The component development within the product development projects at St. Jude Medical AB (SJM AB*) is considered to be inefficient and is in need for improvements. This master thesis was initiated by the Material Supply and Mechanical and Leads Development departments at SJM AB and it has been carried out between January and June, 2005.

The purpose for this master thesis is to try to find what is negatively affecting the component development at SJM AB and what needs to be done in order to make it more efficient.

The project consists of an extensive survey phase, where the problem areas negatively affecting the¨component development have been mapped. It started with a brainstorming session, which resulted in a substantial Ishikawa diagram, where many causes to the inefficient component development were defined. The major causes in the Ishikawa diagram were prioritized by employees within the product development projects, in order to receive information about which of these causes that were considered to be the largest bottlenecks.

In order to visualize the current flow in the component development and to map the problem areas in these flows, workshops were held with three different product development projects. The results from the Ishikawa diagram and the reflections from the workshops were analyzed and they resulted in the continuous work for the remaining time of the project. The continuous work was decided to include the two problem areas; the Internal Component Management and the Suppliers.

The results delivered by this project are an extensive survey of the problem areas, which negatively affect the component development, a list of improvement proposals for the internal component management and a checklist, which is to be used as an aid when reviewing the design material before