Ulrich and Eppinger do a very nice job presenting the product development process. What I found particularly helpful is their practical approach to cross-functional development and a very complete treatment of the front end. They deal quite a bit with establishing a company strategy and how to translate that and customer needs into products. Many other references try to cover details in the whole development process, but I found their focus refreshing and of particular interest to me as an engineer who leads development teams. I also plan to use this book as a text for a class I teach in product development.

I have the pleasure of taking a seminar with the author, but I was disappointed at his writing. The book is hard to follow, and lack structure.

The Ulrich/Eppinger text is excellent as always, but the 4th Edition differs from the 3rd in only a few trivial ways. Save yourself some money and buy a used 3rd Edition.

Ulrich has created an understandable companion text for product development. What is refreshing about this text is that it guides the developer through the elements of product development that are essential to reducing the concept of the product to practice. It is a great instructional guide.

This is a good reference manual for understanding the various techniques that are available for the fuzzy front end of product design. It would be a good text for project managers in product development.

PROs
1) It is well written and easy to assimilate.
2) Seems complete for the traditional manufactured consumer product.

CONs
1) Not strong on a current pre-emptive DFSS techniques for robustness and quality (such as QFD and axiomatic design).
2) Does not address system complexity issues and tools (software vs hardware, interface issues, complexity, functional flows).