Today, almost every automotive supplier uses co-creation as a means to ideate, develop, and rapidly bring to market new vehicles and solutions.
According to research by Hitachi, 83% of automotive manufacturers co-create vehicles — from traditional cars to EVs, HEVs, and PHEVs. Through co-creation, these manufacturers can reduce costs and design time, build better relationships with suppliers, ideate faster, and bring to market incredible solutions, products, and services.
Indeed, as the automotive sector grapples with several transformational challenges, including the desire for more sustainable transportation, automation, and ever-complex customer demands, co-creation is more important now than ever.
But after a co-creation initiative is complete, how do you measure its success? Simply embarking on a project with suppliers, customers, researchers, and other key stakeholders is a good first step, but defining the plan and metrics for success is critical.
In 1995, Nissan Technology Centre developed the Cogent Co-Development Programme, a tripartite initiative between Cranfield University, Nissan, and their suppliers.
At the time, Nissan was the most efficient vehicle manufacturer in Europe, but more than 70% of their costs were tied up in their supply chain. As a result, they needed to devise a strategy to improve resource management and allocation at supplier level.
The purpose of the programme was simple:
to reduce design costs and time by 30%
and cut manufacturing time by 40% using supplier-in-the-loop design.
Over 130 supplier companies and 1000 personnel were involved in the programme. They worked — using lean manufacturing methods — to produce a brand-new vehicle based on activity-led workshops and research-informed design.
Using knowledge gained from other researchers looking at co-creation and supplier-led vehicle manufacturing and product development, Nissan designed a programme based on three clear principles:
The use of workshops and non-critical environments to increase early co-operation
Workshop and improvement activities based on a specific pain point or problem — tackled in real time
The setting of specific challenges or targets for improvement, prompting a need to “think differently”.
Also, there were three main activities areas (that were considered key to getting commitment from suppliers to participate):
Aligning the design processes between manufacturer and supplier
Joint improvement planning activities
Protected profit margins
By building closer relationships with suppliers, manufacturers, and researchers, Nissan were able to generate savings over the course of the programme — meeting their targets over the course of three years — and benefited from strategic expertise and critical, supplier-based insight. Following the success of this project, they started another entitled: NEXT21.
What’s clear from the above example is that defining the parameters for success (or at the very least, the objectives) will help to measure just how successful a co-creation project is at the end.
But it’s more than just about delivering a product or solution. Every automotive manufacturer is capable of delivering something robust and efficient, the real challenge is how well you can work together with key stakeholders to create, design, and manufacture something innovative.
As such, there are several key things to consider when it comes to measuring the success of a co-creation initiative:
Team satisfaction
The easiest way to measure the success of a co-creation initiative is to look at whether or not expectations were met.
Has the EV, HEV, or PHEV been designed to technical specifications? What about the look and feel? Does it match what was conceived by end-users? If one box goes unticked at the end of the project, that’s a sign that teams were misaligned — or expectations were not clearly communicated.
If teams are aligned and communicating, expectations are clear and the result should be something that you are happy with. Developing a post-project feedback loop and asking stakeholders for their opinions is a good place to start.
Alignment between teams and functions
One of the principal challenges is getting experts from different stages of the process to work as one cohesive team. Co-creation isn’t about producing parts in silos with key stakeholders reviewing and offering input on what could be improved — it’s about actively involving everyone at each stage and working together to realise the initial design.
Integrated and aligned teams lead to better project outcomes. Ideas can be formulated, designed and brought to market much faster, and communication is clearer — often in real time — leading to no delays (reducing costs) and better relationships. Consider making co-creation sessions and workshops, for example, face-to-face and design project plans that include everyone.
Customer satisfaction
Along with your team, what do your clients think? Are they content with what you have delivered or have you missed the mark?
You should have a plan in place to collect client feedback following the delivery of your product or solution, and you should be able to track their satisfaction all the way through their specific journeys.
Cost and time savings and resource utilisation
Looking at the costs of the project, as well as the time saved and how well resources were utilised, will provide you with a clear understanding of how financially successful your co-creation initiative was.
Compare your previous expenditure pre co-creation to your current expenditure post co-creation. Ideally, you should be spending less and completing elements of your projects quicker as you have more resources at your disposal. Make sure to monitor and detail how long tasks take to complete so that you have a comprehensive report at the end of the project.
As for resource utilisation, how efficient were your teams? You might find that because of the access to research and development expertise, your design and manufacturing teams have improved their efficiency as they no longer have to do that step of the process.
Nissan’s Cogent Co-Development Programme is just one of many examples of co-creation success; it sets out the terms of engagement and defines what’s required.
We can, of course, look to more recent projects in the automotive industry for examples of co-creation success:
Tesla and Samsung
Tesla and Samsung joined forces in 2016, with Samsung manufacturing System on Chip (SOCs) for Tesla’ self-driving cars, developing their own Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) foundry in the process. The goal was to design a super powerful and efficient chip for self-driving.
The Samsung Electronics Foundry Division conducted research and development (R&D) on 5nm-class system semiconductors for the purpose of mounting onto Tesla’s autonomous vehicles. The solution was a high-tech product that only a small number of companies, such as Samsung Electronics, could produce worldwide.
Toyota
In 2016, Toyota established an in-house venture company specifically for developing electric vehicles (EVs).
The venture company draws from the technological know-how and resources of the Toyota group to develop EVs. Its small structure — consisting of four people — is designed to accelerate project progress and rapidly deliver products to market.
Jaguar Land Rover & BMW
Another great example of co-creation success is Jaguar Land Rover and BMW. A surprise collaboration, their co-creation project focuses on developing the next generation of electric drive systems, including the motors and control software that operate them.
Nick Rogers, Jaguar Land Rover’s engineering director said:
“The transition to Autonomous, Connected, Electric & Shared (ACES) represents the greatest technological shift in the automotive industry in a generation. The pace of change and consumer interest in electric vehicles is gathering real momentum and it’s essential we work across industry to advance the technologies required to deliver this exciting future.”
Engineers from both Jaguar and BMW will pool their resources and share their knowledge in developing electric powertrains — the e-motors and software that power electric cars. By working together, they can take advantage of the efficiencies arising from shared R&D, production planning, and economies of scale from joint procurement.
It’s a sign that even the world’s biggest car manufacturers cannot unlock the next stage of innovation on their own. The sheer scale of the task — plus the expertise required — means that enlisting help, even from competitors, is increasingly necessary.
Thinking about how you’ll measure the success of your co-creation project is crucial because it’ll lay the foundation for how it starts.
If you devise a solid plan and identify your expectations early, you can make appropriate adjustments, increase buy-in from your stakeholders and establish accountability. The idea is to get everyone working together and in the same direction.
But there’s still so much more to co-creation — that’s why we’ve put together a guide on co-creation and how it can help you unlock the next stage of innovation.
In the guide, you can find out more about:
The benefits of co-creation and why automotive manufacturers choose it as their approach of choice
Co-creation success stories, particularly when it comes to EV, HEV, and PHEV (including some stories of our own)
How we can help you to ensure your next co-creation project is a success
If you want to find out more, you can download it for free using the link below.