This paper presents the findings of a case study carried out to assess the application of the methods FMEA and DRBFM in the new product development of an automotive parts manufacturer, which is regarded as a reference in the use of these methods. Both the process quality and the output quality of the application were assessed. The findings suggest that the successful execution of the FMEA and DRBFM methods, in the business unit case, is due to the combination of provision of resources, employment of multi-disciplinary teams, competence development (training), definition and documentation of the process of application, and integration of the application of these methods with other NPD methods/tools, and, mainly, it results from not considering their application as a perfunctory task. Despite the result generalization constraints, the main limitation of this study was using questionnaires as the only source of data collection. It can be said that the knowledge resulting from this research can assist companies to benefit from applying these methods in the new product development process.
Assessment; FMEA; DRBFM; Product development process
