These are the R&D managers duties for simplifying production and processes

R&D Efficiency

Simplifying productions and processes has the benefit of freeing up more time for the R&D team to work on exciting, new innovative ideas and products, rather than spending more time working on an already existing one.

According to Andreas Saar, ‘innovation cycles can be cut down by 70%’ which grants the ‘advantage to test faster and allow for more cycles’ overall. Consolidating parts within a system or subsystem through printing production parts, assembling and maintaining with the assistance or use of new technologies means that the overall cycle of R&D to getting products on the market can be shortened significantly.

1. Make more time for your team to be productive

As R&D manager, you want to get the most productivity out of your team as possible, and the goal is always to get the next product on the market - so simplifying production and processes is important to driving your team forward and remaining competitive and successful in the industry.

2. Harness new technologies

New technologies being made available to you and your team have the potential to simplify everything from conceptualising to testing to manufacturing. Technologies such as additive manufacturing can bring costs down and speed up the development and manufacturing times of products, freeing up more time for your team to innovate new products.

3. Push your designers to innovate with new tech

As a group, designers have some of the most exciting new opportunities to streamline processes through innovative design and design methods made possible by new technology. Machine rendering and digital twinning of products and their production can simplify a myriad of stages of R&D. Designers need to be made aware of what’s available to them, whether it be tech or new materials. No one likes to change the way they work, but it’s your job as R&D manager to make sure they push the pre-conceived limits in their minds as to what they can do and to what degree they can innovate.

4. Digitalize all stages and processes

This is a major theme across all industries - and especially in R&D. Companies who fail to streamline their processes and product development cycles will ultimately struggle to keep up with the rest of their competitors in the industry. Take NASA for example. In the 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union, NASA was virtually the only name in aerospace engineering and research. 18 years later, Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched the first privately funded, liquid-fuelled rocket into orbit. Not only did they manage to do this without governmental financial assistance, but they did it at half the price of what NASA was able to. Another 10 years later in 2018, SpaceX have changed the game again by engineering rockets that can be in large part re-used[1]. SpaceX have proven themselves to be innovative and have made space flights a viable, affordable reality in just 10 years - changing the nature and redefining the limits of what can and can’t be done.

Simplifying production and processes is not just a task the R&D manager should take on board, but if the company is to remain competitive in the industry and continually improve output and cost efficiency, it is a necessity. In order to produce the best products on the market, old ideas of what can and cannot be done must be pushed, and boundaries that are being shattered by new technologies and materials must be forged through by the whole team. It is the R&D manager’s role to lead his team to innovation and to reach for the stars.

[1] https://www.airspacemag.com/space/is-spacex-changing-the-rocket-equation-132285884/