Abstract

The article focuses on a shift of attention of continuing research into new product development to a more fundamental cause of cost overruns and production schedule slippage. The article also discusses issues like technological uncertainty and urgency of delivering operable units. Despite years of agonized attention to the matter, cost overruns on projects involving new products still alarm and perplex those responsible for their management. The disruption mechanism by which concurrency and delivery urgency produce their horrendous effects can be very involved. Technological uncertainty is increased by a greater degree of advance in state of the art. Interrelatedness makes it hard to anticipate the full effects of a design change on design and production activities, even conceptually. Delivery urgency often arises from broad marketing considerations. These generate powerful pre-contract pressures on buyers to demand and on suppliers to promise tight delivery dates, well before product development is complete.