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The objective of this paper is to identify patterns of behavior exhibited by successful project teams working in the commercial vehicle environment. Case studies of both successful and unsuccessful project teams were performed. Concepts that repeated themselves and appeared to contribute to the success of the overall project have been identified as patterns. Recurring concepts that appeared to have contributed to the ultimate failure of a project were identified as antipatterns.

Phoenix International, the electronics manufacturing group of John Deere, has developed a product and manufacturing process to address many of the shortcomings of conventional heatsinking technologies. In this process, a thin circuit board is bonded directly to a flat surface heatsink such as a finned extrusion or liquid-cooled plate. The major benefits of the proposed solution are the simplification of the manufacturing process and substantially improved conduction of heat away from high-power circuitry.

The intent of this paper is to describe methods for using prototypes as a means of eliciting product requirements. The focus of the paper will be on electronics development, but the principles described in this paper apply to any type of engineering or product development. Prototypes serve a number of purposes throughout the life cycle of product development, from refining the initial concept to serving as a comparison point for the final product. This paper will focus on the use of prototypes - from crude mock-ups to production-intent models - to help capture and refine the initial product requirements.

The intent of this paper is to describe the discipline of systems engineering and how it applies to the off-highway market. It will define generic systems engineering terms and describe the various roles that are included beneath the “umbrella” of systems engineering. In addition, the paper will outline case studies of specific off-highway original equipment manufacturers and suppliers, and describe how systems engineering is both defined and performed within those organizations.

The objective of this paper is to identify patterns of behavior exhibited by successful software development teams working in the off-highway environment. Case studies of both successful and unsuccessful project teams were performed. Concepts that repeated themselves and appeared to contribute to the success of the overall project have been identified as patterns. Recurring concepts that appeared to have contributed to the ultimate failure of a project were identified as antipatterns.

As electronic systems for off-highway applications become increasingly complex, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) must rely on outside suppliers to design the electronics and application software for these systems. Often, a combined development team is formed, with engineers from both the OEM and the supplier working together to design the system. While many methods for software process improvement exist, few of these methods deal directly with the unique challenges of coordinating and implementing software improvements for a geographically- and politically-split development team. The objective of this paper is to outline methods that may be used to create and develop a software process for such a split development team.