Using QFD as the Company’s Select Methodology to Reinforce “Inter- and Intra-Organizational Integration” in Product Innovation

The complexity of today’s product development and the necessary adaption of a holistic perspective on company work processes for innovation is well articulated by Säfsten et al. (2014) above. The creation of successful new products is thus fundamentally a multidisciplinary, multi-functionality process. Establishing a common “thought world” by bridging intra- and inter-organizational interfaces is generally considered a necessity for excellence in product innovation. From an open innovation perspective, bridging a company’s external organizational interfaces and securing customer and consumer collaboration in a co-development approach are activities of foremost importance in product development today (Chesbrough and Appleyard, 2007; Chesbrough, 2007). Since traditional industrial borders have been obliterated, traditional organizations and work processes for product innovation and innovation of manufacturing technology must be reviewed and reconsidered (Lager and Rennard, 2014):Because the development of new products often requires a corresponding development of the company’s manufacturing system, more interactive innovation work processes are needed, from product design to manufacturing to delivery, bridging the R&D-manufacturing interface and integrating product and process development work processes.…