Process optimization R&D in Machine and Plant Engineering

Many machine and plant engineers with small-batch production of 100 – 1,000 plants per year per series face the problem that neither the processes of classic design-to-order production nor the processes of large-scale production – such as in the automotive sector – can be used.

If the processes cannot keep up with the growth of a company, this leads to quality problems and an explosion of different plant states in the field.  

Within the scope of an R&D process house, the PEC was commissioned to perform process entry and process optimization with consideration of the following 3 main objectives:  

• Increase of development quality
• Reduction of time-to-market
• More uniform plant states in the field

The main phases of the project were:

• Determination of the relevant core and support processes and the creation of an R&D process house
• Specification of the uniform application of process notation BPMN 2.0
• Inclusion and optimization of the core processes: product development process (Produktentstehungsprozess – PEP), change process, and innovation process with the departments
• Publishing of the processes in ARIS and support with the rollout in the development projects
• Establishing an overarching process house and enabling the organization to incorporate and execute further processes on its own

Through PEC’s many years of experience with product development processes in different industries and its sound knowledge in the project management of complex development projects, lean and adaptable processes were generated.