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- Alfredsson, Ludvig, et al.
(författare)
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Product Development Management
- 2011
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Ingår i: Entering the tigers cave – Perspectives on Japanese and Swedish Product Development. - Göteborg : Department of Product and Production Development, Chalmers University of Technology.
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Bokkapitel (populärvet., debatt m.m.)
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| 2. |
- Fazl Mashhadi, Azadeh, 1980, et al.
(författare)
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A learning alliance for robust design in product development – The case of Volvo 3P and Chalmers University of Technology
- 2014
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Ingår i: Total Quality Management and Business Excellence. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1478-3371 .- 1478-3363. ; 25:9-10, s. 1-18
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Although the use of robust design within product development has a large potential, its practical application in industry has been limited. Learning from an earlier less successful trial, the Volvo Group developed an initiative that was successful in making robust design part of development engineers’ regular work. This initiative was conducted in 2006-2009 as action-research collaboration with Chalmers University of Technology, involving researchers and 22 master students. The aim of this paper is to describe and analyze this initiative. Data have been gathered through formal interviews, participation and observation in formal and informal meetings and through master theses. The initiative’s design included a broader robust design concept, emphasizing robust design principles, and the creation of local learning processes involving product development engineers and their supervisors. The company-university collaboration functioned as a ‘learning alliance’ on different levels. First, a learning relationship was created between individual engineers and master-students resulting in reflection-in-action and iterative mutual learning. Second, the learning alliance also included professors/researchers from Chalmers interacting with company representatives in an open learning environment, as well as reflection-in-supervision in the interaction with master-students. This interaction also supported the company in its process of creating structure and practices for organizational learning.
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| 3. |
- Fazl Mashhadi, Azadeh, 1980, et al.
(författare)
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Introducing Robust Design in Product Development Learning from an initiative at Volvo
- 2012
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Ingår i: Total Quality Management and Business Excellence. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1478-3371 .- 1478-3363. ; 23:9-10, s. 1191-1205
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Robust design (RD) has a large potential to contribute to product and process improvements providing increased customer value. However, it has shown to be difficult to obtain these benefits in practice. This study aims to evaluate and learn from an initial approach to introducing RD within the Volvo Group. It is based on three pilot cases within the product development organisation of a business unit. Data were collected through formal interviews and informal dialogues with pilot participants, supplemented by existing documentation of the pilot cases. The main finding was that a RD initiative, characterised by ‘tool-pushing’ and with a predefined solution introduced by an external consultant, faced many obstacles and could not create a sustainable result. Instead, it was found that there is a need to involve engineers and create a learning culture in which RD principles can become a natural part of work practices. This study identified six obstacles to the success of the initiative, which were perceived as learning points for a broader application of RD at the company. This underscores that RD initiatives can also be hampered bysimilar types of obstacles that have been identified in research on other change processes.
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| 4. |
- Fazl Mashhadi, Azadeh, 1980
(författare)
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Orchestrating the implementation of new practices in product development: Learning through action research at the Volvo Group
- 2016
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Companies in competitive markets are always dealing with responses to changes in the external environment to be able to achieve long-term survival. One such response concerns changes in product development practices. In recent years, many methodologies have been developed addressing new upstream practices within product development such as robust design, design for six sigma, or lean product development. However, companies are struggling with their application of them in practice. Since 2004, the Volvo Group has introduced several initiatives aiming for changes in product development practices. As the Volvo Group recognized difficulties in applying changes in its practices, an action research program was designed together with Chalmers University of Technology. The purpose was to study this problematic situation and upcoming initiatives, learn from them, and improve the situation with the help of change management theories. The action research was conducted with a systematic learning approach which resulted in practical improvements as well as provided theoretical contributions. Three of the most important initiatives taken at Volvo Group during the period of 2004-2016, are the focus of this PhD thesis.The first paper in this thesis elaborates on learning from an unsuccessful initiative for introducing Robust Design at Volvo 3P that was led by an external consultant. The obstacles in the organization and weaknesses in the initiative are discussed. It was found that in order to implement the new practices to their full potential, there is a need for local development or adaptation of the robust design approach through local learning processes. Then, based on learning from this first initiative, a second initiative, the Volvo Robust Engineering System was launched, and paper II and III in this thesis are based on this second initiative. The first paper describes and analyses the learning processes that make product development engineers in Volvo 3P aware of what the robust design concept can contribute in practice. This awareness contributed to changes in their work practices. This paper also elaborates on how Volvo 3P utilized a ‘Learning Alliance’ with the Division of Quality Sciences at Chalmers University of Technology as a means of creating a learning environment in which robust design practices are locally developed and used. The third paper presents the content and structuring of these industry developed robust design practices and makes a comparison to the previous literature-based approaches. The third initiative is Lean Product Development. The fourth paper in this thesis is based on this initiative and describes how the Volvo Group organized its lean product development initiative and how it has been cascaded down and adapted to the Volvo Penta. It develops and discusses a theoretical concept referred to as a ‘Platform for Learning’ in order to implement local lean principles and practices and put them in to continual use. This paper contributes to the knowledge of how to transform an organization to lean product development.Based on the accumulated learning from the action research processes and the three initiatives, the Thesis ‘Kappa’ empirically contributes to understand how to develop and transform the people’s practices in product development. It also presents and discusses the role that action research can have in supporting organizations orchestrating such transformation. The cyclical process of reflection and learning, being an integral part of action research, was found to be important for building knowledge while driving change. It was additionally found that employees can participate as ‘insider action researchers’, being involved in the research process and functioning as catalysers of reflection inside the company.
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| 5. |
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| 6. |
- Fazl Mashhadi, Azadeh, 1980
(författare)
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The Influence of Learning on Naturalization of New Practices -The Case of Robust Design in Product Development
- 2010
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The Influence of Learning on Naturalization of New Practices– the Case of Robust Design in Product DevelopmentAzadeh Fazl MashhadiDepartment of Technology Management and EconomicsDivision of Quality SciencesChalmers University of TechnologyABSTRACTCustomers appreciate a robust product which performs its desired function consistently and independently of the sources of variation during its life cycle. In order to deliver a robust design to customers, the upstream activities during the product development process should proactively support such a result. Even though there have been methods and methodologies developed for robust design in product development, such as Taguchi Methods, Robust Design Methodology, Design For Six Sigma, and robust design practices, companies are still struggling with the application of robust design in practice. Volvo 3P is one such company that has begun to apply robust design in the product development processes since 2004. Volvo 3P has recognized that in order to utilize robust design to its full potential, there is a need for cultivation and local growing of the concept in the organization’s context. Through this approach robust design can also achieve its continuous application. This is referred to as naturalization of robust design in the present thesis.This thesis firstly elaborates on Volvo 3P learning from a previous unsuccessful initiative for introducing robust design through an external consultant. The obstacles in the organization and weaknesses in the initiative are discussed. Secondly, it describes the influence of learning on the individuals at Volvo 3P experiencing what lies in the robust design concept for them in practice and therefore changing their way of working. And finally it elaborates on how Volvo 3P has utilized a learning alliance with the Division of Quality Sciences at Chalmers University of Technology as a means to create a learning environment in which robust design is cultivated in the organizational context and grows into the practices in a natural way. In this thesis also the key attributes to achieve learning alliances are identified as a learning relationship, reflection-in-action, mutual learning, and sharing of knowledge and experiences on the organizational level.The thesis identifies four contributions to the research community based on practice which are also valuable for industry. These contributions can be summarized as a broader view of the robust design concept, development of a concrete view for robust design practices in an organizational context, the positive influence of learning for naturalization of robust design, and the learning alliance as a method to create such learning.Keywords: robust design, naturalization, learning, robust design practices, learning alliance, action research
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| 7. |
- Fazl Mashhadi, Azadeh, 1980, et al.
(författare)
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The Volvo Robust Engineering System: how to make robust design work in an industrial context
- 2016
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Ingår i: Total Quality Management and Business Excellence. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1478-3371 .- 1478-3363. ; 27:5-6, s. 1-19
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Volvo Robust Engineering System (VRES) is an adaptation of the robust design concept in an industrial context. It consists of five different principles as a basic value system, and eight practices that contribute to the implementation of system, parameter and tolerance design. VRES was developed through a learning alliancebetween Volvo and Chalmers University of Technology. This paper presents VRES and discusses it in relation to the literature-based robust design methodology, which has been a major inspiration for VRES development. VRES has expanded and validated the concepts previously developed in the literature by adding the elements needed for practical application.
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