Technical Documentation and Process

6

Concurrent Engineering*

6.1 Introduction

Concurrent Engineering (CE) is a method used to shorten the time to market for new or improved products. It can be assumed that a product will, upon reaching the marketplace, be competitive in nearly every respect—such as quality and cost, for example. But the marketplace has shown that products—even though competitive—must not be late to market because market share, and therefore profitability, will be adversely affected. Concurrent engineering is a technique that attempts to address this issue.

6.2 Overview

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, a number of proactive companies began to use what were then innovative techniques to improve their competitive position. But it was not until 1986 that ...