The increased international competition in the current open global market is putting pressure on companies to improve the performance of their product development. This is to sustain and improve market share through the production of a high quality product in a cost effective manner in shorter time.

Manufacturing companies are in need of a new model that goes beyond lean manufacturing to ensure the transformation of the enterprise into lean environment. This is a response to customers and market demands of value creation, incorporating sustainability and customisation. The significant change in enterprise performance can come from the adoption of lean thinking throughout the entire product life cycle, this is the Lean Product Development (LeanPD). 

What is needed is a new paradigm that will take the lean manufacturing and lean thinking concepts from waste elimination into value creation. In order to make a significant change in enterprise performance and saving ultimate system costs, there is a need for the entire enterprise to undergo a lean transformation. 

LeanPD focuses on value creation, provision of knowledge environment, continuous improvement and Set-based concurrent engineering process that encourage innovation. It provides process model and associate tools that consider entire product life cycle.

 

At a glance

Course structure

• Lectures • Case studies • Hands-on practical exercises

What you will learn

  • Understand key deference between traditional and lean product development
  • Understand and apply lean thinking methodology
  • Evaluate and critically assess current and future level of lean practices in an organisation
  • Improve innovation through implementation of set-based concurrent engineering
  • Understand and apply design for manufacturing and assembly methods
  • Understand and apply A3 thinking for design problem-solving
  • Understand and apply lean knowledge life-cycle approach to systematically capture, re-use and create knowledge in product development
  • Understand and apply trade-off curves to visualise PD knowledge and generate a set of conceptual solutions
  • Introduce LeanPD practices in your organisation

Core content

This course provides the fundamental concepts and working knowledge on Lean Product Development principles, tools, techniques and applications in order to enhance productivity and innovation. The course covers DFMA, SBCE, lean knowledge life cycle, A3 thinking for design problem-solving, trade-off curves and performance measurement. 
Throughout this interactive course you will apply the learning outcomes on real industrial design and product development exercises and learn from the experiences of several industrial case-studies. 

  • Performance measurement– Exercise
  • Concurrent Engineering
  • Introduction to lean product development and its enablers
  • Lean PD performance measurement: Results of the performance measurement exercise
  • Set-based concurrent engineering
  • Set-based concurrent engineering – Exercise
  • Lean knowledge life-cycle (LeanKLC)
  • Introduction to A3 thinking for design problem-solving
  • A3 thinking for design problem solving – Exercise
  • Introduction to Trade-off curves (ToC) to enable SBCE
  • Trade-off curves to support SBCE - Exercise
  • Opportunities for implementation of LeanPD/SBCE

Timetable

Download the Lean Product Development Timetable

Who should attend

Product development and design professionals, product designers and engineers, continuous improvement managers, lean agents, business managers and project managers.

Concessions

20% discount for Cranfield Alumni. 
10% discount when registering 3 or more delegates, from the same organisation at the same time.  

Accommodation fees are not included in the discount scheme. Please ask about our discount scheme at time of booking.

Accommodation options and prices

This course is non-residential. If you would like to book accommodation on campus, please contact Mitchell Hall or Cranfield Management Development Centre directly. Further information about our on campus accommodation can be found . Alternatively you may wish to make your own arrangements at a nearby hotel.

Location and travel

ÂãÁÄÖ±²¥ is situated in Bedfordshire close to the border with Buckinghamshire. The University is located almost midway between the towns of Bedford and Milton Keynes and is conveniently situated between junctions 13 and 14 of the M1.

London Luton, Stansted and Heathrow airports are 30, 90 and 90 minutes respectively by car, offering superb connections to and from just about anywhere in the world. 

For further location and travel details

Location address

The course will take place at the Operations Excellence Institute, Building 30 at ÂãÁÄÖ±²¥.

ÂãÁÄÖ±²¥
College Road
Cranfield
Bedford
MK43 0AL

How to apply

To apply for this course please use the online application form.

Read our Professional development (CPD) booking conditions.