This paper presents the empirical findings of survey on practices and management trends of product development process management in the Brazilian auto-parts industry. Thirty two companies, from 120 companies which carry out product development activities, answered the questionnaire, each of theses 32 companies was visited and the interviews were conduced with the managers of PDP, by members of the group of researchers. The final sample consisted of 23 responses since 9 questionnaires were incomplete. Some of the main findings on the practices are: widespread dissemination and use of reference models for PDP partially implemented; methods and techniques for PDP Management are applied with weak inter functional integration; development team carries out the PDP activities; functional structure is still widely used; the follow-source projects are the most common type, while platform projects were also identified (average of 25% of carry out projects); and the first tier suppliers are the ones that more use practices of international pattern of PDP management. Regarding the trends, the reduction of the innovation cycle will require more resources to increase product development speed, and local units expect to reach more autonomy in product development activities which they are capable in order to take part effectively of co-development with the automakers.
Product development; product development process management; autoparts industry; management practices in product development
