Rapid product development. A holistic concept

Permanent shringking of product lead times and innovation cycles as well as an enhanced focus on customer needs are emblematic for the dramatically changing business environment of the 90s. In order to adapt to these changes conventional serial and tayloristic development techniques need to give way to an integrated approach. The rapid product development concept presented in this paper takes organizational, economical and technological aspects into account, many of which currently lack practical evaluation on a broad basis. An example demonstrates how the process of product development can be made more effective and efficient by using this new concept