Enabling a consumer headset in product development

Manufacturing-intensive companies like Ford Motor Company have come to the realization that they need to have a strong consumer focus to survive in today's competitive world. Ford has just recently announced steps to further align its program team centers more strongly with their consumers, yet the lower levels of the teams will still remain aligned around a standard part decomposition that finds its roots back to Henry Ford's vertical integration methodology. In today's information age, with the growing expectations of the consumer, as well as product complexity, it has become essential for product teams to share and communicate efficiently. It is no longer adequate for the program manager to be the sole focal point, where the voice of the consumer meets the voice of part engineering. As complex as it sounds, the consumer voice must be decomposed for delivery throughout the program team as the driving force by which the parts are engineered. Herein outlines an approach which has been called 'enabling a consumer headset in product development,' that illustrates the possibility of handle this complexity using today's tools. Bottom line: Industry is ready to take this one on. Needs analysis has established a focal point at the program team decompositional structure, product development process, and the driving management metrics and engineering specifications. Suggested are concepts that lead to a more natural and efficient way of delivering that consumer headset and these concepts are applied on three implementation projects: 1) a MIT course exercise; 2) a new Docu-Center architecture program at Xerox; and 3) a forward model 200X Mustang program. Findings are summarize into a final recommendation for future Ford program applications. The conclusion of this thesis recommends three items: 1) Introduces the Role of Architects, 2) Aligns the Organization Around the Consumer, 3) Transitions Engineering Focus to Interface Specifications.

Department dc:contributor.department

System Design and Management Program.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2000

Authors dc:creator

• Goran, James L. (James Leo), 1964-
• Shashlo, Michael L., 1964-
• Wickenheiser, Francis J. 1967-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Daniel Whitney.

• System Design and Management Program.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/29149

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/29149