To achieve reduced part development time and ultimately
cost, concurrent engineering (CE) is used. CE integrates interrelated
functions early in the product development process
in order to minimise risk and reduce effort in the process,
and to better meet customers’ needs Multi-functional teams, concurrency of product/process
development, integration tools, information technologies, and
process coordination are among the elements that allow CE to
improve the performance of the product development process
(Blackburn, 1991).