THE IMPORTANCE OF CLIENT REQUIREMENTS PROCESSING IN CONCURRENT ENGINEERING

The application of concurrent engineering (CE) is becoming widespread in product development. Many manufacturing organizations are reported to have adopted its principles to shorten time to market and improve product quality. The different definitions and approaches to understanding concurrent engineering and its implementation, reflect the different interpretations of the concept. However, CE is basically a client-oriented product development process and the requirements of the client are therefore central to its concepts. In this paper, it is argued that the processing of these requirements is both essential to satisfy clients, as well as facilitate concurrency. In particular, requirements processing provides for compliance checking at every stage of the design and construction process and ensures the traceability of design decisions to explicit and implicit client requirements. The approach being adopted in the development of a Clients' Requirements Processing Model (CRPM) for construction clients is also described.