Automotive Component Manufacturer Redesigns Development Process

CSC worked with a multi-national producer of transmissions and drive-train components to create a new product development system. The client faced increasing pressure from OEM customers to improve quality and reduce the lead-time to conceptualize, design and launch a new product into manufacturing. The goal was to trim this process from 44 months to 22 months - while ensuring that all vehicle requirements were met. To achieve this goal, the company decided to overhaul their current product development processes and technology based on concurrent engineering principles, while adhering to all applicable quality standards in the automotive industry.

Approach

The first step towards the goal of trimming the length of the product development process in half was to create a vision and strategy. In this stage, a high level approach was developed that divided the entire process into five gated phases. This is where key information and decisions needed to be made during each step, before continuing to the next step in the process. With the vision in place, technology requirements were identified and a Product Data Management (PDM) software package was selected to enable the new approach.

Next, the CSC/client team developed a detailed process design to which the software could be mapped. The team highlighted organizational and cultural changes that would need to be addressed. They provided the key functional constituents with all the details they required to understand how and when their tasks would be completed when following the new process. A full-time multidisciplinary team from Sales & Marketing, Design Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Production, Procurement, Finance and CSC detailed each activity; identifying the skills metrics, technologies and applications needed to complete the tasks.

All of the activities were networked together so that the information flow across the entire process could be seen. As each of the five phases were completed, the team reviewed whether or not all OEM requirements had been met. Then determined whether or not the process and the PDM software workflow were aligned and compatible, and documented the impacts the new design would have on the current organization.

Results

A highly collaborative product development process was created – one that can be completed within 22 months. Key parts of the process can be implemented immediately. The process has been mapped into the PDM software, and the client is moving ahead with demonstrating both the software and the new process in a lab environment.

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