2006 Volume 5 Issue 7 Pages 461-482
On the basis of data collected from interviews and surveys at various companies, this paper explores the state of product development processes and organization in major Japanese, European, and American automakers in the latter half of the 1980s. This first chapter provides an overview of the basic concept of product development processes acting as information-processing systems. In addition, the organizational structures that facilitate information processing in product development and the role of project managers responsible for coordinating the departments involved in product development are clarified. Product development is a process for creating the informational assets required for the commercialization of technology and mass production, and most automakers attempted to utilize interdepartmental integration of research and development and information-processing. However, project management functions cover not only specific development steps but also projects believed to be a factor influencing the efficiency of development.
