As the main theme of "Improving Complex Systems Today" implies, this book is intended to provide readers with a new perspective on concurrent engineering from the standpoint of systems engineering. It can serve as a versatile tool to help readers to navigate the ever-changing state of this particular field.

The primary focus of concurrent engineering was, at first, on bringing downstream information as far upstream as possible by introducing parallel processing in order to reduce time to market and to prevent errors at a later stage which would sometimes cause irrevocable damage. Up to now, numerous new concepts, methodologies and tools have been developed, but over concurrent engineering's 20-year history the situation has changed extensively. Now, industry has to work in the global marketplace and to cope with diversifying requirements and increasing complexities. Such globalization and diversification necessitate collaboration across different fields and across national boundaries. Thus, the new concurrent engineering calls for a systems approach to gain global market competitiveness. "Improving Complex Systems Today" provides a new insight into concurrent engineering today.

A new human right of public participation by those affected by natural resource development is set to define major economic developments in the twenty-first century. It is a fundamental part of the international norm of 'sustainable development', designed to harmonize economic betterment and environmental-cultural-social protection for this and succeeding generations. This book, authored by world experts in international resources law, provides the theoretical and practical guidance essential to understanding and dealing with this new development.

As the main theme of Improving Complex Systems Today implies, this book is intended to provide readers with a new perspective on concurrent engineering from the standpoint of systems engineering. It can serve as a versatile tool to help readers to navigate the ever-changing state of this particular field. The primary focus of concurrent engineering was, at first, on bringing downstream information as far upstream as possible by introducing parallel processing in order to reduce time to market and to prevent errors at a later stage which would sometimes cause irrevocable damage. Up to now, numerous new concepts, methodologies and tools have been developed, but over concurrent engineering's 20-year history the situation has changed extensively. Now, industry has to work in the global marketplace and to cope with diversifying requirements and increasing complexities. Such globalization and diversification necessitate collaboration across different fields and across national boundaries. Thus, the new concurrent engineering calls for a systems approach to gain global market competitiveness. Improving Complex Systems Today provides a new insight into concurrent engineering today.

The CE Conference series is organized annually by the International Society for Productivity Enhancement (ISPE) and constitutes an important forum for international scientific exchange on concurrent and collaborative enterprise engineering. These international conferences attract a significant number of researchers, industrialists and students, as well as government representatives, who are interested in the recent advances in concurrent engineering research and applications. Concurrent Engineering Approaches for Sustainable Product Development in a Multi-Disciplinary Environment: Proceedings of the 19th ISPE International Conference on Concurrent Engineering contains papers accepted, peer reviewed and presented at the annual conference held at the University of Applied Sciences in Trier, Germany, from 3rd-7th of September 2012. This covers a wide range of cutting-edge topics including: Systems Engineering and Innovation Design for Sustainability Knowledge Engineering and Management Managing product variety Product Life-Cycle Management and Service Engineering Value Engineering