Process performance : verbeterpunten voor project portfolio en project management

At DAF Trucks NV in Eindhoven JIT manufacturing has been fully internalized in state of the art production processes. However, during the last decade the organization of work within the Product Development unit did not undergo major changes. PD managers facing project delays and overspending wonder how current process performance can be improved. This research therefore identified problems and opportunities for improvement of process performance by comparing current methods with best practices from theory. It focused on the organizational aspects Brown & Eisenhardt (1995) proved to be of great influence on process performance in terms of speed and productivity: project planning, team structure and leadership (see figure). The research results consist of a description of differences between theory and practice, related problems, and recommendations for further research and improvement actions