Concurrent engineering in product development

Concurrent engineering, an integrated design approach that considers, from the outset, all elements of the product life cycle from conception through disposal, including quality, cost, schedule, and user requirements, is examined. A description is given of the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency DICE program, which is aimed at promoting the practice and acceptance of concurrent engineering in US industry. It is shown how the growing complexity of organizations and projects is defeating the sequential product-development process and how concurrent engineering, which encourages information sharing among all functions within a product´s life cycle, offers tools that help deal with this complexity, resulting in products that get to market faster and cost less to develop.<>