M a n a g e m e n t
Product Development On The Fast Track by Michael Zaika, EDS
Product lifecycle management (PLM) focuses on the efficient utilization of existing knowhow and resources. The challenges faced by car manufacturers are by no means new. They need to introduce innovative and attractive cars onto the market place at ever-shorter intervals. Generating product data as efficiently as possible with the help of computer programs is no longer enough. What is needed now is a more efficient utilization of existing information throughout the entire product lifecycle. Engineering collaboration: Ford Duratec engine, developed concurrently by three teams, located at different sites in Cologne, Germany; Hiroshima, Japan; and Dearborn, USA. More efficient utilization of existing information
Increasing number of different models Car manufacturers are attempting to satisfy their customers' demands by introducing an increasing number of different models and niche vehicles. The development of an ever-increasing number of car models would not be possible were it not for the fact that development times have, in turn, decreased drastically. Over the last eight years, for example, General Motors has reduced the amount of time required to create a new car – from its design to the start of production – from 60 to 24 months, or even 18 months in the case of some models.
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This increase in productivity can be contributed to a consolidation of the software environment brought about by the introduction of products such as Unigraphics and I-man, which have served as the standard for development, manufacturing and product data management in car development at GM since 1996.
Consolidation of the Software Environment Over the next few years, Fiat will also be introducing this software on a wide scale, with the aim of speeding up product development and reducing development costs.
The Ford Motor Company is also using the solutions from EDS. It took the company only two years – 13 months less than usual – to take the new Mondeo from the design board to the start of production, even though the car was equipped with the new Duratec HE engine. "We were able to construct an entire engine on the screen for the first time", said Rudolf Menne, director of development of gasoline engines at Ford Werke AG in Cologne, Germany. It was also the first time that Ford had a development team comprising three teams of 35 engineers each, and located at three different sites – Cologne, Germany; Hiroshima, Japan; and Dearborn, USA – working 24 AutoTechnology 4/ 2002
M a n a g e m e n t
hours a day on developing a single engine. There is no end in sight to this race for ever-shorter development times, since success today depends more than ever on how quickly manufacturers can introduce their new models onto the market place (time to market). According to Kirk Gutmann, Product Development Information Officer at General Motors, GM is planning on once again doubling its productivity in
Duratec engine: combustion simulation with I-deas.
the area of car development and improving workflow in the development process by 70 %. Tools that enable the various company locations and development partners to work together via the internet will have a key role to play – those in the know call it "collaboration".
Saving 300 Million Dollars on Each New Model Web-enabled product development offers tremendous rationalization potential. Analysts from Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein predict that "the Big Three", i.e. GM, Ford and DaimlerChrysler, will save an average of 300 million dollars in development costs on each new car model over the next few years, thus producing total savings of 19 billion dollars over a five-year period. Distributed product development and manufacturing does, however, place great demands on the software programs used to generate, manage and distribute the product data and make this data available to the development partners. For one thing, the trend towards digital vehicle development increases, since it is a fact AutoTechnology 4/ 2002
of life that computer models provide the foundation for webenabled collaboration. Therefore, users need integrated design programs that they can use to generate these digital models in a highly intuitive manner and check their functional capabilities right there on the computer.
Requiring New Communication Tools At the same time, web-enabled product development requires new communications tools to allow all of the people involved in development to examine the computer models online regardless of the software program they are using. Web-enabled visualization systems are therefore the crux of collaboration. DaimlerChrysler, for example, uses the software e-Vis from EDS at their manufacturing facility in Toledo, Ohio, to coordinate the fitting of chassis assemblies for the new Jeep Liberty with their system suppliers.
Data Management Data management must not, however, be forgotten in the excitement over collaboration, since an enormous amount of digital data is generated and exchanged in the automotive industry in particular. Utilization
of this data over the entire product lifecycle requires systems for electronic product data management (PDM) which ensure that all those involved in the development process have all the relevant and up-to-date data available to them exactly when they need it. PDM systems are the IT backbone of product lifecycle management.
Product data management.
PLM Solution The takeover of Structural Dynamics Research Corp. (SDRC) and its merger with UGS allows EDS to complement the range of products it offers in the area of design, engineering, simulation, analysis and product data management. The solution portfolio includes Unigraphics, an integrated and comprehensive family of total product engineering solutions that enable the user to digitally create and capture 3D product definitions. Teamcenter is the first complete product lifecycle management solution which provides Web-native product-centric collaboration to help companies bring new products to market faster, better and with less cost. E-vis is the visual collaboration solution for manufacturers of complex engineered products. It unites people, mission-critical data and tools for interacting with that data in a secure, internet-connected workspace.
Product Lifecycle Processes and Solutions from EDS
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