The DaimlerChrysler Operating Model

Upon the announcement of the merger between Daimler-Benz and Chrysler in

May 1998, in each company two project units were set up with the purpose to
support the integration of the two entities into the DaimlerChrysler concern. These
two so-called "Post Merger Integration" (PMI) project units were merged in autumn
1998. Just to comprehend the extent of the project: under one roof, twelve
topic coordinators are responsible for bringing together the 29 "Issue Resolution
Teams" with 69 working teams to form in total 98 project teams working on 98
different topics (Appel und Hein 1998:189). The intention of these teams is to determine
(both in quantitative and qualitative terms) the synergies to be exploited
from the merger. The topics these teams focused on were, amongst others, the
product development process, time-to-market, global strategies, and logistics. The
development of a company-wide production system was also identified as one of
the priorities of the post merger integration process. Affiliated to the topic "Volume
Production, Cluster B", which was led by the heads of the respective passenger
car divisions, Henson from the Chrysler side and Petri from the Daimler-Benz
side (DaimlerChrysler - DCPS 2000:7), subsequently the "Post Merger Integration
Team" (PMI-team) - Cluster B Operating Systems" was set up as part of these 98
teams.