Develop high-quality products quickly and reliably
challenge
Not every development leads to a successful project. Deadlines are missed, costs are too high, quality is compromised: Almost four out of ten development projects in the German mechanical and plant engineering sector fail to meet their targets. This is the conclusion of a study carried out by Staufen together with the German Engineering Federation (VDMA).
The task environment and external framework conditions of our customers are changing faster and more radically than ever before. The requirements for the products to be developed are also changing.
Typical issues
- Sustainable and holistic transformation of development systems according to Lean Management principles
- Tailored hybrid development systems with the right balance between agile and plan-driven approaches
- Optimization of the development or order fulfillment processes and technical change management
- Implementation of Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM)
- Increased effectiveness and efficiency in the multi-project landscape through excellent leadership and governance (cascaded deviation management, multi-project governance)
- Structured frontloading of product development
- Increasing competitiveness and profitability through value engineering
- Optimization of variant and complexity management and standardization
- Increasing development effectiveness by separating innovation from pre-series and series development
- Design for Green: Translating sustainability requirements into technically clarified burdens and obligations and monitoring implementation
Achim Oberacker
PartnerSTAUFEN.AG
Dr. Achim Oberacker holds a doctorate in Electrical Engineering and has completed training for Design for Sigma Lean Green Belt (DIDOV), Six Sigma Lean (DMAIC) and Professional Scrum Master. He is a trainer at Staufen Academy. Achim Oberacker has years of leadership and project management experience in product development and production. He is an expert in Lean and agile development processes and R&D management. Additionally, he has methodological and practical knowledge of Design for Six Sigma, requirements management and value stream design. He has industry knowledge in electronics, mechanical engineering, automotive and transportation.
Other areas of expertise include over 15 years of consulting experience, including as a technical manager, more than 10 years of professional experience with a focus on Lean and agile product development plus integrated transformation and training programs and 10 years of experience as a Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt (as a project manager and international trainer).
How will you benefit
Improve efficiency and effectiveness
- Increase project throughput in a multi-project environment
- More robust processes and optimal use of resources
- Clocked development
- Short-cycle and cascaded deviation management
Increase product value
- Effective and efficient requirements management through structured frontloading
- Reduction of (internal) product complexity through effective variant management
Improve innovation performance
- Early anticipation of markets and applications
- Creative and iterative knowledge management
- Effective product portfolio management
- Agile use of the internal and external organization as a source of ideas
- Designing products and services to meet needs
Increase flexibility and adaptability
- Agile or hybrid leadership systems in product development
- Sustainable culture of continuous improvement
- Employee empowerment
- A flexible, breathable and adaptive organization
- Clear target development and continuous alignment
Adaptability and speed in product development are becoming decisive factors for success.
The scenario can be bleak: Development project lead times are already long and costs seem to be rising inexorably. As a result, the return on investment falls short of expectations. In the worst case, competitiveness is threatened.
But how can development lead times and costs be improved when at the same time the complexity of the technologies and the framework conditions continues to increase?
Task forces only provide a temporary fix for troubled projects and it is time-consuming and expensive to fix previous errors in the development system. In addition, they undermine all systematic, plannable ways of working and create a high level of stress for employees and resources – something that cannot be sustained in the long term.
We help our customers improve performance of their organization without overburdening them.
More projects with the same team: Sounds great, but how can that be achieved? Simply increasing the number of projects is not enough. You need to increase the efficiency of both the processes and the company.
Lean offers the right approach because efficiency is calculated from value added and waste. With less waste, less power is lost and output is higher. With less load. Successful companies prevent waste by purposefully configuring their development system. The solutions can be described in 7 fields of action: robust processes, the right organization, a strategy that provides direction, innovation management that is focused on continuously increasing product value, expedient (multi-)project management, product design methods, but also qualified people and leadership that enables value stream-oriented work.
In every development there is an even better one! Improve the effectiveness and efficiency of your development system!
White paper “variant and complexity management”
In order to remain able to act and thus to survive in these situations, companies should take timely measures to ensure that the complexity drivers variety, networking, and change remain in a healthy balance with one another.
More about this topic
Reach the goal faster with frontloading
It’s forbidden in sports, but it helps in product development: The early start. In lean development, this is called frontloading and it helps shorten development time.
Read more
When complexity becomes a question of survival/secured production despite disrupted supply chain – Variant management
Köngen – disrupted supply chains keep compromising the production flows of German industry. Currently, for example, automobile manufacturers are suffering from massive resupply problems with regard to chips. Such external shocks suddenly increase complexity. In order to remain able to act and thus to survive in these situations, companies should take timely measures to ensure that the complexity drivers variety, networking, and change remain in a healthy balance with one another.
Read more
Agility
A paradox in business enterprises is: “Growth creates complexity and complexity is a silent killer for growth.” Only about 10% of companies are able to profitably grow over a longer period of time. However, growth is not the problem, rather the increasing complexity that arises when companies, for example, develop new products, expand into new markets or establish new fields of business.
Read more
Plenty of Space for Creativity
Not all companies have managed to keep pace with change as impressively as ddm hopt+schuler. The company based in the German town of Rottweil has succeeded in continuously developing itself and its products for more than 50 years. The key to success, according to owner Karl-Rudolf Hopt, is a “a culture in which nothing is impossible”.
Read more
Why is the topic of variant and complexity management more relevant today than ever?
The constant increase in product diversity is forcing many companies to face up to the issue of variant and complexity management. In order to survive in competition in the long term, the existing product and process complexity must be reduced. We discuss how this can be achieved with Dino Munk, partner at Staufen AG.
Read more