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Purpose: The inherent variability on process times and demand are the factors that prevent the efficient application of lean philosophy in multi-project product development (PD) environments. Considering this variability, a hybrid push–pull project control system is developed, and value stream costing (VSC) analysis is performed to reflect the relation between project lead time, capacity and project cost. The assessment of the push/pull project control on lead time improvement and long-term savings on capacity have been aimed with the proposed complete design structure. Design/methodology/approach: In a team-based structure, formed through clustering, push control techniques for planning tasks within cross-functional teams and pull control techniques for planning tasks between cross-functional teams are developed. The final step evaluates the proposed structure through VSC and long-term savings have been pointed out, especially in terms of freed-up capacity. For the validation of the proposed methodology, an office furniture manufacturing firm's PD department has been considered and the performance of the hybrid system has been observed through simulation experiments and based on the simulation results, the lean system is evaluated by VSC. Findings: The results of simulation experiments show a superior performance of the proposed hybrid push/pull project control mechanism under different settings of cycle time between projects or shortly project cycle time, dispatching rules within teams and variability levels. The results of the Box-Score (tool to apply VSC) indicate increased capacity in the long term to add extra projects during the planning period with the same project lead time and without additional cost. Research limitations/implications: Although extensive simulation experiments have been performed to quantify the effect of project control structure and positive results have been reported on lead time and cost, the proposed design structure has not been tested in all existing PD environments. Originality/value: To the best of authors' knowledge, the quantification of the effect of hybrid project control with VSC is the first attempt to be applied in lean PD projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Value is crucial to lean product development (LPD) and set‐based design (SBD). Nevertheless, the literature needs to present more research on value definition and deployment to support exploring the design space. This scenario hinders the operationalization of lean initiatives in product development. This paper proposes a value deployment (VD) method for SBD, applying quality function deployment (QFD) matrices. We undertook a research action on the design of a TRL‐6 magnetic air conditioner. As a result, we aligned teams and development efforts toward value, building clarity and cohesion about the contribution of subsystems to product performance. Furthermore, VD enabled the integration of manufacturing in decision‐making. Our work paves the way for SBD in terms of practical relevance for industrial and systems engineering, assisting managers in adopting LPD and aligning integrated product teams toward value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research explores adopting the lean product development (LPD) concept in the new production system introduction process (NPSIP) to achieve both pre-launching and post-launching operational performance considering sustainability aspects. An empirical study was conducted in a multinational pharmaceutical company, having lean practice for over a decade. Two case projects for launching the new production system were followed in retrospect, and data was collected by interviewing experts. In the case company, evidence were found regarding adoption of soft lean practices in the NPSIP, however, lack of adoption of hard lean practices. Several challenges were identified that hinder achieving both pre-launching and post-launching operational performance, which could be mitigated by adopting LPD practices. This paper contributes to the broad lean literature by expanding its implication within the NPSIP context. Additionally, a set of LPD principles and practices is proposed that could be adopted in the NPSIP context. Adopting the LPD principles and practices in the NPSIP, manufacturing companies can launch a new production system faster, and achieve target sustainable operational performance faster, resulting in additional competitive advantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research explores adopting the lean product development (LPD) concept in the new production system introduction process (NPSIP) to achieve both pre-launching and post-launching operational performance considering sustainability aspects. An empirical study was conducted in a multi-national pharmaceutical company, having lean practice for over a decade. Two case projects for launching the new production system were followed in retrospect, and data was collected by interviewing experts. In the case company, evidence were found regarding adoption of soft lean practices in the NPSIP, however, lack of adoption of hard lean practices. Several challenges were identified that hinder achieving both pre-launching and post-launching operational performance, which could be mitigated by adopting LPD practices. This paper contributes to the broad lean literature by expanding its implication within the NPSIP context. Additionally, a set of LPD principles and practices is proposed that could be adopted in the NPSIP context. Adopting the LPD principles and practices in the NPSIP, manufacturing companies can launch a new production system faster, and achieve target sustainable operational performance faster, resulting in additional competitive advantage.

The field of product development (PD) has an excellent opportunity to achieve the benefits of lean principles. The literature on lean product development (LPD) is growing and is extensive, but it needs to be more systematic. A distinct, comprehensive, and up-to-date review of LPD literature is necessary. Motivated by studying and understanding contemporary themes and the current trends in the LPD research area, this article reviewed 85 previously published papers across three scientific databases from 2011 to 2022. Using literature review methodology, we determined for every article: research motivation or gap filled, key findings and significant contributions, and suggestions for future research. That helps structure the field of research into nine domains according to the gaps the authors wish to fill. The results indicate that over the past decade, the LPD literature has shown trends towards synergy of LPD with green, sustainability, circular economy, industry 4.0, and digitalisation. Finally, the article proposes six future research directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature acknowledges the advantages of Set-Based Concurrent Engineering (SBCE), but there is a lack of models for its adoption and documented cases of its implementation, mostly on products with consolidated technology, which raises the possibility of expanding SBCE for highly innovative products. These projects often have extensive resource limitations, leading to computational tools and mathematical modelling as fundamental sources of information. This paper proposes a method for model-based Trade-off Curves (ToC) generation to support SBCE. We adopted it to develop a magnetic air conditioner. The use of model-based ToC enabled the narrowing of the design space and monitoring of the design parameters and performance metrics and enabled SBCE adoption in the design process. The main contributions of this research are presenting the state-of-the-art in ToC generation and application, proposing the model, and demonstrating SBCE in highly innovative projects, while its importance lies in the opportunity to further disseminate SBCE to different development environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to enhance existing understanding of incorporating sustainability aspects during the product development and seeks to fill the gaps regarding the relationship between LPD and sustainability aspects. An up-to-date literature review was performed. More specifically, the expansion of current knowledge covers finding instances in earlier studies that explain the meaning of a sustainability aspect, such as environmental, social and economic aspect. Also, this article focuses on exploring various sustainability aspects using lean product development (LPD) tools and practices. LPD tools and practices that would enable the achievement of sustainability objectives are presented. The findings suggest that the chance for the integration of sustainability in product development comes when integrating sustainability aspects in LPD methods and tools that are used in companies daily. An analysis of the impact of every single LPD tools on individual aspects of sustainability is lacking. The paper concludes with recommendations for future research.

A lean development (LD) process would ensure that new products are developed with a focus on reducing waste and adding value to a product's design and manufacturing phases. This paper supposes that after a lean manufacturing (LM) implementation, a company starts to incorporate lean principles and tools in its new product development processes (PDP). LD applies principles derived from LM in PDP and specific lean practices for product development. Studies focusing on LD are scarce, especially compared to publications on LM. This article investigates whether innovative Brazilian industrial companies already using LM are incorporating lean principles and practices in their PDP and evaluates the perceived performance from these applications. In addition, the study seeks to classify the companies surveyed in clusters to understand better the existing arrangements between LM, LD, and performance in this dataset. The survey was applied to 73 companies, and there are obtained 47 valid questionnaires from innovative companies with LM implemented for at least five years that conduct product development activities. We observed in the sample that companies with better perceived PDP performance did not use LM and LD more intensely. And companies with higher degrees of implemented LM and LD have not yet presented a translation of this into PDP performance. Nonetheless, the correlation analysis between the research constructs showed a high multivariate correlation coefficient between LD and PDP performance, indicating that a high level of implemented LD is associated with high values in waste reduction and value creation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to enhance existing understanding of incorporating sustainability aspects during the product development and seeks to fill the gaps regarding the relationship between LPD and sustainability aspects. An up-to-date literature review was performed. More specifically, the expansion of current knowledge covers finding instances in earlier studies that explain the meaning of a sustainability aspect, such as environmental, social and economic aspect. Also, this article focuses on exploring various sustainability aspects using lean product development (LPD) tools and practices. LPD tools and practices that would enable the achievement of sustainability objectives are presented. The findings suggest that the chance for the integration of sustainability in product development comes when integrating sustainability aspects in LPD methods and tools that are used in companies daily. An analysis of the impact of every single LPD tools on individual aspects of sustainability is lacking. The paper concludes with recommendations for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Set-Based Design (SBD) is superior in risk reduction, knowledge creation, and innovation. However, its implementation demands more resources than traditional strategies. Thus, it is crucial to balance design space size and available resources to disseminate SBD. This paper proposes a method to define the level of innovation of subsystems enabling a hybrid development strategy, integrating the SBD and the Point-Based Design (PBD). We undertook a research action in a technological innovation design subject to significant knowledge and human/financial resource restrictions. The team allocated most resources in the SBD and focused efforts on critical subsystems. The exploratory and scientific nature of SBD enabled learning about the product without prior knowledge for supporting decision-making. By presenting the state-of-the-art regarding innovation level in SBD and proposing a method to define the level of innovation and a hybrid development strategy, this research paves the way for SBD in projects with significant resource restrictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Facing the new challenges in production processes, companies should adopt lean and green practices in product development. In SMEs, the application of these practices is more complex. This work explores the maturity of lean–green methodologies in the product development process in Brazilian and Japanese SMEs. The methodology used is multicriteria, combining the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and TOPSIS 2-tuple method, applied to four Japanese SMEs and four Brazilian SMEs in the metalworking sector. The criteria for evaluating SMEs are company flexibility, difficulties with NPD, innovation, limited resources, and personnel authority high. The TOPSIS method alternatives refer to 18 lean–green enablers. In the AHP method, the prioritisation of criteria between Japanese and Brazilian specialists presented divergences. In the Japanese context, the incidence of innovation is predominant, while in the Brazilian context, the most important is the limited resources. In the TOPSIS 2-tuple method, the results showed a higher level of maturity in lean–green methodologies in Japanese companies than in Brazilian ones. Lean practices are more evolved compared to sustainable practices in both countries. The study also addressed how open innovation adoption may contribute to innovation and NPD practices. Policymakers need to understand the heterogeneity of innovators within SMEs and how they differently innovate, developing distinct internal and external activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The motivation of this research is to investigate if the Lean concept can be used to improve a company's product development (PD) process and thereby providing cost-effective methods for development, engineering and manufacturing of products to sustain competitiveness. This longitudinal study builds upon an initial assessment of Lean practices in a company in the Nordics Marine sector starting in 2017. An improvement opportunity identified was defining measures to ensure improved integration of functional areas, especially manufacturing, from the beginning of the PD process. As a follow-up of the assessment, we studied the application of a set of new PD practices outlined for the development stage of a new, optimized tunnel thruster. The purpose of this paper is to share our findings related to the application of these practices and their effect on a Lean transformation in PD. Data collection was done through a participatory approach for observing team activities, including two workshops with key people in the thruster project. The results indicate that early integration of manufacturing competence in PD is important to improve production (integration), reduce time and cost. In addition, the use of design demonstrators and physical testing enable improved cost control and leverage learning throughout the PD process. A re-assessment of company practices relative to Lean, made during the autumn of 2020, identifies that six out of thirteen capabilities are improved in terms of the gap between current and desired future states. However, increased capability gap is identified in utilizing rigorous standardization to reduce variations, since existing company standards are challenged by new project innovations. It is concluded that the effect of introducing new PD practices to reduce capability gaps in Lean Product Development (LPD) is promising, especially for principles that are managed within the project control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – In recent years, innovative methodologies of product development such as lean product development (LPD) and agile project management (APM) have emerged. Even though previous research studies focused on these subjects, only few of them were focused on traditional industries, as civil construction. The purpose of this paper is to cover a part of this gap by estimating the potential of the application of these two new approaches (LPD and APM) in the construction industry, more specifically on the design stage. Design/methodology/approach – For this, a case study has been conducted in order to understand if some of LPD and APM tools and practices had already been used, and also to evaluate the potential application of these new methodologies. Three Brazilian companies have been evaluated, all of them were exclusive executors of the design stage and presented distinct characteristics (size, structure, business model, etc.). Findings – The results show that there is currently little adherence to LPD and APM practices within the companies studied. In terms of potential application of these new methodologies, the study has identified evidence regarding technical similarities between the reported cases and others mentioned in literature. However, the interviewees’ reception of these concepts was mostly pessimistic, showing considerable resistance to changes in the current process. Originality/value – According to the analysis, the study identified that the main challenge/hampering to the implementation of these tools in the cases studied herein are the functional organizational structures, the customer–supplier relationships and the internal cultural resistance to change.

Flow of information is of utmost importance during product development (PD) endeavours with timely feedback supporting the resolution of higher risk elements. PD task size, multitasking and resource utilisation levels of the PD system influence information flow and the value ultimately realised from the investment in PD. In this paper, a model incorporating a methodology developed using queuing theory, and in particular, results obtained for Jackson networks are extended to help engineering management to improve PD task flow and consequently become more ‘lean’. Considered factors include: optimal PD task size and multitasking (focus) level as well as the utilisation level of PD resources. Empirical data were collected from a case study company and compared to optimal values. The benefits of the proposed model and approaches are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The lean product development (LPD) approach uses lean principles and enablers (tools, techniques and practices) to reduce waste and continuously improve the product development processes (PDP). Other than reducing product development lead time, LPD also aims at improving quality by reducing problems that might occur during the process. Several LPD enablers are proposed in the existing literature; however, there is limited knowledge on how these enablers may effectively counteract the occurrence of problems in the PDP. We empirically tested the association between 4 groups of LPD enablers and 11 groups of LPD problems in a sample of 64 companies that are undergoing lean implementation in the shop floor and administrative areas. There are two major contributions here. First, we propose an empirically validated instrument for assessing the adoption of LPD enablers and the incidence of LPD problems in companies filling an existing gap in the literature. Second, we provide understanding on how LPD enablers can mitigate the incidence of LPD problems, allowing companies undergoing lean implementation to better manage their PDP. Moreover, some results demonstrate that the association between enablers and problems may not be as suggested in the existing literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

5S is one of the major foundations of lean concept along with total productive maintenance and standard work. 5S is the approach of improving business, establishing stability in operation by eliminating the root causes of wastes or defects in business process or operation and thereby making continuous improvement and sustaining it. 5S helps the organisations in establishing framework and roadmap to successfully follow the path of lean manufacturing for continuous improvement as it exposes visible and critical waste of the process. This paper presents the study of implementation of strategic 5S at plastic machinery manufacturing company in India and determines the relationship of 5S and productivity by testing hypothesis. This study is also an example for SMEs which reveals the prospective of 5S to achieve business performance parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Frugal innovation aims to attain significantly cheaper solutions on the market. The literature points out a lack of studies addressing frugal innovation from a process-oriented (ex-ante) perspective, as well as how to structure and leverage the frugal product development process. This paper explores how lean principles and fundamentals, and more particularly lean product development (LPD) can help fill this gap. The incidence of different types of waste has been observed throughout the new product development (NPD) process, and their mitigation could certainly leverage frugal innovation from the process perspective. However, to operationalize waste mitigation, an evaluation of how different types of waste are related to the various existing LPD practices is necessary. We accordingly build a relationship matrix between LPD practices and waste mitigation throughout the NPD process, based on a literature review encompassing 310 studies. By correlating LPD practices and waste, this paper proposes and discusses a conceptual model that brings insights to understanding how LPD can drive frugal innovations from an ex-ante perspective. The contributions of this paper are the categorization and classification of waste within NPD; the assessment and classification of the lean practices most studied in the literature; the association of the categories of waste with the corresponding lean practices; and the discussion of the possible contribution of LPD literature to leverage frugal innovation from a process-oriented perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research aims to evaluate the impact of lean product development (LPD) and lean startup (LS) practices on startup performance. A survey with 114 responses from Brazilian startups in the Information Technology sector evaluated the direct effects of LPD and LS on organizational performance, as well as the potential cross-effects between them. The assumptions were validated using a structural equation modeling for data analysis, which confirms that the adoption of these methodologies has a positive significant impact on startup performance, especially the practices involving teamwork and the design of minimum viable products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study conducts research on lean product development (PD) methodology and presents a case study of its practical application into a specific one-of-a-kind development of large power transformers. The demonstrated framework is the result of a 5-year intensive research that led to an extensive transformation of a traditional PD environment into a highly efficient process according to lean principles. Paper explains how lean PD integrates with robust, concurrent and smart design strategies in highly individualized PD business. A generalized framework of PD and design process renovation is presented, comprising three main fields of interest: Process & Tools, People, and Knowledge. A direct consequence of implied renovation are significant savings. Case-study company cut down engineering changes by 32 % in three year test period and experienced performance improvement between 25 % and 83 % across designated process indicators.

Purpose – The small Brazilian companies are responsible for a large part of national GDP and formal jobs in the country. This expressiveness is contrasted with the specificities of companies of this size possess, including the need to innovate to survive. Research shows that 83 percent of Brazilian SMEs have launched new products and services, obtaining positive results through this innovative process. This competitive advantage is weighted by a great feature of the small organization: resource constraint. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach – Research was carried out in three stages: one qualitative research (by using focal groups) and another two quantitative research works (descriptive and cross-sectional). Findings – The author identified three factors that are important for teenagers when influencing the purchase of the family car: safety, sportiness and comfort. The identification of these factors shows that the millennial generation tends to emphasize aspects of individual interest, such as status and performance, and family context, such as safety and comfort, rather than social aspects, such as the type of fuel and environmental impact. Social implications – The authors recommend the development of automobiles that prioritize the three factors mentioned herein in order to reverse the trend of declining car purchase. Originality/value – The authors presented the relevant attributes in buying decisions of family cars according to teenagers. The authors also indicated which automobile attributes are relevant for a more informed, connected, and with an increasing purchase power generation in contrast with previous generations, whose social context was prior to the emergence of social media.

The purpose of this paper is to perform the analysis of literature review of lean production (LP). The analysis involved studying 546 research articles published from 1988 to 2011 in selected 24 operations research journals. The articles are classified by: time distribution of articles, research methodology, research stream, authorship patterns, sector-wise focus, popular elements in lean literature, focus of the articles on lean waste, and implementation status and performance measurement of various existing frameworks/models. Then, the suggestions for the future scope of research possibilities and development are identified. The study provides a taxonomical and integrated review of articles, puts up perspective into the conceptualisation and various critical parameters for research. The findings include: increase in empirical approach research articles, need of applying lean principles in the field of product development and enterprise level areas, need of more interregional research collaborations, need of lean elements as group instead of individual element, need of avoiding seven lean wastes instead of specific waste and lack of testing and validation of the proposed frameworks/models by researchers. The study results shall help researchers, academicians and professionals to focus on the growth, pertinence and research developments in the LP system field. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Lean production. It is one of the most misunderstood business concepts of our time. Since the 1990s, it has been mystically reduced from an organization-wide concept to a set of principles and best practices for manufacturing in isolation, only to be subsequently re-constructed as an additional set of principles and practices for other specific functions (e.g., product development), often leading to sub-optimization. In this paper, we draw on practical insights from two Norwegian case studies and present an overview of emergent actionable knowledge to rethink lean production as a holistic approach to value creation and long-term profitability, with the product at its core. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lean Six Sigma is a data-driven and fact-based philosophy which helps to prevent the value defects over the detection of defects for better quality and improvements. Lean Six Sigma helps in achieving satisfaction of customer and core results by reducing waste, altering or variation in process, process cycle time, by the use of standardisation and flow and thus creates the competitive advantage for organisations. Lean Six Sigma is applicable at the place where variation and waste exist, and all employee or company staff should be involved. Lean Six Sigma is a combination of 'Lean' and 'Six Sigma'. Six Sigma helps to reduce the process variation whereas Lean helps to eliminate or reduce waste. Thereby, the principles of Lean Six Sigma help to improve the efficiency and quality of the process. This has been empirically investigated by various researchers. In this paper, an endeavour has been made to systematically compile the work carried out by the researchers in the area of Lean six sigma and Lean Manufacturing and its impact on Organisational Performance. Moreover, future research aspects in the Lean manufacturing scenario have also been explored. Abbreviations: SS: Six Sigma; LSS: Lean Six Sigma; LM: lean manufacturing; LT: lean tools; LP: lean production; TQM: total quality management; PDCA: plan do check act; TPM: total productive maintenance; OEE: overall equipment efficiency; SMED: single minute exchange of dies; FMEA: failure mode effective analysis; JIT: just-in-time; CELLMFG: cell manufacturing; DOE: design of experiment; DPMO: defects per millions opportunity; ANOVA: analysis of variance; DMAIC: define measure analyse improve control; VSM: value stream mapping [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Over the past few years, organizations have faced pressure from stakeholders to implement lean principles in their product development processes. However, the existing methods are not capable of measuring the benefits of adopting lean initiatives in the product development process. This research aims to develop a performance measurement model that can measure the effects of implementing lean in the engineering process. Engineering effort is analyzed in order to identify hidden wastes (e.g. inventory in the form of information about product specifications or engineering errors) in the engineering process. The model has been implemented in a civil design process of an engineering consultant company to validate the general applicability of the new model. The implementation of the model provides visibility on the waste hidden in the engineering process and quantifies that waste. The most significant contribution of this research is the development of new performance metrics and a decomposition chart. Finally, performance metrics are properly linked and the model treats lean as a holistic system, quantitatively measuring performance at different organizational levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Set-based design (SBD), sometimes referred to as set-based concurrent engineering (SBCE), has emerged as an important component of lean product development (LPD) with all researchers describing it as a core enabler of LPD. Research has explored the principles underlying LPD and SBCE, but methodologies for the practical implementation need to be better understood. A review of SBD is performed in this article in order to discover and analyse the key aspects to consider when developing a model and methodology to transition to SBCE. The publications are classified according to a new framework, which allows us to map the topology of the relevant SBD literature from two perspectives: the research paradigms and the coverage of the generic creative design process (Formulation-Synthesis-Analysis-Evaluation-Documentation-Reformulation). It is found that SBD has a relatively low theoretical development, but there is a steady increase in the diversity of contributions. The literature abounds with methods, guidelines and tools to implement SBCE, but they rarely rely on a model that is in the continuum of a design processmodel, productmodel or knowledge-basedmodelwith the aim of federating the three Ps (People-Product-Process) towards SBCE and LPD in traditional industrial contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a subjective and objective fuzzy-based Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) model is proposed. The model which is based on a newly defined evaluation matrix replaces the fuzzy comparison matrix (FCM) in the traditional fuzzy AHP model, which has been found ineffective and time-consuming when criteria/alternatives are increased. The main advantage of the new model is that it is straightforward and completely eliminates the repetitive adjustment of data that is common with the FCM in traditional AHP model. The model reduces the complete dependen-cy on human judgment in prioritization assessment since the weights values are solved automati-cally using the evaluation matrix and the modified priority weight formula in the proposed mod-el. By virtue of a numerical case study, the model is successfully applied in the determination of the implementation priorities of lean practices for a product development environment and com-pared with similar computational methods in the literature.

Set-based design (SBD), sometimes referred to as set-based concurrent engineering (SBCE), has emerged as an important component of lean product development (LPD) with all researchers describing it as a core enabler of LPD. Research has explored the principles underlying LPD and SBCE, but methodologies for the practical implementation need to be better understood. A review of SBD is performed in this article in order to discover and analyse the key aspects to consider when developing a model and methodology to transition to SBCE. The publications are classified according to a new framework, which allows us to map the topology of the relevant SBD literature from two perspectives: the research paradigms and the coverage of the generic creative design process (Formulation–Synthesis–Analysis–Evaluation–Documentation–Reformulation). It is found that SBD has a relatively low theoretical development, but there is a steady increase in the diversity of contributions. The literature abounds with methods, guidelines and tools to implement SBCE, but they rarely rely on a model that is in the continuum of a design process model, product model or knowledge-based model with the aim of federating the three Ps (People–Product–Process) towards SBCE and LPD in traditional industrial contexts.

Purpose - The small Brazilian companies are responsible for a large part of national GDP and formal jobs in the country. This expressiveness is contrasted with the specificities of companies of this size possess, including the need to innovate to survive. Research shows that 83 percent of Brazilian SMEs have launched new products and services, obtaining positive results through this innovative process. This competitive advantage is weighted by a great feature of the small organization: resource constraint. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach - Research was carried out in three stages: one qualitative research (by using focal groups) and another two quantitative research works (descriptive and cross-sectional). Findings - The author identified three factors that are important for teenagers when influencing the purchase of the family car: safety, sportiness and comfort. The identification of these factors shows that the millennial generation tends to emphasize aspects of individual interest, such as status and performance, and family context, such as safety and comfort, rather than social aspects, such as the type of fuel and environmental impact. Social implications - The authors recommend the development of automobiles that prioritize the three factors mentioned herein in order to reverse the trend of declining car purchase. Originality/value - The authors presented the relevant attributes in buying decisions of family cars according to teenagers. The authors also indicated which automobile attributes are relevant for a more informed, connected, and with an increasing purchase power generation in contrast with previous generations, whose social context was prior to the emergence of social media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Design-for-X (DfX) approaches continues to prove their importance to support design management in increased complexity products and towards sustainable development. Permanent increasing of market competitiveness lead the companies to narrow budgets and increase the application of Lean practices among their departments. Lean Design for eXcellence (LeanDfX) methodology was developed to cross Lean Thinking and Design-for-X project support, assessing multiple domains such as optimization, manufacturing, assembly, maintenance, eco-design, modularity or adaptability. This approach brings a systematic applicability for design engineers and technical managers, assessing the effectiveness and efficiency of a given product design. A LeanDfX index metric, ranging between 0-100%, and original scorecard were created for consistent decision support for comparison of different design concepts or design versions of products, integrating different 'X' domains. In this work, the LeanDfX methodology results are presented for a real industrial case study related to a robot gripper design of a palletizing production cell. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]