The product-process-market path: new road maps

Global competition is causing management to rethink the way design and production are done. To cut time to market, industry is aiming to shorten both the manufacturing and engineering cycles. New road maps are being developed and experimented with. It is noted that the traditional throw-it-over-the-wall road map has been discarded and the focus has turned to group technology, concurrent engineering, design for manufacture, and design for assembly. Dictaphone Corporation´s products aim at the industrial voice recording market, and in late 1990 it formed a team to explore the feasibility of a new product. The team sized up the proposed product´s technical feasibility by reviewing Dictaphone´s analog/digital technology, PCB (printed circuit board) product process technology, and test requirements. The focus of the case study described is on PCB technology, the PCB being a component of the new product. The concept-design-production path is described. The PCB design-manufacture approach described here provides a road map aimed at product reliability and robustness as well as reduced cycle time, all of which means an improved competitive edge in the market place