Open Obeya – A system engineering lab

Product development (PD) is expensive, partly because the prevalent industrial PD methodology is not very efficient. Chalmers, Swerea IVF and five Swedish companies are now searching for a new and innovative solution to this problem by combining lean methodology in the form of Set-Based Concurrent Engineering (SBCE) with two, unique Chalmers techniques, one for requirements management and the other for smart, platform-based concept descriptions. This research project will lead up to a partly it-based obeya environment (with the above combination of methods) for industrial project rooms (which does not exist today), a demonstrator of this environment and a self-instructive education packet for use in the companies. We will:

– Identify the PU problems in the participating companies and suggest methods to collect and describe the requirements from various stakeholders

– Present a new SBCE-based way of working with methodological support for idea generation and modeling, handling, evaluation and choice of solution concept as well as balancing of requirements and synthesis

– Describe an overarching process for effective generalization, visualization and reuse of knowledge (which is today often lost in the companies), and methods and tools that designers can use to work in this way

– Present a way of working for feedback of results and knowledge as well as methodology for the documentation of experiences from PU projects, e.g. electronic white papers which are transparent and searchable, and in that way suggest methodology for following-up and continuous improvement of the PD process

– Conduct seminars, teach the project results in courses given