Critical company assessment and advisory support for introduction of concurrent engineering practices

The continuous introduction of advanced business practices in small-/medium-size enterprises (SMEs) is becoming essential in developing sustainable supply chains. This paper reports on a new and innovative advisory methodology and tools which support the introduction of Concurrent Engineering (CE) practices by SMEs in the European Aerospace sector. The methodology is based on three integrated modules: company assessment, solution identifier, and tool selector, where the assessment uses an innovative mix of interactive questioning and best practice benchmarking techniques. The output of the system is a set of CE tools and guidelines for their implementation. The methodology has been developed and demonstrated as a multiplatform web-based consulting software system, and has been successfully industrially validated through use in SMEs in the UK, Germany and Italy.