Concurrent engineering-pitfalls and implementation successes

Most UK companies are aware of concurrent engineering (CE) and a few have mature implementations generating significant benefits. The vast majority however are confused; they find it difficult to define CE and to decide what benefits they may achieve. Based on work with many companies the author attempts to distil their experiences for the benefit of others. In practice, most companies struggle hardest with the people issues of CE. They also find that, with the benefit of hindsight, the way forward was based on commonsense. The author focuses on the common pitfalls and implementation methods used to create an environment where teamworking and integrated problem solving can work