Process integration and improvement using systemic diagrams and a human-centred approach

if product cycle time reduction is the mission, and the multifunctional team is the means of achieving the mission, what then is the modus operandi by which this means is to accomplish its mission? This paper asserts that a preferred modus operandi for the multifunctional team is to adopt a process-oriented view of the manufacturing enterprise, and for this it needs the medium of a process map [16]. The substance of this paper is a methodology which enables the creation of such maps. Specific examples of process models drawn from the product development life cycle are presented and described in order to support the methodology's integrity and value. The specific deliverables we have so far obtained are: a methodology for process capture and analysis; a collection of process models spanning the product development cycle; and, an engineering handbook which hosts these models and presents a computer-based means of navigating through these processes in order to allow users a better understanding of the nature of the business, their role in it, and why the job that they do benefits the work of the company. We assert that this kind of thinking is the essence of concurrent engineering implementation, and further that the systemigram process models uniquely stimulate and organise such thinking.