Design's new path to success

Harman-Motive wanted to simplify the assembly of complex enclosures for automotive sound systems. Working with key suppliers, the company now produces the systems on a single assembly line. Productivity is up and customers are getting what they ask for, fast. Engineers at A.B. Chance recently redesigned a high-voltage switch with improved options and expanded ratings. The result: a quality product with 38% fewer parts. Meanwhile, engineers at Tandy Electronics jointed forces to drastically reduce the cost of printed circuit assembly. Production time plummeted from more than forty days to a seemingly impossible 12 days. What do these firms have in common? Concurrent engineering (CE). Here's a close-up look at how design teams achieved feats such as these.