Factors influencing success in integrated product development (IPD) projects

Given the fact that there are thousands of components involved in the devel opment process of an automobile or of her similar complex products, coupled with many groups of people with different backgrounds, it is important to explore factors that can help the integration of the different groups and t he tasks leading to project success. We conducted five in-depth case studie s in one European automobile company and three first-tier suppliers also ba sed in Europe. We focus not only on internal management, but also on the ex ternal management of integrated development projects (IPDs), Our data showe d that there are five key areas-brand or vision deployment, understanding o f customer needs or specifications, supplier involvement in the development process, project management, and purchasing-that can contribute to the suc cess of integrated development projects, We identify a number of critical i ssues in the aforementioned key areas that could help to improve the manage ment and, thus, enhance the success potential of IPD projects. This paper e xplores the issues relating to success in IPD projects in companies that ou tsource the component/systems development.