ABSTRACT
The current state of the product realization process is summarized and several of its important aspects are introduced.
The process of creating and making artifacts has been around since the beginning of humankind. It was rst applied to the creation of implements for survival: weapons, shelters, clothing, and farming. These implements were improved upon with the appearance of such inventions as re, the wheel, and steel, and as time went on they became more substantial and more sophisticated. As societies evolved, so did their needs and the artifacts that were required to satisfy those needs. In addition, many societies evolved from being local societies to being regional ones, simultaneously transforming their local economies into regional ones. In the beginning, these transformations took hundreds to thousands of years. Since the start of the industrial revolution about 300 years ago, the pace of development and improvement of devices and artifacts has increased dramatically. During this period of time we have seen companies grow from local entities to global entities, and we have seen in the industrialized nations the economies transition for national economies to interdependent global economies. This has been particularly true in the last half of the twentieth century.
