ApplicationofLeaninProduct

andManufacturingEngineering

WHITEPAPER

Version 1.0
January2010


GettingreadyforPLM

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GettingreadyforPLM

Contents
Abstract................................................................................................................... 5
Introduction ............................................................................................................ 5
Scope&Objective................................................................................................... 5
Scope ................................................................................................................................................ 5
Objective........................................................................................................................................... 6

Applicabilityof'Lean' .............................................................................................. 6
ValueandValueStream.......................................................................................... 7
Value ................................................................................................................................................. 7
DesignValueStream......................................................................................................................... 8
EliminationofNVAs .......................................................................................................................... 8
Waiting.............................................................................................................................................. 9
Conveyance&Handoff.................................................................................................................... 9
Correction ......................................................................................................................................... 9

Flow....................................................................................................................... 10
ContinuousIntegration&Validation .............................................................................................. 10
WorkflowAutomation .................................................................................................................... 11

Pull......................................................................................................................... 11
SimplifyDesignModifications......................................................................................................... 11
AssociativeChangePropagation..................................................................................................... 12

ContinuousImprovement..................................................................................... 12
ShorteningtheIterations................................................................................................................ 12
ReducingIterationCycles ............................................................................................................... 13

Implementation .................................................................................................... 13


GettingreadyforPLM

IncrementalImplementation.......................................................................................................... 13
KnowledgeUtilization..................................................................................................................... 14

Conclusion............................................................................................................. 14
References ............................................................................................................ 15
AbouttheAuthor .................................................................................................. 15
AboutGeometric .................................................................................................. 16


GettingreadyforPLM

Abstract
This whitepaper discusses 'Lean' to continuously enhance product and manufacturing
engineeringprocesses.Itexplainsapplicationof'Lean'principlestoimproveproductivity,lead
time,andresponsivenesstochangethroughreallifeexamples.Toimplement'Lean'itproposes
anincrementalandselfsustainingapproach,supplementedbyCAxautomationsandKBE.

Introduction
Shorteningproductdevelopmentleadtime,whilereducingthecostandincreasingreliability,isa
perpetualchallengeofengineering.This,coupledwithchangingconsumerneeds,doesntmake
product development any easier. While manufacturing function has embraced the lean
philosophy with relative ease and enthusiasm, it is a struggle for engineering due to inherent
uncertainties.
Thiswhitepaperdiscussesanapproachtocontinuallyenhancetheeffectivenessandefficiencyof
product development. We believe the first step is always to get the process right, before
deploying tools and technologies to run it better. We have also tried to illustrate the power
technologytoolsbringtomakeproductdevelopment'Lean'.

Scope&Objective
This paper focuses on engineering pieces of product development with an objective that is
definedfromtheproductdevelopmentcontext.

Scope
Engineering functions define component specifications and manufacturing process in product
development.'ProductandManufacturingEngineering'contributeinexcessof80%towardsthe
product development costs; and includes geometry creation and consumption across different
engineeringsubfunctions.

Product
Lifecycle

Define

Product
Development

Develop

Planning&
Ideation

Engineering
Activity

Commercialize

Product
Engineering

System
Engineering

Design&
Verification

Services&
Support

Manufacturing
Engineering

Mfg.Planning
&Tooling

Retire

Production

Process
Planning


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This white paper is around product and manufacturing engineering, with focus on component
development. For remaining part of the white paper this scope is referred as 'Engineering
Activity'.

Objective
Componentdevelopmentmaturesthroughiterativedevelopment,whichcanberepresentedby
aspiralmovingtowardcenter.Timetakentotraversethespiralisleadtimeandlengthofthe
spiralisthetotaleffort.Atanypointradiusrepresentsflexibilitytomodifythedesign.

Optimal
Design

Fromthisanalogy,objectivesofleanimplementationaredefinedas

Shorteningthetotalspirallengthtoreducetheefforts.

Reducetotaltimeoftraversalonspiraltoreducetheleadtime.

Increasingflexibilitytoadaptthespiralforshiftinspiralcenter.

Getmoreinsightfromeachrevolution,tograduallyreducenumberofrevolutions.

Applicabilityof'Lean'
'Lean'isagenericphilosophy.Variousorganizationshavesuccessfullyapplied'Lean'toactivities
rangingfromaspecifictasktoenterpriselevel.Commonlydescribed'Lean'principlesare

Specifyvaluefromthestandpointoftheendcustomer
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Identifyallstepsinvaluestreamandeliminatestepsthatdonotcreatevalue

Followvaluecreationstepstoachieveasmoothvalueflowtowardthecustomer

Letcustomerspullvaluefromthenextupstreamactivity

Eliminatefurtherwasteandpursueperfectionthroughcontinuousimprovement

Duetoinherentvariationsinengineeringactivity,itisthoughtthat'Lean'cannotbeappliedin
engineering.Butvariousreferencessuggestsizeableopportunitiesinmultiplepockets.

Engineeringjobsspend60%oftheleadtimeinwaiting

40%oftheengineeringhoursarepurewaste

72%ofproductqualityissuescanbetracedtodesignprocess

Engineering is combination of craft and science, which includes creative and repetitive tasks.
'Leaning'repetitivetasksofferslargeropportunitiesforimprovementinengineeringactivity.
'Lean'canbeappliedtothespiralofengineeringactivitytoachievethedefinedobjectives.The
'Value & Value Stream'canbeused to define contributions expected from each task,and trim
'Waste' segments to reduce length of each revolution. The 'Flow' principle can be used to
eliminateblockagesandspeedupflowonspiral,reducingthetotaltraversaltime.'Pull'increases
flexibility for shift in spiral center to allow late changes in the requirement. 'Continuous
Improvement'isusedtoincreaseefficiencyandeffectivnessofeachcycletoreducenumberof
revolutions.

ValueandValueStream
'Value'isprovidingrightproduct/serviceatrighttimeandatrightprice,asdeterminedbythe
customer.ValueStreamMapping(VSM)isusedtocapturesequenceoftasksandsegregatethem
intoValueAddandNonValueAdds(VA/NVA),therebyhelpingtoeliminateNonValueAdd
tasks.

Value
Any activity / effort that can be directly traced to improving the product is said to be value
adding (VA), anything else is non value adding (NVA). Idea of Lean is to reduce the amount of
timeandeffortspentonNVA.Someactivitiesaffecttheproductdirectly,andsomeotherswill
improvetheenterprisesabilitytocontinuallybettertheproduct.


GettingreadyforPLM

ValuetoProduct

Specificationforfunctionalperformance

Defineprocesstodeliverproduct

Materialchoices
Defineshapeanddimensions
Manufacturingplanning
Toolingdesign

Foreseeissuestoreducerisk
CAE/CFDanalysis
Expertreviews

KnowledgeforEnterprise
Understandingoftradeoffs
Feasible/Infeasibletradeoffs
Cost/Qualityimplications

Experiencegainedbyengineers

Insighttohandlecomplextasks
Bestpracticesaboutusageoftools

Understandingofprocessdynamics

ProjectManagementdata

Tool/processenhancementneeds

DesignValueStream
Engineering activity presents unique challenges in application of VSM, due to concurrent tasks
and iterations. This can be tackled by creating a map for a typical iteration and by mapping
concurrencies and subbranches of VSM. The mapping follows the development beyond
organizationalboundaries.

EliminationofNVAs
'Lean' defines seven sources of waste overproduction, waiting, conveyance, inventory,
processing,motion,andcorrections.Eliminatingthesesourcesreducesthetotalworkcontent.If
eliminationisnotfeasible,countermeasuresshouldbeusedtoreduceitsimpact.
Theengineeringactivityhasallsourcesofwasteindifferentforms,butvarioussurveysshowthat
waiting,conveyanceandcorrectioncontributetothemajorityofwaste.


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Waiting
Engineering jobs wait for capacity (e.g. experts time for review, computing capacity) to handle
the job, or for information required to proceed with the job. Due to inherent variability in
engineeringactivity,itisnoteasytoensureaccesstorightcapacitymerelythroughcoordination
andsynchronization.Soitbecomesnecessarytofindcreativewaystoincreasethecapacityina
flexiblemanner.

Conveyance&Handoff
AteverytouchpointdefinedintheVSM,engineeringhoursarespentonmodelderivationtosuit
thedownstreamfunction.Fore.g.:

Analysis idealization and boundary condition placement requires manual effort on part of
theanalyst

Manufacturing model requires various modifications for manufacturing allowances, and to

generatebillofprocess

Inherentdifferencesbetweenvariousfunctionsmakeitimpossibletoeliminatemodelderivation.
Butderivationeffortcanbereducedby2050%byutilitiestoassistthederivationprocess.

Structural analysis of airplane wing must account for self

weightofthewingstructure.Analystcutsthewinggeometry
inmultiplesectionstoevaluateweightandcenterofgravity

(CG)ofeachsectionaspartofModelDerivation.
An automation utility to evaluate weight and CG at each

sectionwillreducetheanalystseffortofModelDerivation.
It saves the cost of analysis, and simultaneously eliminates
errorsassociatedwithmanualwork.

Correction
Designmistakesresultindesigncorrections,whichiswasteaccordingtoleanprinciples.'Lean'
advocatesmistakeproofingtoavoidortowarnagainstmistakes.Inengineeringactivity,40%of
theiterationsareduetoerrorsinphysicaldesign.Hence,physicaldesignshouldbeatargetfor
mistakeproofing.


GettingreadyforPLM

HVACDuctmanufacturedfrom
Sheetmetal

Due to manufacturing
constraints HVAC duct
geometriesmustbeplaner/
cylindrical.
Any
other
geometry will result in
change requests from
manufacturing.

Pathcurveconsistsoflines&arcs

Checksurfacesforminbendradius

MistakesinHVACgeometrycanbeeliminatedbytwomistakeproofingmethods

Check and restrict selection of inputs. Assuming that the duct is created by
sweeping,checkifpathcurveshavelinesandarcsonly.

Validateoutputatexitandraiseerror/warning,ifthereareanynonplanerand
noncylindricalsurfaces,orifthereareanyminimumbendradiusviolations.

Flow

'Flow'reducesleadtime,byrunningvaluecreatingstepsintightersequence.Inmanufacturing,
flowreducesleadtimebyeliminatingbatchandachievingsinglepieceflow.
In engineering activity, batches occur at integration and validation points. The batches can be
reduced, if design flows in smaller increments by continuous integration and validation, and
increasedcapacitythroughworkflowautomation.

ContinuousIntegration&Validation
Atypicalproductdevelopmentintegratesthesystematfixedtimeintervals.Reducingeffortof
integrationallowsgraduallyswitchingtocontinuousintegration.

Digital build is a task to assemble complete product to

checkforcontactandclashproblems.

In the past, digital build was done manually at program

milestones.Today,itistriggeredfromPLM,asanightlyjob.

Batch job assembles the product and checks for clashes.

Digital build is further leveraged for weights and inertia
calculations,whichcanbeusedinthedynamicanalysis.
Increasedfrequencyofintegrationresultsinearlyproblem
detectionandaccesstolatestdataforvariousvalidations.

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Continuous integration is not sufficient without validation at each integration. The validations
come in form of reviews by experts or precise verification by analysts. Both validations have
externaldependencies,whichresultinbatchvalidations.
An incremental validation that evolves from thumbrules to precise validations, integrated in
designenvironmentreducesthedependencies.Engineerscanuseitforcontinuousvalidation,to
eliminatethebatching.

WorkflowAutomation
Flowofengineeringtasksisdisrupted,whenataskhastowaitfortheengineer'sattention.This
can be tackled by triggering batch jobs during idle hours (e.g. night), at certain stage of PLM
workflow. Engineers can directly start with output of the batch job, and move the job to next
stage.Thiswillaccelerateflowofengineeringjob.
Intheanalysiscycle,designengineersubmits
analysis job and receives analysis report.
Analyst prepares and runs the analysis, and
analyzesresultsinpostprocessorstoprepare
thereport.
There are two waiting points before and
after the analysis. There is more waiting in
analysis,sincetheanalysisrunissubmittedas
batchjobs.Totalwaitingtimeinanalysiscycle
canbeafewdaystoaweek.
Ifthemanualtasksinpreparationareeliminated,completepreparationandanalysisruncan
be triggered from PDM workflow, which can be run during the idle hours (e.g. at night).
Analystcandirectlyanalyzetheresultsandpreparereport.Thiswillreducethewaitingtime
inoneiterationconsideringmultipleiterations,itwillbeagreatsavingintheleadtime.

Pull
Pullprinciplebrings'ResponsivenesstoChange'byaligningthesystemwithvarianceincustomer
requirements. In engineering, pull means quickly adapting component design to changes in
productrequirements.

SimplifyDesignModifications
Designeditisacomplextaskwhereengineersspend80%oftheirefforts.Complexitiesofediting
slowchangeincorporation,whichcanbesimplifiedby

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Deploying topdown and bottomup design processes for managing design features, and
modularity to ensure right dependencies as well as flatten decision hierarchy during the
designprocess

Supporting the right input methods to represent correct user intent. This reduces the
occurrencesofdesignbreaking,andsubsequentreworkduringminorchangesinthedesign.

Enabling all design automations during edit scenario. Automation implementation may
becomecomplextosupportedits,butitmakesdesignchangesfaster.

CapturingUsersIntentateachdesignfeaturehelpsinseamless
update in the design hierarchy. Wherever correct intent is
compromised, the design structure can break, requiring manual
correction.
In this demonstration, user wants to fillet top face of block as
shown in red color. User quickly picks top four edges and fillets
andachievestheresult.ThisbreakstheintentofFace,whichwill
showupinmodification.Ifdesignmodificationinsertsafilletand
chamfer prior to this fillet , the update cycle will not pick the
filleted and chamfered edges. Then fillet has to be modified
manually,whichmakeseditcumbersome.
UserIntentcanbeachievedbyenforcingcorrectdesignmethods
andbyenhancingthedesigntoolstosupporttheintent.

AssociativeChangePropagation
A quick design modification is not sufficient if it requires rework in downstream functions like
verification. Propagating design modifications can be simplified by maintaining feature
associativity across functions through simpler conventions (e.g. colors and persistent tags
assignedtogeometries).

ContinuousImprovement
To achieve full potential of 'Lean', multiple rounds of leaning are needed, with each round
eliminating newer wastes and flow disruptions. In addition, for iterative process, continuous
improvementcantargetreductioniniterativeeffortsbyshorteningiterationsandreducingthe
numberofiterations.

ShorteningtheIterations
Design optimization refines component design, and validates against targets. The ability to
validatethedesignearlyshortenstheiteration,thereby,reducingtheleadtimeandefforts.

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Iterative development for design optimization can be captured in Decision Structure Matrix
(DSM). DSM highlights frequentand long iterations, whichcan be shortened by moving critical
validations(e.g.DFx)closertodesigncreation.

ReducingIterationCycles
Initerativedevelopment,numberofiterationsdependsonthestartingparametersandtherate
ofconvergence.Thenumberofiterationscanbereducedbytwoapproaches:

Deploypredictiveverificationinformofdesignanalytics.Analyticscanbebuiltfromexpert's
knowledge, empirical rules, engineering formulae, etc. It guides to design with less
possibilityoffailureinvalidations.

Increaseeffectivenessofvalidationsbyextractingqualitativefeedback.Validationstypically
report only failure areas, whereas qualitative feedback points out sensitivity of design
towardsconstraintputbyvalidations.

Implementation
We recommend incremental rollout of a longterm implementation plan. Incremental rollout
brings quick results and creates assets, which can be leveraged for further improvements.
Through this approach, we have observed 30 40% compression in leadtime, and upto 40%
reductionofengineeringefforts.

IncrementalImplementation
Incrementalapproachconsistsoffivestepsforeachroundofimplementation.Eachroundstarts
withunderstandingofprocessandfinisheswithsolutionsdevelopedanddeployed.Subsequent
roundsidentifymoreopportunitiesforimprovement.

Designmistakes&rework
Continuousintegration/validation
Associativechangepropagation

1.ProcessCapture

Continuous
Improvement

2.IdentifyOpportunities

tr
fo
fE

Powerof
Tools

Effort

Scalability

Scalability

3.SolutionIdeas

5.Develop&Deploy

4.CostBenefit/Prioritization

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Forbetterresultsthroughimplementation,someofthepointstoensureare

Involve engineering users from early stages of implementation, so that they can drive
continuousimprovement

Seekunderstandingofcriticalparametersthataffecttheproductandhowexistingprocesses
achieveit

TakeviewofcompleteworkflowincludingvariousCAxandbackbonePLMtoolsforeffective
workflowautomation

Focusonsolutionsfirst,andthenlookathow'PowerofTools'canhelpreachthesolution

Prefersolutionintheformoftoolboxofutilitiesforflexibilityofusageandadaptabilitywith
processchanges

KnowledgeUtilization
Cyclical implementation of 'Lean' brings deeper understanding of process, and builds assets of
automation utilities and knowledge. Effective utilization of these assets offers more
opportunitiesofimprovement.
Typical
Benefits

Process
Predictability

CycleTime
Reduction

Productivity
&Quality

3.PredictiveAnalytics
Analyticsonperformance
andpredictionoferrors
2.WorkflowAutomation
Conveyancetriggeredby
PLM,duringwaitingtime
1.TaskAutomation
Automateconveyance,
motionandprocessing

Timeline

We, therefore, propose a knowledge utilization framework to leverage assets for gradual
improvementsinproductivity,leadtime,andpredictability.

Conclusion
'Lean' offers multitude of opportunities to enhance an engineering activity. This white paper
discussed adoption of lean concepts in engineering activity, with examples from product and
manufacturingengineering.
Duetothecomplexnatureofengineeringfullbenefitsofleancannotbederivedfromonetime
implementation. Applying 'Lean' through incremental implementation approach will create
assets with attached benefits in the implementation cycle. A long term view of leveraging the

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assets will help extracting more benefits from the 'Lean' initiative, in terms of productivity,
reductioninleadtime,andpredictability.

References
Lean Thinking: Banish Waste & Create Wealth in Your Corporation, James Womack and Daniel
Jones,FreePres,2003
TheToyotaWay,JeffreyLiker,TheMcGrawHillCompanies,2004
Use of Dependency Structure Matrices for Product Development Cycle Time Reduction, Tyson
Browning, Fifth ISPE International Conference on Concurrent Engineering : Research and
Applications,1998
LeanProductDevelopmentFlow,BohdamOppenheim,SystemsEngineering,Vol.7,No.4,2004
Application of Lean Principles in Software Development, Lokendra Singh Panwar, XLRI
JamshedpurSchoolofBusiness&HumanResources
Design process errorproofing: Strategies for reducing quality loss in product development,
Lawrence Chao and Kosuke Ishii, ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and
Exposition,2005
RiskManagementinProductEngineering,NikhilShintre,GeometricLimited,2008

AbouttheAuthor
Nikhil Shintre is the Head of the CATIA Practice at Geometric. He has over 10.5 years of
experience in CAD application development and automation. Nikhil holds a Masters Degree in
Machine Design from the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai. He can be reached on
nikhil.shintre@geometricglobal.com.

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AboutGeometric
Geometric is a specialist in the domain of engineering solutions, services and technologies. Its
portfolio of Global Engineering services and Digital Technology solutions for Product Lifecycle
Management (PLM) enables companies to formulate, implement, and execute glo bal
engineeringandmanufacturingstrategiesaimedatachievinggreaterefficienciesintheproduct
realizationlifecycle.
Headquartered in Mumbai, India, Geometric was incorporated in 1994 and is listed on the
BombayandNationalStockExchanges.ThecompanyrecordedconsolidatedrevenuesofRupees
5.98billion(USDollars129.47million)fortheyearendedMarch2009.Itemployscloseto3000
people across 11 global delivery locations in the US, France, Romania, India, and China.
GeometricisassessedatSEICMMILevel5foritssoftwareservicesandISO9001:2000certified
forengineeringoperations.Forfurtherdetails,pleasevisitwww.geometricglobal.com.

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