Optimizing Overlap between Testing and Design in Engineering Product Development Processes

To reduce product development time, upstream testing and downstream design processes are often overlapped. Existing studies do not recommend overlapping in situations where test results may have a significant effect on downstream redesign. However, this study identifies that, due to long procurement time and lengthy physical tests, companies may have no choice but to overlap these tasks to meet product delivery deadlines. This research investigates how a case study company manages these overlaps, and proposes a model to support the overlapping of testing and subsequent redesign phases during the development phases.