd front end : En fallstudie rörande arbetet i front-end fasen för uppfyllanden av ledtider från idé till lansering på marknaden

Activities are generally performed in a product development project. Scientists and people operating in business sector that works with project management argue that the early phases of a project are important to perform right. If they are not performed right the goals that are stated for the product is not going to be achieved. The early phases in a project are also called the front-end phase. Which these activities are and how they is supposed to be performed is what this rapport is meant to realize. In this rapport several theories have been analysed to develop activities in the front-end phase that contributes to a reduction of lead-time in product development projects. Personnel at Cargotec Sweden AB specifically their branch called Kalmar, hereafter called Kalmar, have been interviewed to examine whether a implementation of these activities leads to a reduction of the time between idea to the launch of a product. A benchmarking study have been preformed at Tetra Pak AB and IKEA AB to assess which of these activities are in use at each company respectively or if there are other similarities between the theoretical model. The theoretical study and the benchmarking study have been compared with the activities that is in us at Cargotec Sweden AB to investigate if there are potential for improvement. This study resulted in six activities that is needed to be performed in the front-end phase to achieve a reduction of lead times for product development projects. These are:1. Identify opportunities2. Analyse opportunities3. Generate ideas4. Choose ideas5. Defining of concept6. Plan projectThe activities should be performed up to the point of a product development project that is considered by a company as a decision point of whether to implement a project. This usually is before the implementation phase of the project. The activities (1-6) that are listed above have ingoing activities that have to be performed. When the ingoing activities have been done the project continues to the next activity in the list above (1-6). A description will be don in this report for how to perform these activities, what the activities will result in and who is responsible of the activity. If this sound interesting then continue reading and join a unforgettable journey in the fantastic world that is project management!Validerat; 20140619 (global_studentproject_submitter