Towards a digital vehicle development platform
Because the vehicles of tomorrow do not develop with the methods and tools of the past, this automotive leader has committed to an ambitious PLM approach, to provide its businesses with a collaborative platform adapted to the challenges.
“In the end, whatever the time zone, value creation is the yardstick by which efficiency can be measured.” - Carlos Ghosn
Context
The new generation of vehicles, more innovative, electric, connected and autonomous, developed within a larger ecosystem is subject to increasingly stringent standards… has literally exploded the complexity of vehicle development. Therefore, a thorough rethinking of development processes and associated information systems is no longer a competitive advantage but a real survival imperative for this company.
Approach
After a diagnosis of the engineering function, we worked with the vehicle business lines to redefine the unifying vision, the key value elements and the governance principles necessary to support a transformation of this magnitude. We have based ourselves in particular on an in-depth comparative analysis with other industries such as aeronautics, naval and rail.
Our consultants supported the rethinking of PLM’s founding concepts to support new business challenges: vehicle platform, modularization, co-development, configuration management of innovative embedded systems, WLTP standard impact, etc. This support continued right on the field to ensure that the change became a reality.
Results
The new PLM collaborative platform is now the cornerstone of the development of new vehicles, the foundation that unites the various product and process engineering businesses but also supports joint work with the various external partners. The configured digital model of the vehicle was a major step, it was successfully completed thanks to the team dynamics that was generated, and this now makes it possible to consider going further in the implementation of ever more innovative and value-creating concepts.
