Communication permeates every aspect of an engineer's work-from clarifying product specifications to shaping social ties. This paper offers an overview of recommendations from literature to improve communication within and among engineering teams. We assume communication problems are often the outcome of underlying factors and that it is fruitful to study and improve these influences. Having been empirically elicited in prior research, 24 factors considered in this paper include, e.g., availability of information about product specifications, roles and responsibilities, and overview of sequence of tasks. To improve these factors in order to enable effective communication, this paper collates more than hundred recommendations from journal articles and textbooks published in the fields of engineering design, management science, sociology, and psychology. Recommendations include, for example, identify priorities through risk and bottleneck analysis, give clear descriptions and role expectations, and employ effective process modeling tools. Contributions of this paper are a list of recommendations for industry practitioners and an effort-benefit evaluation of individual recommendations.@en

The need for integration of computer-aided design and computer-aided engineering environments stems from the business priority to reduce product cycle times. It is exacerbated by the coexistence of two different paradigms: a topological one in embodiment design and a functional one in simulation. This dualism places increasing demands on human communication between design and simulation engineers. This paper claims that reflecting communication is a key factor for successful collaboration. Reflection is used in both senses of the Latin word 'reflectare': to trigger active thinking about and consideration of communication, as well as to mirror perceptions of a given situation by people collaborating. The paper reports on the development and application of a maturity-grid approach to diagnose the current and desired states of communication between design engineers and simulation engineers in the car body development of a German automotive manufacturer. Results include three themes: one, the importance of understanding of the collaborators'information needs; two, the importance of orientation, e.g., indicated by the engineers' overview of sequence of tasks in the design process; and three, the importance of reflection.@en

The design of complex products, such as aero engines or cars, requires the co-ordination of many different individuals and groups of designers. Communication has been identified by many researchers and practitioners in industry as a major determinant of success or failure in design projects. Communication is influenced by manifold factors on different levels, be it through product attributes, information and media-specific factors or factors arising from organisational and team structures, and individual activities. Understanding of associations between these factors supports successful communication management. This paper presents associations between selected factors influencing communication. It shows a network of correlating factors covering a number of aspects of communication in engineering design and focuses particularly on 'collaboration', 'mutual trust', 'overview of sequence of tasks in the design process', and 'autonomy of task execution'.@en

This paper shows how two approaches to PD process analysis - structural metrics and simulation analysis - can be combined. Structural metrics can be used to provide a high level analysis of an existing network of tasks. Stochastic simulation can be used to obtain an overview of how tasks interact over time. Both approaches are applied to a process model that originates from the body-in-white design process of a premium class sedan as used in a major German automotive manufacturer. We demonstrate and contrast the analysis approaches, individually and in combination.@en

Designing complex products, such as jet engines, cars or certain types of software, necessitates the coordination of activities of many participants during the design process. Communication is seen as the vehicle by which this coordination could be achieved. Communication itself is influenced by many different factors that are connected. This study presents an exploration of correlations between these factors based on statistical analyses of empirical data. The research uses data collected via the 'Communication Grid Method', (CGM) a structured maturity grid method to assess the perception of communication within and across team-interfaces. Five empirical studies in the aerospace, automotive, and IT industries where concurrent engineering is practiced are used. The results offer insights for researching and managing communication across inter-departmental interfaces. It has been shown in particular, how directly and indirectly linked factors influencing communication in product development form a network of correlations. Mutual trust and collaboration exhibit thematic centrality.@en