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Schuh) Lecture 10
Production Management II
- Lecture 10 -
Product Lifecycle Management III
Simultaneous Engineering
Prof. Dr.-Ing. R. Noppen
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Notes:
PLM I
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The lecture PLM III covers so-called management aspects of the PLM. Therefore the aspects
treated by the lectures PLM I and PLM II are arranged to fit an overall context.
_
20 +1
time
time
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The change of structures and values in society, also called change of paradigms, manifests itself
in the fact that today the mere function of a product is taken for granted. Instead the quality, cost
and image of the product are decisive for its success.
The acceleration of the technologic progress causes a shortening of the life-cycle time of a
product. Companies have to identify influencing factors and to differentiate between those which
are constant and those which are changing rapidly. Cycles must be properly identified and
utilized. For example in the automotive industry the product life-cycle time of an engine is three
times as long as that of a car body. If both are developed simultaneously, existential trouble can
be expected due to the resulting problems.
The change of market structures caused by globalisation becomes apparent in the switch from
national to international markets. In consequence to this the choice of an adequate production
location becomes a highly complex task. The production in global networks must be supplied by
enormous trade and huge exchange of information. Only the continuous improvement of
communication- and logistic technologies is covering this requirement.
The demands of products and services are also increasing continuously. In the sixties, the fuel
consumption of a low power Volkswagen beetle was about 12l/100km. Today most luxury class
cars do not need more fuel.
Innovation Strength
create discomfort by
arguments
analysis:
basic equipment sun roof
in country XY
BMW Mercedes
innovation strength 20% 15%
stimulate customers
interest, enthusiasm and
desire through innovation
and performance why different?
differences in marketing?
...?
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Innovation Strength
For todays companies it is vital to powerfully design changes and thus to be innovative. Yet there
are only few companies which manage to generate actively innovations as there is a lack of
innovation strength.
The most common understanding of the term innovation is the replacement of an old technology
with a new one. For example products with a high innovation rate are mobile phones or
computers. Here, new technologies are introduced to the market every 1-2 years (product
innovation).
Another type of innovation deals with the redesign of the production process of an existing
product in order to be faster, cheaper and more steady in terms of quality (process innovation).
An example is the replacement of drawing boards by CAD systems.
Redesigning and improving the communication with the customer is a third possibility of
innovation. Only companies, which are capable to point out there technical potentials, are able to
capitalise economic profit on their product innovation. For example, when Mannesmann, a
mechanical engineering company, entered the mobile communication market new and no typical
marketing instruments had to be developed.
The aim of marketing strategies are stimulating the customers desire to buy a product by using
innovation, performance and competence. For example Webasto managed to develop a new
lamella roof for the Mercedes A-Class which enabled the space-saving installation of sun roofs in
this car for the first time. This development made Webasto market and technology leader in the
field of lamella roofs.
Questionnaire to 1000 car owners Public check: display of 10 cars equipped with
questionnaire different folding fabric sun roofs
comfort demands? questionnaire
questionnaire
Webasto?
...?
satisfaction with:
- parking heater
- sun roof
-... .........
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It is reasonable to begin with the design of a questionnaire which is not only product-specific but
also deals with the buyers and users habits. The questionnaire should not be distributed via mail
but filled out during a direct conversation with the customer (e.g. at motorway service areas). It is
helpful to create a comfortable atmosphere by offering beverages etc.. The motto is here:
listening is the best marketing. A carefully controlled conversation is the best opportunity to get
the customers' opinion about products, e.g. sun roofs.
Another way of benchmarking products is the so called "customer check". Passing people are
encouraged to test different variants of a specific product, for example lamella roofs, at location.
The customers' statements enable the enterprise to draw conclusions on fields of improvement of
specific features, e.g. handling the lamella roof.
In general, a good rule for feedback acquisition is make it simple. Simple but sophisticated
dialogs will best show the needs of the customers.
Finally the results of feedback acquisition must be transformed into measurable profit. This
contains for example the consequent training of the salesmen in accordance with the extracted
acknowledge. All efforts will be in vain if the elaborated results are not used during the direct
contact with the customer.
competitive dynamics
de-
(basis of competition) formation growth maturity generation
market
key factors leader e
iv
ns n
ff e io
strong
o sit
benchmarking: po
nd
relative strengths and xpa s
e he
medium d c
weaknesses regarding the an ni
key success factors relative in on
nta t e
market ai ra ion
position maintain- m e nt i d at
able nc ol
market shares co o ns al
c aw
dr
weak th
wi
competitive structure
range of possible market strategies
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A concrete example of the false estimation of a product life-cycle was Porsches decision to
cancel the production of the 911 at the begin of the 80ies and to replace it with the front engine
types 924 and 928. As we all know, the 911 survived them both and today sells better than ever.
From this problem following demand is resulting: A company always has to be sensitive to
changes, especially changes of the economic conditions. As four eyes can see more than just
two, teamwork makes a lot of sense.
competitive strategies
narrow vs. broad
product program
sive competitive
service range
strategies
behaviour
standardized vs. X
imitation vs. innovation
individual services
X
standardized conformist
mass program
autarkic
deterministic
internal
resource assignment
resource strategies
activity strategies
synergy potential
Legend: : company A
X : company B
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A useful aid is the "strategic profile" (see figure above, also PM I, lecture 11). At first the company
evaluates its own market position in the four quadrants in accordance to the criteria which are
mentioned in the grey fields. Afterwards the "fit" has to be checked, that means, where are the
own positions in comparison to the perfection. Perfection: company's positions are located on the
bisecting line in each quadrant and on a cycle around the origin. If the "fit" doesn't match the
perfection, the strategic position of the company must be corrected adequately. Finally there will
be a check between the evaluated position and the long-ranging planned strategic position of the
company. Moreover the positions can be compared with the competitors' ones. (Let's assume a
company plans following a modifying strategy, but by using the strategic profile it detects that its
current strategy is a stabilising one. As consequence the company has to make changes in
different fields.)
To work for the companys future does not only mean to react, but to take action.
additional literature: Das Konzept integriertes Management, Kap. 2.5 Stokraft durch
strategisches Management
rre
n t logistic services
total efforts
...
fo r tre
me nd
r tr
en
d
concentration on
core tasks integrated auxiliary services:
by outsourcing
legal affairs
PR
0 ...
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By offering auxiliary services connected to the product such as service and financing, new
markets can be developed. In Eastern Europe the demand is high but the financial means are
low, so a product can only be sold when applying an appropriate financing concept.
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The main reason is the increasing technologic capabilities of the suppliers and the willingness of
the OEMs to outsource their technical competences.
Nevertheless the estimation for 2015 as shown above must be handled with care. The OEMs
have to ensure to stand independent of the suppliers. The current situation emphasizes the
importance of this problem. Because of the increasing purchase range some so-called mega
suppliers like Bosch or Magna evolved over the years. At the beginning of this development
primarily the OEMs pressurized their suppliers (especially with respect to costs and quality). But
nowadays the mega suppliers turned the table and due to their dominant market position they are
able to pressurize the OEMs.
In consequence the competences of the OEMs are reduced to the range of the "customer
relationship management" (see also lecture 2). Although some suppliers almost manufacture the
entire product, they just lack the image and the customer base. At the moment, it would hardly be
possible to sell a car named Bosch.
The danger by technical dependence appeared shortly, when in February 2005 defective diesel
fuel injectors by Bosch caused call-backs and production stops by among others Mercedes and
BMW.
legend:
new
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For example it would be a high risk adventure if the sun roof manufacturer Webasto would be
mad enough to take over the coffee roaster Tchibo. It is more common to hold on to at least one
area, either the customers or the technology. At present Webasto conquers the bus door market
as bus doors are in some respects comparable to sun roofs. In addition Webasto is world market
leader in the field of auxiliary heating systems for busses and thus has excellent connections to
the bus manufacturers. Therefore the risk is manageable.
It is always important to probe options systematically and then design innovations in a well
ordered manner.
60
failure ratio with respect to cost shares [%]
failure occurrence
0
planning design scheduling manufacturing testing implementation
source: VDI 2247
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The correction of failures during later phases is not only much more expensive, but can also
damage the image, for example by call-backs. The consumer pays attention to such things!
So action has to be taken in order to recognize and avoid failures already in the early phases (in
which product costs and function are influenced).
product planning
production planning
Definition:
Simultaneous Engineering is the integrated and time-parallel processing of product
and process design aiming at:
shortening the time-to-market from the product idea to its implementation,
reducing the development and production costs and
improving the product quality according to the comprehensive sense of
Total Quality Management
Guidelines:
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SE deals with the problem of lacking coordination during the early phases of the product
development process (see page 11).The basic idea of SE is parallelization. It means that even
fuzzy, i.e. not confirmed information, is exchanged with the aim of enabling all involved experts
to check approaches and ideas at an early stage. Product and process design are processed at
the same time.
Thus it becomes possible to reach the generally contrary aims of better quality, cheaper costs
and shorter (cycle-)times at the same time. Yet SE needs to be well organized, which is not trivial.
original equipment
OEM
manufacturer (OEM) 50 500 system
suppliers at 1st level
system integrator,
1st tier
module supplier
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At the same time industry-wide cooperation is necessary as the technological complexity of the
product, the corresponding economical risk, the need for capacity and the innovation demands
cannot be performed by a single supplier.
Tasks
Tasks
Problem solving
Development at customers
customization of system platforms in order to get
customer/model specific products
use of system platforms
adaptation to customer/type specific demands (design,
quality, connections, integration into vehicle)
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During the preliminary development it is the aim to study functional concepts. Details such as
squeaking hinges are not important in this phase. An example for a typical question is: Does the
engine work at -40C at all?
Afterwards the functional concepts of the preliminary development are detailed and handled
during the system development. For example the details such as the surface finish.
Finally the development at the customer adjusts the solution of the system development to the
demands of specific orders (e.g. extra-features).
development
phase
service range
objects, services
bumper module mounting structure front hood lock radiator module radiator cowling
start request
milestone plan of
target catalogue
concept elaboration concept elaboration concept elaboration check documents concept elaboration
provide concept elaboration
specification sheet
styling model
schedule/costs projection, performance indicators
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Milestone plans help to coordinate parallel activities within the development process.
SE Team
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SE Team
When performing SE, complex tasks such as the development of a new car body comprising
design and techniques must be processed with regard to the time and with the aim of finally
achieving a product. The large number of co-workers involved causes highly complex
coordination processes.
This is why today companies provide resources to SE-teams, e.g. they erect own houses used by
SE teams, where whole project teams stay in close contact during the course of a project, which
affects the communication very positively .
Clear decision structures must be created on the basis of responsibility, power and
competence. The decision makers should be able as well as allowed to decide!
Access to the complete range of data must be granted to the whole team. 100% of
transparency in terms of data and results must be assured by means of accurate data
preparation.
customer 1
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Advantage of the customer: He requires only one contact person, who receipts his orders and
desires, directed them to the right person within the company and informs the customer about the
progresses.
Advantage of the company: Better coordination of communication to the customer and reduction
of redundancies.
Herr Reinhartz
supplier
Herr Schmidt
Frau Maisen
Herr Kramer
Frau Becker
Herr Jansen
Herr Kpper
Frau Weber
of staff-level inter-company
Herr Meyer
Herr Mller
Herr Frank
Frau Holle
relationships
customer
(OEM)
Herr Aalto
development
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Customer-Relation-Matrix
Cultivation of relationships is another part of a companys activities. The analysis of Who was
involved in the awarding of a contract on the customers side? as well as Who knows the
involved persons how well on the manufacturers side? is a good opportunity to learn from the
loss of a contract. By listing these relationships, you get the Customer-Relation-Matrix.
The relationships to the decision-makers of the customer during all phases of the awarding
process can be analysed and identified. If there are none or few, efforts have to be made to install
them.
Vision:
The first car is sold!*
t
Strategy:
reduction of development
times and costs
control of changes time
concept product and tool making
design process manufacturing
development and assembly
* source: Audi
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Notes:
motivation
responsibility
training
guidance
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In order to make people work well, it is important to motivate them, to place the responsibility for
actions on them, to train them well and to guide them properly. Innovation only evolves if the
possibility to innovate, the ability to innovate and the willingness to innovate occur at the same
time. It must not be forgotten that consultancy and discussion are important aspects of
leadership.
For example, responsibility is placed on the workers by self-inspection. Flexible working hours
help the workers to maintain a certain scope for developments in their lives.
It can be a good idea to make white-collar workers work in production in order to facilitate their
understanding of external problems and to find completely new solution approaches.
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Das Konzept integriertes Bleicher, K.: Das Konzept integriertes Management aus St.
Management Galler Management Konzept, Band 1. Campus-Verlag,
2001
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