Defining a product development methodology with concurrent engineering for small manufacturing companies

Concurrent engineering is a design philosophy that has been accepted in large corporations, but generally is not wed within small companies. This paper discusses the design approaches observed within four small to medium-sized companies. Based on these observations, a concurrent engineering methodology is proposed that is focused on the needs of small companies. This methodology is based on three design types: original, evolutionary and incremental. Using assessment criteria, the proposed design methodology can be tailored to fit a project An example is used to show how this methodology is applied.