Application of lean product development at a manufacturing organisation: A case study

The principles of lean were understood to be relevant to the operations of manufacturing enterprises meaning processes associated with material supply, component production and delivery of products and services to the customer. It was identified there was growing awareness that lean principles could be transferred readily to other functions and sectors. The purpose of the study was to investigate the application of lean principles to knowledge-based activities such as engineering design and product development. The organization under study was Olifant Manufacturing Company (OMC), a division of British Aerospace Systems, Land Systems South Africa. The problem statement was formulated as: "Would the researched Lean principles enable OMC to improve its traditional Product Development (PD) to Lean Product Development (LPD)?" The Life Cycle Management (LCM) framework was the mandated organizational framework that guided the execution of projects at BAE Systems. It would be sought to identify the relevant framework that would be tailored within the overarching framework to enable process improvements. The main findings were lean transformation is an organizational journey that would begin with a top down philosophy. Aspects of LPD were found to be integrated into a system framework that integrated the transformation of people, processes and tools and technologies.