Project Management in the Concurrent Engineering Environment

The primary objective of the Finnish-American research project was to develop the management and organization of multi-partner projects when using electronic data exchange and the concurrent engineering (CE) environment. A second objective was to develop functional indicators to measure impact of the CE environment in selected case study construction projects. As a result, the study presents key guidelines for realizing benefit by using electronic data exchange and the CE environment in multi-partner projects. A fundamental conclusion of the study is that by using electronic data exchange and a modern CE environment, significant qualitative benefits can be reached in a multi-partner project. The CE environment makes it possible to change the traditional information flow, thereby radically improving it at the design and construction stages. In addition to qualitative benefits, benefits measured in terms of time and money can be reached. In the European case studies, direct cost benefits were approximately double as compared to the operating costs, and the indirect cost savings were manifold as compared to the direct cost benefits. However, indirect cost savings were difficult to quantitatively measure in practice. In the American case study, cost benefits were even 20-fold as compared to the operating costs. The model for benefit measuring was developed and tested mainly in the first analyzed case study, which, in August 2000, was completed and handed over to the client in Finland. Additionally, the framework was used in three other case studies, in Sweden, Great Britain, and the USA. For more information http://www.vtt.fi/rte/cmp/projects/proce/