Description

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The man who launched a revolution in product development with his bestselling Developing Products in Half the Time is back with a new book that's also certain to be a classic. In Managing the Design Factory Donald G. Reinertsen presents concepts and practical tools that will be invaluable for anyone trying to get products out of the pipeline and into the market.

The first book to put the principles of World Class Manufacturing to work in the development process, Managing the Design Factory combines the powerful analytical tools of queuing, information, and system theories with the proven ideas of organization design and risk management. The result: a methodical approach to consistently hit the "sweet spot" of quality, cost, and time in developing any product. Reinertsen illustrates these concepts with concrete examples drawn from his work with many leading companies across different industries.

Fresh and thought-provoking, the book challenges many of the conventional approaches to product development. "There are no best practices," Reinertsen writes, "the idea of best practices is a seductive but dangerous trap." Unlike other books that promote rules and rituals based on benchmarking "best practices," this book focuses on practical tools that account for varied situations. He breaks new ground with a disciplined, quantitative approach for making decisions on critical issues: When should we use a sequential or concurrent process? Centralized or decentralized control? Functional or team organizations?

Full of practical techniques, concrete examples, and solid general principles, this is a real toolkit for product developers. Moreover, it is written with the clarity, precision, and humor that are Reinertsen's trademarks. He promises to challenge the thinking of anyone involved in product development.

About the Author

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Donald G. Reinertsen is head of Reinertsen & Associates, a firm that specializes in new product development. He also teaches at the California Institute of Technology and has attracted a worldwide following among managers, designers, and engineers. He holds an engineering degree from Cornell and an MBA from Harvard. He and his family live in Redondo Beach, California.

Praise For…

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Warren S. Nix President and CEO, Lumonics Corporation This book is absolutely essential reading for product team leaders who must "do" rather than debate. I will require that all senior executives at Lumonics read this book.

Neil Hagglund Corporate Vice President and Director of Corporate Technology Planning, Motorola, Inc. A valuable and much needed view of the product development process. Engrossing and stimulating reading flill of excellent tools and firmly anchored on the basic reality of why we do product development -- to make a profit!

Art Lane General Manager, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Storage Solutions Division At Hewlett-Packard we continuously strive to improve our product development methods, but too often only look internally for ideas. I would recommend this book because it impresses me as a source of sound, practical advice from Don's broad industry experience.

Kevin Sharer President and COO, Amgen Provides real world, usable advice and challenges managers to think about issues of enduring importance.

Robert T. Franzo Manager, Messaging and Digital Mobile Radio, Wireless Communications Products, IC Group, Lucent Technologies A compelling new model for profitable product development. Don Reinertsen reveals some of the best kept secrets to running a decision and profit based development process. This book will be a key resource for organizations using product development to compete in the competitive dynamic market we all encounter.

Dr. Paul Borrill Chief Scientist, Sun Microsystems A brilliant and unique perspective on the economic and business dimensions of product design. Reinertsen's insights into the human and economic dimensions of product design are outstanding.