Integrated Product and Process Development (IPPD) is the DoD management technique that simultaneously integrates all essential acquisition activities through the use of Integrated Product Teams (IPT) to optimize design, manufacturing, and supportability processes. IPPD facilitates meeting cost and performance objectives from product concept through production, including field support.  It evolved in industry as an outgrowth of efforts such as Concurrent Engineering to improve customer satisfaction and competitiveness in a global economy. [1]

Definition: “A management technique that integrates all acquisition activities starting with requirements definition through production, fielding/deployment and operational support in order to optimize the design, manufacturing, business and supportability processes.” IPPD Guide

Summary Integrated Product and Process Development (IPPD) Tenets

The ten (10) tenets of IPPD can be summarized into the following five (5) principles. The actual ten (10) tenets are listed further down on this webpage: [1] 

1. Customer Focus: It’s accomplished by including the customer in decision-making and on multidisciplinary teams. Conducting tradeoff studies during the requirements definition and development processes also ensures that the design remains consistent with customer needs. The specific tradeoff analysis process that is focused on reducing and controlling life-cycle cost, while meeting the customer needs, is called Cost as an Independent Variable (CAIV).
2. Concurrent Development of Products and Processes: It refers to the simultaneous development of the deliverable product and all of the processes necessary to make the product (development processes) and to make that product work (deliverable processes). These processes can significantly influence both the acquisition and life-cycle cost of the product.
3. Early and Continuous Life-Cycle Planning: It’s accomplished by having stakeholders, representing all aspects of a product’s life-cycle, as part of the IPT.  Early life-cycle planning with customers, functional representatives, and suppliers lay a solid foundation for the various phases of a product and its processes. Key program activities and events should be defined so that progress toward the achievement of cost-effective targets can be tracked, resources can be applied, and the impact of problems, resource constraints, and requirements changes can be better understood and managed. Early emphasis on life-cycle planning ensures the delivery of a system that will be functional, affordable, and supportable throughout a product’s life cycle.
4. Proactive Identification and Management of Risk: It’s accomplished in many ways in the IPPD environment. By using the IPT teamwork approach, designers, manufacturers, testers, and customers work together to ensure that the product satisfies customer needs. DoD endorses a risk management concept that is forward-looking, structured, informative, and continuous. The key to successful risk management is early planning and aggressive execution. IPPD is key to an organized, comprehensive, and iterative approach for identifying and analyzing cost, technical, and schedule risks and instituting risk-handling options to control critical risk areas. IPTs develop technical and business performance measurement plans with appropriate metrics to monitor the effectiveness and degree of anticipated and actual achievement of technical and business parameters.
5. Maximum Flexibility for Optimization and Use of Contractor Approaches:  IPPD is a management approach, not a specific set of steps to be followed. The Government acquisition community recognizes that it must allow contractors the flexibility to use innovative, streamlined best practices when applicable throughout the program.

Advantages of Integrated Product and Process Development (IPPD)

Organizations can derive significant advantages from adopting and integrating Integrated Product and Process Development (IPPD). Several advantages can be identified:

• By leveraging contemporary technologies and incorporating systematic procedures in production design, it is plausible that the current output levels could be diminished, resulting in reduced product delivery duration.
• By effectively utilizing resources and implementing efficient processes, firms can reduce production costs, enhancing profitability.
• Using CAD models in many applications significantly diminishes the likelihood of product or design failure, hence mitigating risks for organizations.
• The primary objective is to provide value to customers, making quality of utmost priority. This is accomplished through the utilization of technology and various methodologies.

Integrated Product Team

An Integrated Product Team (IPT) comprises representatives from appropriate functional disciplines working together to build successful programs, identify and resolve issues, and make sound and timely recommendations to facilitate decision-making. IPTs are used in complex development programs/projects for review and decision-making. The emphasis of the IPT is on the involvement of all Stakeholders (users, customers, management, developers, contractors) in a collaborative forum. [2]

Definition: An Integrated Product Team (IPT) is a multi-disciplined team is made up of members from specific disciplines working together on a project to identify, address and resolve issues to help achieve project goals and objectives.

Integrated Product and Process Development (IPPD) Tenets

The ten (10) tenants of the IPPD process are listed below. [2] They come from the Guide: DoD Guide to Integrated Product and Process Development – 5 Feb 1996

1. Customer Focus: The primary objective of IPPD is to satisfy customer’s needs better, faster and at less cost. The customer needs should determine the nature of the product and its associated processes.
2. Concurrent Development of Products and Processes: Processes should be developed concurrently with products which they support. It is critical that the processes used to manage, develop, manufacture, verify, test, deploy, operate, support, train people, and eventually dispose of the product be considered during development. Product and process design and performance should be kept in balance.
3. Early and Continuous Life Cycle Planning: Planning for a product and process should begin early in the science & technology phase (especially advanced development) and extend throughout the product’s life cycle. Early life cycle planning, which includes customers, functions, and suppliers, lays a solid foundation for the various phases of a product and its processes. Key program events should be defined so that resources can be applied and the impact of resource constraints better understood and managed.
4. Maximize Flexibility for Optimization and Use of Contractor Unique Approaches: Requests for Proposal (RFP’s) and contract should provide maximum flexibility for optimization and use of contractor unique processes and commercial specifications, standards and practices.
5. Encourage Robust Design and Improved Process Capability: Encourage use of advanced design and manufacturing techniques that promote achieving quality through design, products with little sensitivity to variations in the manufacturing process (robust design) and focus on process capability and continuous process improvement. Utilize such tools as “Six-Sigma” process control and lean/agile manufacturing concepts to advantage.
6. Event Driven Scheduling: A scheduling framework should be established which relates program events to their associated accomplishments and accomplishment criteria. An event is considered complete only when the accomplishments associated with the event have been completed as measured by the accomplishment criteria. This event-driven scheduling reduces risk by ensuring that product and process maturity are incrementally demonstrated prior to beginning follow-on activities.
7. Multidisciplinary Teamwork: Multidisciplinary teamwork is essential to the integrated and concurrent development of a product and its processes. The right people at the right place at the right time are required to make timely decisions. Team decisions should be based on the combined input of the entire team (e.g. engineering, manufacturing, test, logistics, financial management, contracting personnel) to include customers and suppliers. Each team member needs to understand their role and support the role of the other members, as well as understand the constraints under which other team members operate. Communication within teams and between teams should be open with team success emphasized and rewarded.
8. Empowerment: Decisions should be driven to the lowest level commensurate with risk. Resources should be allocated at levels consistent with authority, responsibility, and the ability of the people. The team should be given authority, responsibility, and resources to manage their product and its risk commensurate with the team’s capabilities. The team should accept responsibility and be held accountable for the results of their effort.
9. Seamless Management Tools: A framework should be established which relates products and processes at all levels to demonstrate dependency and interrelationships. A single management system should be established that relates requirements, planning, resource allocation, execution, and program tracking over the product’s life cycle. This integrated approach helps ensure teams have all available information thereby enhancing team decision-making at all levels. Capabilities should be provided to share technical and business information throughout the product life cycle through the use of acquisition and support databases and software tools for accessing, exchanging, and viewing information.
10. Proactive Identification and Management of Risk: Critical cost, schedule and technical parameters related to system characteristics should be identified from risk analyses and user requirements. Technical and business performance measurement plans, with appropriate metrics, should be developed and compared to best-in-class industry benchmarks to provide continuing verification of the degree of anticipated and actual achievement of technical and business parameters.

AcqLinks and References:

• Defense Acquisition Guidebook (DAG)
• [1] DoD Integrated Product and Process Development Handbook – Aug 98
• [2] DoD Guide to Integrated Product and Process Development – 5 Feb 1996

Updated: 2/16/2024

Rank: G2