A time-based competitive strategy is a a driving force for enterprises that are striving to be competitive on a global basis. One of the methods to help in this time compression of the product development life cycle is concurrent engineering. Concurrent engineering is not only an approach that is used by the engineering function of an organization, but it is also one that crosses organizational boundaries. In this article an integrated functional model of the concurrent engineering process and its relationship with the product development life cycle is presented. A functional comparison to the traditional engineering approach is also provided.