9Engineering Delivery
9.1 Introduction
This chapter is concerned with the final stages of technology and product development programmes. This is where the ideas that emerged several phases previously make their way into production and operation.
Taking a somewhat narrow view, and perhaps understating all the creative thinking that has gone previously, the final output of these development programmes is information. For the parent organisation, this is the information from which reliable new products can be manufactured, sold, and operated. This chapter describes how this information is finalised and delivered to its users.
As has been stressed elsewhere, this development and provision of information is not an ‘over‐the‐wall’ affair but a collaborative exercise where the product development engineers work closely with people in:
- Manufacturing
- Purchasing and supply chain management
- Service and product support
- Marketing
The engineers are the custodians of the product information, developed jointly by this group. It represents a critical, intangible asset of an organisation, despite the fact that it will not be financially recognised on that organisation's balance sheet. As an aside, investments in intangible assets now outnumber conventional asset investments in at least three countries (Sweden, United States, and United Kingdom) – see Ref. 1. They also have the advantage of being far more scalable – i.e. they can be used at increasing volumes, far more easily than physical assets. ...