CONCEPT FOR MULTIDEVELOPMENT PROJECT AND TEAM ORGANIZATION OF PRODUCTAND PROCESS GENERATIONS

Large and middle-sized manufacturers need to carry out multiple develo pment projects simultaneously to serve a variety of products to market s with different customer needs. The purpose of this article is to exp lore product development project and team organization with respect to technology and design transfer strategy among multiple development pr ojects, as well as their impact on project integrity and performance. The focus is on the strategic and cross-functional integration of prod uct and process generations with distinctive platforms and their deriv ative projects. First, this study proposes a concept of multilayer dev elopment project and team organization, which builds a creative enviro nment through effective information sharing among and within the indiv idual development projects and teams. Second, using analysis results o n six product development projects at a large Japanese computer manufa cturer, it is concluded that multilayer teams are effective in realizi ng project integrity through implementing inter- and intraproduct and process generation technology and design transfer strategy. (C) 1998 J ohn Wiley & Sons, Inc.