Ur led är tiden
En studie av metoder att korta ledtider inom forskning och utveckling
Product development cycles become shorter and shorter. The time from idea to market has become an important competitive factor. Despite this, methods used for making the product development process faster are surrounded with uncertainty about their efficiency. The purpose of the thesis is to describe the pros and cons of ?best practice? methods for shortening lead times and how these methods effect the lead times in research and development. The methods included in the study are; 1) multifunctional teams, 2) measurable targets and incentives and 3) independence. The research and development managers of 12 large Swedish companies have been interviewed about the methods. The result from the empiric study was that all of the three methods were seen as positive, and the majority of the managers believed that both multifunctional teams and independence give shorter lead times in research and development. Shortened lead times was not the only effect of the methods, both pros and cons were connected to the methods. That lead to the conclusion that the decision to use these methods need to be carefully considered, but also that an approach should be taken were more than one of the methods are used at once, as there seem to be synergies between them.