Concurrent Engineering

Concurrent Engineering (CE) is the logical capability of designing the product, the manufacturing process, the supply chain, and the service plan in parallel rather than sequentially — with cross-functional teams sharing one product definition through collaboration tooling. CIMdata: “A systematic approach to the integrated, concurrent design of products and their related processes, including manufacture and support.”

What it covers

• Cross-functional teams — engineering, manufacturing, quality, sourcing, service, regulatory — sharing one product master.
• Stage overlap — manufacturing planning starts on a maturing EBOM, not on release.
• Early producibility, serviceability, and compliance reviews — shifted left from end-of-design.
• DFM / DFA / DFR / DFE practices applied early.
• Single source of truth (cPDm) so every discipline sees the same in-flight changes.

Why this is a logical, not strictly process, concept

CE describes a capability of the engineering organization — being able to operate concurrently — rather than a single process. Many KB processes (NPI, Detailed Design, CAM Manufacturing Planning) realize CE when they run in parallel and through shared tooling.

Relationships (see sidebar)

• Depends on Collaborative Product Commerce (cPDm) (the collaboration substrate) and Digital Thread (the cross-discipline traceability).
• Supports NPI, Systems Engineering, Detailed Design, and CAM Manufacturing Planning.
• Implemented by all major PLM platforms — the practical capability emerges from PLM + workflow + cross-discipline access controls.