Concept Development Toolbox: Development of a methodology for structured and pragmatic concept development at Husqvarna Construction Products
Typ
Examensarbete för masterexamen
Program
Publicerad
2021
Författare
Alfredsson, Matilda
Andersson, Olivia
Modellbyggare
Tidskriftstitel
ISSN
Volymtitel
Utgivare
Sammanfattning
Focusing efforts early in projects and working with structured and purposive methods
can prevent changes in the later stages of product development projects, which can be
costly and have detrimental effects for time-to-market. To maintain a strong market
presence and competitiveness in R&D operations Husqvarna Construction Products
are striving to continuously improve the time-to-market for complex product development
projects. As a part of this endeavor, Husqvarna Construction Products wants to
study improvement potentials in early project phases, with the goal to find ways to
work more structured and purposive with concept development execution.
The purpose of this project is to develop a Toolbox aimed to support structured and
pragmatic development execution in early product development project phases where
the conceptual design is performed. This project will support the improvement of early
project phases as a part of Husqvarna Construction Products’ endeavor of reducing
time-to-market for their product development projects. To achieve the purpose the
research methodology comprised literature studies to research concept development
methodologies, qualitative interviews to understand the current situation and needs
at Husqvarna Construction Products and an iterative creation process for the Toolbox
undertaken by an action-research approach involving participants from Husqvarna
Construction Products.
The Concept Development Toolbox comprises a methodology derived from established
concept development methodologies, further adapted to suit the needs of Husqvarna
Construction Products. The methodology’s core is to explore broadly, consider sets
of solutions, and gradually narrow the sets by eliminating solutions, leading to convergence
towards a final concept. It is influenced by the set-based approach, which
supports considerations of several alternative solutions and prevents the appearance of
late changes in the product development process. The Toolbox consists of two parts,
a Handbook, and a Template. The Handbook aims to describe the methodology, the
purpose, and how to execute activities. The Template aims to support the practical
execution and facilitate documentation, by providing templates for each presented
method and tool suggested in the Handbook.
Concluding, the Toolbox is developed to support and facilitate structured and pragmatic
concept development execution for Husqvarna Construction Products and a
prerequisite for obtaining the benefits entailed from the Toolbox is to implement it in
the current concept development processes at Husqvarna Construction Products. The
Toolbox provides a baseline for continuous adaptations and improvement based on
new needs and insights and the result presented now should be considered as a starting
point in the endeavor of improving concept development execution at Husqvarna
Construction Products.
Beskrivning
Ämne/nyckelord
Concept development, Design methodologies, Husqvarna Construction Products, Set-based concurrent engineering, Product development.