MAKE-TO-CONCEPT: A "SOLUTION-BASED" APPROACH TO COMPLEX NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

Achieving close and on-going co-ordination between the various stakeholders involved in the product design and process development has been a main issue in complex new product development (CoNPD). Challenges arise in balancing product innovation and process optimisation, particularly when business customers place an order with a requirement featured as open system specification (OSS). This paper examines CoNPD projects in two international engineering companies based in the UK. The aim is to explore the use of specification management, with a particular focus on the project stakeholders that are both internal and external to the companies. Analysis of the data reveals issues associated with how the stakeholders interact to: manage the risks of associated with OSS projects, develop solution-based approaches and deal with the novelty of technology integration. The research findings provide evidence for a make-to-concept specification management process for contracted CoNPD projects. In doing so, the paper makes a contribution towards developing an approach to solution-oriented businesses that is informed by a rich understanding of how project stakeholders work together to manage CoNPD projects.