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Ž .Computers in Industry 42 2000 99–108

www.elsevier.nlrlocatercompind

Rapid product development — an overview

H.-J. Bullinger), J. Warschat, D. Fischer( ) Institute for Human Factors and Techonology Management IAT , UniÕersity of Stuttgart, P.O. Box 800469, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany

Abstract

The success of innovative engineering processes depend on short and iterative development cycles which offer the

possibility of high quality products, cost-efficient on the market and thus to stand up to today’s tough competitive pressure.Ž .All these new methods are subsumed under the term ‘‘Rapid Product Development’’ RPD . Research focuses attention not

only on the products, but also their development process. By pursuing several variants with modern methods the optimal

solution can be found. In order to guarantee the continuity of the whole product development process, organisation structure,

process and resources have to be connected ideally. Enhancing the Simultaneous Engineering approach, RPD is an

interdisciplinary evolutionary methodology to combine all influences of an engineering process to an iterative product

development.

To shorten the development process several tools are available: physical and digital prototypes for the early and

cost-efficient evaluation of different alternatives, the representation of knowledge for different experts by means of an ActiveŽ .Semantic Network ASN for the integration of interdisciplinary teams, technical support of communication and cooperation

Ž .within the team by adequate synchronous and asynchronous media. The Engineering Solution Center ESC demonstrates the

realization of these technologies and methods in detail. Published by Elsevier Science B.V.

1. Introduction

Today’s market is characterized by a keen interna-

tional competition, increasingly complex products

and an extremely high innovation dynamic. Parallel

to the shortening of innovation cycles, the life cycles

of products and the time until investments pay off Ž . w xare decreasing Fig. 1 1 .

Thus, time is presently the most challenging pa-

rameter. As the fast and successful positioning of

new products on the market has become vital for acompany, the development of innovative products

needs to be accelerated. The production of proto-

)

Corresponding author. Tel.: q49-711-97001; fax: q49-711-

9702299.

types is significant for a Rapid Product DevelopmentŽ .RPD process. Generative prototyping technologies,

Ž .like e.g. Stereolithography STL , reduce prototyping

lead times from a few hours up to three months,

depending on the quality required. New powerful

CAD-technologies provide the possibility to check

design varieties in real-time, employing Virtual Real-Ž .ity VR tools. The use of virtual prototypes, espe-

cially in the early phases of product development,

enables a time- and cost-efficient decision-making.1 w xATM networks and Fast Ethernet 11 enable a

quick and save exchange of relevant data and thus

supports the development process tremendously. The

1ATM: Asynchronous Transfer Mode.

0166-3615r00r$ - see front matter Published by Elsevier Science B.V.Ž .P I I : S 0 1 6 6 - 3 6 1 5 9 9 0 0 0 6 4 - 0

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( ) H.-J. Bullinger et al.r Computers in Industry 42 2000 99–108 100

Fig. 1. Product life cycles and development times.

Internet provides access to relevant information from

all over the world in no time, e.g. via the World

Wide Web or messages. Communication and cooper-2 w xation is further supported by CSCW tools 4 .

All these new technologies have been in the focus

of scientific and industrial interest for quite a while

now. However, the understanding of how these new

technologies can be integrated into one continuous

process chain has been neglected, e.g. an appropriatehigh performance organisation is missing. By com-

bining these technologies within an R&D organisa-

tion effectively, the product development time can be

reduced decisively. RPD is a holistic organisational

concept that describes a rapid development process

achieved mainly by combining and integrating inno-

vative prototyping technologies as well as modern

CSCW tools into the R&D process.

The objectives of RPD are:

Žv

to shorten the time to market from the first sketch.to market launch

v to develop innovative products by optimizing the

factors time, costs and quality

2CSCW: Computer Supported Cooperative Work.

v to increase quality in the sense of the principle of

completeness.

( )2. RPD and simultaneous engineering SE

SE considers the complete development process

and thus carries out the planning on the whole. RPD,on the other hand, considers single tasks and the

respective expert team responsible for each task. SE

sets up the framework within which RPD organises

the rapid, result-oriented performance of functional

activities. The mere application of SE-organisation

on the functional level leads to a disproportionate

coordination expenditure.

The overall RPD approach is based on the idea of w xan evolutionary design cycle 4 . In contrast to tradi-

tional approaches with defined design phases and

respective documents, for example specification lists

or concept matrix, the different design phases carried

out are result-oriented.

The whole RPD cycle is triggered by the project

environment, such as market developments, legisla-

tion or new technologies. A R & D management able

to handle uncertainties efficiently is necessary, espe-w xcially in late changes of customer requirements 14 .

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Furthermore, the execution of the cycle is not neces-

sarily sequential. For example, if results from the

prototype generation lead to experiences, they can be

directly incorporated into a new design phase.

The idea of evolutionary design implies that pre-

viously unrecognized product requirements or tech-

nological progress must be considered and incorpo-

rated. This issue leads to an important feature of

RPD, namely the abandonment of a homogenous

definition of a product throughout the project. There

should, for each product module, exist an individual

R&D life cycle, from concept to design. The initial

concept is conceptualized for the complete product

as well as the final integration of the modules. In

between, changes are made through new design

methods and tools.

The RPD approach will become more transparentw xby comparing it to the concept of SE 3 . The

influenceable and controllable parameters of a com-Žpany will serve as a frame for comparison see Table

.1 :

v Organization

v Processes

v Human and technical resources

v Product.

Organizational changes, rearrangement of pro-

cesses, investment in new machines, training of staff

as well as new solutions for product structures are

necessary in order to increase the effectiveness and

efficiency of the product development process.

The organization of a company defines its struc-

tures, like for example the formation of organiza-

tional units as well as the coordination between the

units. Project management as a method, which uses

certain tools, influences the organisational change to

a large extent. Whereas SE exhibits a formalized

frame with milestones, measuring nominalractual

discrepancies at certain steps, RPD requires a contin-

uous project management methodology. For both

development approaches, an integration of tasks is

needed in the sense that labour is planned, controlled

and steered by one responsible person or team.

Communication and coordination are important

key-factors in discussing processes. The application

of processes determines the product development

and its effectiveness and efficiency. One can distin-

guish between product data generation and manage-ment process. Hence, it is important for the SE as

well as the RPD approach to achieve a process

orientation in which both product data generation

and management process are aligned along the value

chain. In a SE approach, innovation is achieved as a

result of an initial product concept with the referring

product specification, whereas the RPD concept will

be checked and redefined according to the project

progress. RPD therefore offers the possibility to

integrate new technologies, market trends, etc., until

nearly the end of the development process. Thus, it

Table 1

SE and RPD

Parameter Element SE RPD

Process Structure Process on the whole Process in detail

Innovation Source Initial product concept Continuous improvement and

redefinition of concepts

Development cycles Avoidance strategy Active process element

Product Documents Unique approval by responsible source Continuous testing and

redefinition of concepts

Definition Homogenous according to modularization Individual according to

project progress

Ž .Data Management Standardized product and process data STEPLearningrExperiences For next, from previous project or project phase Within the project

Organization Project Management Milestone oriented Continuous

Labour Integrated approach

Resources Data Integration Standardized Standardized and continuousaCommunication and CSCW CSCW and ASN

Coordination Media

aASN: Active Semantic Network.

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facilitates the change management. Design iterations

are a wanted and therefore supported element in

RPD. The change of design concepts and specifica-

tions is supported by a fitting framework, including

the testing and most important evaluation of the

design, for further improvement.

Common SE approaches are based on a standard-

ized product data integration, whereas RPD requires

an additional dynamic data management in semantic

networks in order to enable short adaptation cycles.

Whereas SE focuses more on coordinating different

teams, RPD lays more emphasis on knowledge shar-w xing within one team and with other teams 12 . Short

paths and multidisciplinary teams for quick decisions

are essential for both approaches. Moreover, RPD

requires team-oriented communication systems,

which open up new ways of cooperation. They need

to offer support not only for management decisions,

but also for the decision-making during the genera-tion of product data.

Results of the product development process are

the documents of the generated product, such as

product models, calculations, certificates, plans, bill

of materials, etc. as well as the respective documents

of the process, for example drawings of machine

tools, process plans, work plans, etc. The aim of all

documentation activities is to support information

management. A documentation focusing on product

and process data guarantees project transparency for

all the persons involved. The standardization of thewhole product data is a basic prerequisite for evolu-

tionary and phase-oriented approaches. STEP3, as

probably the most promising attempt to standardize

product data and application interfaces, offers for

quite a few application fields applicable solutions,

for example automotive and electronic design, rapid

prototyping, ship building, etc. Documents reflecting

on parts of the complete product data generated, for

example specifications, bill of materials or process

data are a requirement of RPD. Whereas SE harmo-Ž .nizes documents at a certain time e.g. milestones ,

the RPD process documents are subject to persistent

alteration until a certain deadline. Thus, figures can

3STEP: Standard for the Exchange of Product Model Data.

be changed or agreed and borders narrowed. The

RPD approach only sets rough borderlines within

which the modules mature individually. This results

in specific project management questions, such asŽ .re allocation of resources or a continuous synchro-

w xnization of the process 4 , which are presently stillw xsubject to research 7 . Therefore, the RPD process

focuses especially on the management of variants

and versions.

3. Elements of RPD

3.1. Physical prototypes

In order to optimize the product development

process decisively, additional tools and methods of

different key areas are required. They are absolutely

indispensable for the success of a company.The production of prototypes is an important fac-

tor that supports product design as well as process

planning. With the aid of prototypes, it can be

examined how far requirements are met. Further,

they help to learn rapidly, to minimize mistakes and

to integrate different functions. Used as communica-

tion, learning, andror integration tools as well as

milestones, prototypes are a key-factor of the devel-

opment process.

Prototypes are not only the physical embodiments

of a product almost at the end of the developmentprocess. The international competition and the result-

ing short time to market require the quick availabil-

ity of models and samples during the whole develop-

ment process.

Besides the conventional manufacturing of physi-Ž .cal prototypes e.g. CNC-milling , the Rapid Proto-

Ž .type Technologies RPT gain more and more impor-

tance. RPT provides the possibility to produce a

physical artefact directly from its CAD model with-

out any tools. Hereby, it is possible to build the

prototype of a complex part already within a fewdays. With conventional prototyping, it would take

several weeks to build the same part.

In the past, great effort has been made to develop

RPTs, to improve their processes and to increase the

accuracy of the produced parts. Today’s most com-

mon techniques, like STL, Selective Laser SinteringŽ . Ž .SLS , Solid Ground Curing SGC and Fused Depo-

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Fig. 2. Follow-up technologies for SLS and STL.

Ž .sition Modelling FDM , are mainly used to producedesign or geometrical prototypes. They are used

primarily for aesthetic, ergonomic and assembly

studies or as pattern masters for casting or moulding

processes. However, up to now current materials and

process limitations have hardly enabled the use as

technical or functional prototypes. Therefore, follow-

up technologies, like vacuum casting etc., are neces-

sary to achieve near serial properties of the prototypeŽ .see Fig. 2 .

In order to accelerate the development process,

technical and functional prototypes are of great im-portance. Therefore, it is necessary to develop pow-

erful technologies for a rapid production of proto-

types with nearly serial characteristics, for example

material or surface quality. In addition to new or

improved RPTs, there are promising developments in

the field of coating technologies or sheet metal and

solid modelling, which will be a valuable contribu-

tion.Ž .A new field within Rapid Prototyping RP is

Ž .Rapid Tooling RT . The aim is to build a tool

directly by an RP process for the series production of

plastic components. Thus, the time-consuming pro-

duction of a tool by follow-up technologies can be

avoided.

3.2. Digital prototypes

Physical prototypes are often time- and cost-inten-

sive and thus need to be reduced to a minimum. By

combining CAD technologies, RP, VR and ReverseEngineering, prototypes can be produced faster and

cheaper as before. Especially, the employment of

virtual prototypes in the early phases of product

development optimizes the whole development pro-w xcess 13 .

The strategic advantage of Digital Prototyping is

the advancement of decisions from the test-phase

with physical prototypes to the early phases of prod-

uct development with digital prototypes. Thus, the

process of product development and testing can be

considerably ameliorated. The digital demonstrationallows an early modification and optimization of the

prototype. Furthermore, it leads to a cost-saving

increase in the variety of prototypes. By means of

virtual prototypes, product features can be easily

verified and thus development times can be reduced

enormously. Besides, faults concerning fabrication or

the product itself can be detected already in the early

development phases and thus be eliminated without

great expenditures. This provides the possibility to

start product planning already at an early stage. Due

to the early overlapping of development and fabrica-

tion, additional synergy effects can be expected.

Pre-requisites for Digital Prototyping are the follow-

ing three areas: CAD, simulation and VR. Simula-w xtion 8 and CAD-data produce quantifiable results,

w xwhereas the connection with VR-technologies 2,5,6Ženables a qualitative evaluation of the results Fig.

.3 .

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Fig. 3. Application triangle.

An important component of Digital Prototyping isŽ .the Digital Mock-Up DMU , a purely digital test

model of a technical product. The objective of DMU

is the current and consistent availability of multiple

views on product shape, function and technological

coherences. This forms the basis on which the mod-Ž .elling and simulation testing can be performed and

communicated for an improved configuration of thedesign. This primary, digital design model is also

called the virtual product. The virtual product is the

reference for the development of a new product,

specifically in the design and testing phase. The idea

is to test the prototype regarding design, function and

efficiency before producing the physical prototype.

Thus, effects of the product design can be detected

already in a very early phase of product develop-

ment. This way, possible weaknesses of the physical

prototype can already be detected and corrected in

the design phase, before the physical prototype is

built. An enormous advantage of the DMU is the

shortening of iteration cycles. The decisive changes

of the digital prototype are carried out while the

physical prototype is being built. During this period,

the DMU-process can achieve almost 100% of the

required quality by means of corrections resulting

from the simulation processes. The development pro-

cess without DMU, on the contrary, needs further

tests with several physical prototypes before the end

product can be produced. This means that by em-

ploying the DMU, the time-to-market is considerably

reduced. Besides, the DMU-platform offers the pos-

sibility for a technical integration of product concep-

tion, design, construction and packaging.

Digital Prototyping offers enormous advantages to

many different branches, like aircraft construction,

shipbuilding or the motor industry. Fields of applica-

tion for Digital Prototyping in car manufacturing are

for example:

v evaluation of components by visualization

v evaluation of design variations

v estimation of the surface quality of the car body

v evaluation of the car’s interior

v ergonomic valuation with the aid of virtual reality.

To sum it up, it can be said that creating physical

or virtual prototypes of the entire system is of utmost

importance especially in the early phases of the

product development process. The extensive use of

prototypes provides a structure, a discipline and an

approach which increase the rate of learning and

integration within the development process.

4. Knowledge representation

Besides the short iteration cycles, the interdisci-

plinary teams are an essential feature of the RPD

concept. They operate autonomously and are directly

responsible for their respective task. Additionally,

the increasing complexity of products and processes

require an early collaboration and coordination. Thus,

it is necessary to make knowledge on technology,

design, process, quality and costs available for any-

one involved in the development process.

Conventional databases are not sufficient for an

adequate representation of the relevant product and

process knowledge. On the one hand, current sys-

tems do not consider the dynamic of the develop-

ment process sufficiently. On the other hand, there is

no possibility to assess the consequences of one’s

definition. However, this is a fundamental pre-

requisite for an effective cooperation.

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To cope with the given requirements, it is neces-

sary to represent the knowledge in the form of anŽ . w xActive Semantic Network ASN 9,10 . It is charac-

terized by active independent objects within a con-

nected structure, which enables the modelling of

cause and effect relations. The objects in this net-

work are not passive, but react automatically to

modifications. This fact provides the possibility of an

active and automatic distribution of modifications

throughout the whole network. In contrast with con-

ventional systems, the needed ASN contains, besides

causal connections, representations of methods, com-

munication and cooperation structures as well as the

necessary knowledge to select the suitable manufac-

turing technique. Furthermore, negative and positiveŽ .knowledge rejected and followed-up alternatives

are stored therein. These gained perceptions will

support the current and future development process.

In detail, the ASN should contain the followingfunctions and characteristics:

v on-line dialog capability

v dynamic

v robustness

v version management

v transparency.

All in all, the ASN provides the possibility to

represent and to manage the design, quality and cost

knowledge together with the know-how of technolo-gies and process planning in the form of the ex-

plained dynamic chains of cause and effect. Thus,

the ASN forms the basis for the concept of RPD.

5. Communication and cooperation

The presented RPD concept is fundamentally

based on the early and intensive cooperation of

experts from different disciplines. This concept

therefore provides the possibility to bring together

the various expert knowledge in the early phases of

product development. Thus, all available sources of

information can be used right from the beginning.

The initial incomplete knowledge is incrementally

completed by diverse experts. At this point, the

cooperation within and between the autonomous

multifunctional teams is of great importance. The

selection and use of suitable information and com-

munication technology is indispensable.

Information exchange is considerably determined

by the local and temporal situation of cooperation

partners. If the cooperating team members are situ-

ated at one place, a usual or ‘‘natural’’ communica-

tion is possible and sensible. Nevertheless, a techni-

cal support and an electronic documentation might

still be helpful. In case cooperation partners are

located at different places, technical support is indis-

pensable. For this, CSCW and CMC 4 tools are

applied, like shared whiteboard application, chat-box,

electronic meeting room and audiorvideo-conferenc-

ing, etc. The currently existing systems provide the

possibility to bridge local barriers. However, they

neglect the requirements of a person-to-person com-

munication and cooperation. For instance, there is a

necessity to establish appropriate local and temporal

w xrelations among team members 4,11 . The commu-nication architecture therefore should enable the

modelling of direct and indirect interactions between

individuals. Because of the dynamic development

process, these relations change. The system should

therefore possess sufficient flexibility to be able to

keep track of the modifications. Furthermore, the

communication basis should be able to represent

information that is not isolated, and in the relevant

context.

During product development, especially within

creative sectors, frequent and rather short ad-hocsessions are preferred. This form of spontaneous

information exchange between decentralized devel-

opment teams requires CMC and cooperation tech-

niques. They permit a faster approach and lead to a

closer cooperation of experts. This results in a har-

monized product development, which maintains the

autonomy of decentralized teams.

( )6. The engineering solution center ESC

The use of recent information and communication

technology, interdisciplinary teamwork and an effec-

tive network is essential for the shortening of devel-

4CMC: Computer Mediated Communication.

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opment times, as we have demonstrated. Prerequi-

sites for an effective cooperative work are continu-

ous, computer supported process chains and new

visualization techniques. In the ESC, recent methods

and technologies are integrated into a continuous

process chain. This process chain comprises all

phases of product development, from the first CAD

draft over the selection and fabrication of suitableŽ .prototypes to the test phase Fig. 4 .

The ESC is equipped with all the necessary tech-

nology for a fast and cost-efficient development of

innovative products. Tools, like Internet, CAD and

FEM simulations are integrated into the continuous

flow of data. Computer-based information and com-

munication technologies are integrated into alreadyŽexisting engineering systems CAD, knowledge man-

.agement, databases, etc. , supporting the cooperative

engineering effectively. Thus, the ESC offers, for

example, the complete set of tools necessary forproducing a DMU. A particular advantage here is

that these tools are already combined to a continuous

process chain. All respective systems are installed

and the required interfaces already exist.

An important part of the ESC is the Power Wall:

a recent, very effective and cost-efficient visualiza-

tion technology. It offers the possibility to project

three-dimensional CAD models and virtual proto-

types onto a huge canvas. Unlimited number of

persons can view the three-dimensional model simul-

taneously. The Power Wall is a cost-efficient en-

trance into large three-dimensional presentations be-

cause it consists of only one canvas.

Another essential component of the ESC is theŽ . ŽEngineering Product Data Management EDMr

.PDM system. The EDM encompasses a holistic,

structured and consistent management of all pro-

cesses and the whole data involved in the develop-

ment of innovative products, or the modification of

already existing products, for the whole product life

cycle. The EDM systems manage the processing and

forwarding of the produced data. Thus, these systems

are the backbone of the technical and administrative

information processing. They provide interfaces toŽCAD systems and other CA applications e.g. CAM,x

.CAP, CAQ . In this way, these systems enable acontinuous, company-wide data flow. Inconsistent or

obsolete information stocks are reduced to a mini-

mum through the use of EDM.

The innovative approach realised here makes the

ESC so special. The ESC integrates recent technolo-

gies into a continuous process chain. By the use of

virtual prototypes, the time- and cost-intensive pro-

Fig. 4. The Engineering Solution Center.

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Fig. 5. Digital Prototyping in the product development process.

duction of physical prototypes can be considerably

reduced. The interplay of all methods and technolo-

gies provides the possibility to achieve a high devel-opment quality at first go.

The virtual product, together with all the applica-

tions of virtual technologies and methods in product

development and testing, is a necessary reaction to

the rapidly changing requirements of the marketŽ .Fig. 5 .

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Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Prof. e.h. Dr. h. c.

Hans-Jorg Bullinger. Dr. Hans-Jorg¨ ¨Ž .Bullinger born 1944 began his career

as a manufacturer for the Daimler-Benz

company in Stuttgart, and graduated with

a Master’s degree and PhD in Manufac-

turing from the University of Stuttgart.

At Stuttgart’s Fraunhofer-Institute of

Production Technology and Automation,

he was responsible for many applied

research projects in the field of design

and manufacturing, together with the

companies Robert Bosch, Siemens, VW, Daimler Benz and oth-

ers. Currently, besides his role as chairman of the University, Dr.

Bullinger is also the head of the Institute for Human Factors andŽ .Technology Management IAT and the Fraunhofer-Institute for

Ž .Industrial Engineering IAO . The institutes are renowned for

carrying out projects both in Germany and abroad.

Among his honors are the Kienzle-Medal from the UniversityŽ .Group of Manufacturing 1978 , the gold Ring-of-Honour awarded

Ž . Ž .1982 by the German Society of Engineers VDI , the Distin-

guished Foreign Collegue award from the Human Factor Society

Ž . Ž .1986 , an honorary Doctor at the University of Novi Sad 1991 ,an honorary Professor at the University of Science and Technol-

Ž .ogy of China in Hefei 1991 , Member of the World Academy of Ž .Productivity Science since 1993 , Honorary member of the Ru-

Ž .manian Society of Mechanical Engineers 1994 , the Arthur Bur-Ž .ckhardt Award 1995 , and the Order of the Federal Republic of

Ž .Germany 1998 . Dr. Bullinger has written over 1000 articles and

books in the area of industrial engineering.

Ž .Dr. Joachim Warschat born 1949

studied Production Engineering at the

University of Stuttgart. He graduatedŽ .with the title Dr.-Ing. PhD and was

promoted to Private Lecturer at the Uni-

versity of Stuttgart in 1997. He is Direc-tor and Head of the Department R&D-

Management at the Fraunhofer InstituteŽ .for Industrial Engineering IAO ,

Stuttgart and director of the Sonder-Žforschungsbereich Collaborative Re-

.search Center ‘‘Development and Test-

ing of Innovative Products’’ since 1999. He works as a scientist

and consultant in the fields of R&D-Management Organisation,ŽInformation and Communication Systems Internet, Intranet,

.Groupware , Project Management and Knowledge Management.

He has published more than 100 articles in these fields including

the following books: Forschungs- und Entwicklungsmanagement,

Expert Systems in Design and Process Planning, Qualitat der¨Arbeit, Concurrent Simultaneous Engineering. Dr. Warschat is

lecturer at the University of Stuttgart for Project Management and

Simultaneous Engineering and at the Stuttgart Institute of Man-

agement and Technology for Project Management.

Ž .Dr.-Ing. Dietmar Fischer born 1959 .

graduated as Dipl.-Ing. in Aeronautical

and Aerospace Engineering from theŽ .University of Stuttgart Germany in

1987 and graduated with the title Dr.-Ž .Ing. PhD in Mechanical Engineering

from the University of Stuttgart in 1994.

Since 1987, he has worked as a scien-

tific researcher and project manager at

the Fraunhofer-Institute for IndustrialŽ .Engineering IAO . Since 1990, he is

the deputy-head of the department R&D

Management. In 1994, Dr. Fischer became director of the Sonder-Ž .forschungsbereich Collaborative Research Center ‘‘Development

and Testing of Innovative Products’’ until 1999, and lecturer for

the faculty of Design and Production Engineering at the Univer-

sity of Stuttgart. In 1995, he became a member of the Manage-

ment Board of the Institute for Industrial Engineering and the

Head of the Competence Center ‘‘Rapid Product Development’’.

For his research on ‘‘Object oriented databases’’ Dr. Fischer

received an award from the Verein zur Forderung der produktion-¨stechnischen Forschung in 1995.