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The Lean Development Method It is today one of the most effective approaches for transforming the product development process into a measurable competitive advantage. In this article, we explore what Lean Development is, its 5 fundamental principles, and how it is concretely applied in manufacturing companies – both those that develop catalog products and those that operate on a made-to-order basis (Engineering-to-Order). You will discover the 4 key components of the system, the tools for Visual Planning and Knowledge Management, the role of the Product Brief and the governance system, up to the KPIs that allow for measuring results. A complete path to reduce lead time, eliminate waste, and bring better products to market in less time.
How many product development projects have missed deadlines? How many valuable resources have been wasted on features the market never requested? How many meetings, specification reviews, and reworkings have delayed the launch of a new product, eroding margins and business opportunities?
If these questions sound familiar, your company is facing one of the most common and least discussed problems in the manufacturing industry: Inefficiency in the product development process. The good news is that there is a structured, tested, and measurable framework to tackle it. His name is Lean Development.
The Lean Development is the set of methodologies, tools, and systems that allow maximize impact product development process results on business objectives. This is neither a management fad nor a simple set of operational techniques: it is a paradigm shift in the way a company conceives, plans, and manufactures its products.
The key to success lies in focusing the approach on the’value generation optimization, understood as a balance point between the value offered to the market and that required by business needs. It's not enough to produce what is technically possible.We need to develop what the market wants, within the timeframe and at the cost that the business can afford.
Based on our results Annual Benchmarking Study | What's Next in Operations? Among the priority objectives in the Operations strategy, differentiation in terms of product innovation, services, and quality stands out. The 83% survey of the sample—comprising over 100 companies across various industries—indicates that the Voice of the Customer is integrated into business processes. However, the degree of involvement of the R&D department in the process of gathering customer needs and requirements—in order to translate those needs into technical specifications or levels of customization—ranges between 3 and 4 on a scale of 1 to 5.
Allen Ward, ..., one of the main exponents of Lean Thinking applied in the world of product design and development, has emphasized how the development process, traditionally rigid and sequential, needs a more flexible, iterative, and customer-oriented approach. The goal is to improve the speed, the’effectiveness and the connectivity among the different stages of the process.
The application of the Lean principles allows you to optimize the entire system by removing obstacles and redesigning four fundamental components:
These four components do not operate in isolation: they revolve around a central core represented by the Value. It is this systemic and integrated perspective that distinguishes Lean Development from partial or purely instrumental approaches.
The Lean Development method is based on the five principles of classic Lean Thinking, adapted to the product development context:
An often overlooked aspect is that the Lean Development method does not only apply to the development of new catalog products. There is an entire category of companies — those that operate according to the model Engineering-to-Order (ETO) — for which the development process takes on radically different characteristics.
The design and realization of a customer-specified product often represent a challenge not only from a technical standpoint but also from a logistical and organizational perspective. Products of this type can be variations, customizations, or undeveloped configurations of catalog products, as well as entirely new products designed from scratch based on customer specifications. The common characteristic of all these cases is production “one-shot”Non-repetitive over time or otherwise performed on extremely low volumes.
The main ones operational differences The differences between new product development and custom development are:
ETO companies frequently encounter a structural problem: the Competition within the same pool of technical resources between custom development activities and innovation and new product development activities. Resource sharing almost inevitably leads to the involved processes, although different in content, tending to intersect and become confused – with predictable results: delays, unclear priorities, compromised work quality.
A company's ability to effectively manage its project portfolio is based on three fundamental dimensions:
The order fulfillment process consists of a sequence of actions and cross-functional interactions that lead to the completion of the product, starting with the request for a quote and ending with delivery to the customer. The most common issues encountered are:
Improving project development processes involves a structured approach based on Lean principles: it begins with an in-depth analysis of current execution methods, defines an optimized process that operates without waste and with clear responsibilities, and builds upon this framework to introduce the Visual Planning tools — a true paradigm shift in management that enables all departments to align with the goals and expectations of customers and stakeholders.
This is the dimension in which the conflict generated by competition over shared technical resources manifests with the greatest intensity. The most common conflicts are:
The approach that has proven most effective in resolving these conflicts is the system of Trash cans: a classification of projects based on their level of complexity, to which a standard timeline is assigned in terms of lead times, scope of work, and resource utilization.
Binning allows you to assign a relative weight for the various projects: “Difficult” projects may be weighted as two “Medium” projects, which in turn are equivalent to three “Easy” projects. This brings order to an otherwise chaotic project schedule, where the actual progress of activities is often only roughly estimated. It is also possible to identify specific lanes by order type, setting aside a dedicated track for product development activities to prioritize the important (Innovation and R&D) over the urgent (Orders).
In today's data- and information-driven society, a critical success factor is the ability to generate, capture, and disseminate knowledge. The most relevant tools in this field are:
To these tools are added the methodologies of Lean Design, offering a powerful arsenal for designers: the Modular Design and the Variety Reduction Program (VRP) They make it possible to create simpler, more customizable products with the same functionality, thereby reducing the workload for designers, keeping costs down, and shortening project timelines.
The system redesign touches the different building blocks which contribute to determining a system capable of producing effective and efficient development. We intervene on two axes:
1. The Model – System of Government, which includes:
2. Control - Responsibility and Planning System, which includes Concept Development, Specification Management, Planning System, and Knowledge Management.
One of the most overlooked elements is the cadenza. Lean Development introduces the concept of development calendarthe frequency and synchronization needed to support the sales cycle and ensure alignment between R&D, marketing, operations, and sales. Without this synchronization, even the best process remains ineffective: business functions move at different speeds, creating invisible bottlenecks that build up until they become crises.
The Product Brief it is one of the most powerful tools of the Lean Development method. Built in line with the principle “fail forward” and designed on the QFD waterfall, creates the conditions for:
“Fail forward” means structuring the process to learn from mistakes as early as possible, in the initial stages of a project when the cost of change is still low. It's the antithesis of the classic waterfall model, where problems only emerge in the final stages—when correcting them is expensive and slow.
After reviewing the processes with a Lean perspective, we need to intervene on the planning tools, which must be finite capacity and allow monitoring of KPI to ensure the governance of the system. The governance system is structured on multiple levels:
I Key KPIs I am the Lead Time (from concept to launch) and the’On Time (adherence to planned deadlines), supplemented by internal process indicators such as phase delays with their root causes.
The Visual Planning — in its simplest form with boards and cards — makes information sharing natural and facilitates cross-functional activities. At least two levels of application are always identified: one horizontal, to monitor the progress of orders along the development flow, and one vertical, for the short-term planning of individual functions. The two levels communicate through regular update meetings that ensure a balance.
The current context demands faster innovation, with fewer resources and greater certainty of responding to real market needs. Lean Development addresses this need precisely:
Integrating Lean principles into product development is not an option reserved for large, well-established companies: it is a competitive necessity for any organization that wants to remain relevant in the market and control its margins.
Lean Manufacturing applies to physical production processes where waste is tangible (inventory, movement, waiting). The Lean Development method applies the same principles to the product development process, where waste is often invisible: incomplete specifications, endless review cycles, overloaded resources.
In ETO companies, Lean Development requires the establishment of a dedicated and optimized project-based development process, with classification systems (Bins) to resolve priority conflicts, Visual Planning tools for monitoring, and Knowledge Management tools to disseminate technical know-how.
The main KPIs are Lead Time (from concept to launch), On Time (meeting deadlines), and On-Time Delivery (punctuality of delivery to the customer). In addition to these, there are internal process indicators, such as delays per phase and adherence to the Product Brief.
If you're looking for a concrete way to reduce lead time, improve your development team's effectiveness, and bring better products to market faster, Lean Development is the framework for you. Whether your company develops catalog products or primarily works on custom orders, there's a structured and measurable approach to optimize every stage of the process. Bonfiglioli Consulting supports companies in implementing Lean Development with a structured, measurable approach tailored to the specific needs of each organization.
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