Data on the current state of problem solving and improvement during physical product development within complex (manufacturing) systems

Due to the exponential increase of failure cost during the product development process, problems have to be effectively remedied as early as possible and with shortened innovation cycles, increasingly efficient. For the manufacturing of complex products at low maturity levels (referred to as physical product development), nonconformance problem solving constitutes a major difficulty in this regard (Camarillo et al., 2017; Walter et al., 2010). The data presented in this article was collected from German companies, differing in size and industry sector, manufacturing highly complex products at low maturity. Selected and consulted companies therefore operate in (or comparable to) the automotive prototyping, air and space, shipbuilding, special machinery or electronics domain. The survey comprises the answers of 46 participants, gathered via online questionnaire. It subdivides into 18 questions covering the companies’ characteristics, knowledge management and documentation systems within the product development process, as well as the appraisal of technological potentials. The obtained data gives an insight into the industrial status quo of nonconformance problem solving. The data allows to derive existing deficits and dedicated research on solutions.