Towards lean product lifecycle management

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discuss a holistic framework for guiding applied research within the field of new product development. This work is a precursor to developing a framework for undertaking lean product lifecycle management (PLM). Design/methodology/approach The research approach taken in this work has been based around theory development from a review and synthesis of a range of primary industry cases, practical approaches and partial solutions available within the existing literature. Findings The result is a six‐step theoretical framework that can be used as a point of reference for academics discussing the development of systemic approaches to the subject, as well as those from industry searching for a framework for their new product development activity. At this point the framework as a whole has not been tested, although each of the various elements has been successfully applied in isolation. The implications of this paper are that the existing technical product development literature has a number of gaps and weaknesses. These include, but are not limited to: a propensity to be functionally myopic, tending to be mostly dominated by marketing or quality/engineering perspective; a lack of focus on the human aspects of product development and a lack of focus on real world environments that often involve a high volume of medium to low innovation products being developed simultaneously. Research limitations/implications Owing to space limitations, we have not covered in detail the wider process of lean PLM which will be covered in future work Originality/value The originality of this paper is not in its constituent framework elements but more in its synthesis of existing best practice from industry, consultancy and academia into a coherent framework for the achievement of effective lean PLM.