The Importance of CAD and Knowledge Management in Concurrent Engineering Project Performance

As a complex method for manufacturing and development, concurrent engineering has been studied and implemented extensively in the manufacturing industry to speed up production schedules and to reduce costs. One of the tools used in concurrent engineering is computer-aided design or CAD in short. CAD applications in multifunctional knowledge distribution refer to the use of CAD to provide information to different groups of employees in their organisation to sustain new product development activities. Similarly, the move towards knowledge-based competition amplifies the importance of bridging actions in addition to tactical coalitions where key role of institutional knowledge, system improvement and knowledge sharing are focussed on. However, very few studies have been conducted on the use of CAD and knowledge management in influencing concurrent engineering project performance in Malaysian manufacturing firms. Hence, this study focusses on determining the nature of the relationship between CAD use and knowledge management with concurrent engineering project performance in a Malaysian manufacturing firm. A survey was conducted within the firm, yielding a total of 226 usable responses that were then analysed using SPSS. The findings indicate that there is a significant positive relationship between CAD use and knowledge management and concurrent engineering project performance. In addition, CAD use for cross-functional information sharing together with the three knowledge management processes — internalisation, combination and externalisation can explain 55.3% of the variance in concurrent engineering project performance. An interesting finding of this study based on the multiple regression analysis conducted is that the use of CAD for engineering design and socialisation are not significant in influencing concurrent engineering project performance. In practice, this finding is relevant because when coupled with CAD use, knowledge management approaches that are more externalisation, combination and internalisation-orientated are often practiced if compared to socialisation-orientated activities.