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In this issue, an IISE member weighs in on the June article about set-based design written by Stefan Rudolf and Bastian Luedtke of the Department of Innovation Management at the Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineering (WZL), RWTH Aachen University in Germany.

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Three takes on set-based design

Three comments to the authors of the engaging article, "Set-based Design for Success" (June 2016):

First, the survey methodology, involving a considerable number of organizations in five sectors, is impressive as early-stage research. No doubt you realize, however, that the “Triple Winner” results (Figure 3) provide only weak evidence of efficacy: That “champions” outperformed “followers” in beating planned budgets, on-time completions and duration of project development could merely mean that the champions planned lower costs and quicker completions and were adept at achieving them.

Did set-based design reduce real, not just budgeted costs and time to launch new products? That question would require comparing unlike projects, which may not be feasible except over a long time horizon.

Second, it was confusing to see “set-based design” in the article’s title, and then to read on the second page that the questionnaire study was titled “The Lean Advantage in Engineering.”

Third, since the article presents a methodology that is not widely familiar, it would have been helpful to include references and a brief explanation of set-based design.

Richard J. Schonberger
Independent researcher/author/speaker
Bellevue, Washington 

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