We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: innovation is essential for success in the automotive industry. Unfortunately, some areas of the vehicle design and development cycle often hold companies back. Project management is one such area.
More specifically, traditional automotive project management stifles innovation across the sector. This is because many of its processes are out of sync with the speed, scale, and collaboration needed to achieve significant innovation in modern vehicle development. With external factors like customer expectations and legislation driving change from outside, automotive brands must update their internal processes if they are to stay competitive today and in the years to come.
In this article, we’ll describe three of the biggest problems with traditional automotive project management – so you know what to look for and improve.
Given the complex nature of its supply chain, a hallmark of traditional automotive project management is having to deal with many disparate and disconnected suppliers. With a lack of communication and visibility across the supply chain, even a minor issue can easily delay timelines and drive up production costs. If a certain part needs to be altered, it’s far more difficult to get a vendor upstream to make time for it if they’ve already moved on to the next big thing.
With many different suppliers that aren’t working in unison, it is that much more difficult for manufacturers to create flexible vehicles that can meet the demands of today's demanding customers. To overcome this problem, auto brands and OEMs need to work closely with their suppliers as a whole. They can also go one step further to develop modular and robust components and car frameworks that can be adjusted without putting undue strain on the project managers. Consolidating suppliers or having transparency across the entire process will lead to better outcomes, reduced costs, and more successful projects.
While the agile methodology has spread from software development to many other areas of business and manufacturing, traditional automotive project management lags behind. As many automotive manufactures are mired in old processes, they do not have the flexibility and efficiency of agile. This makes it harder to bring new automotive designs to market quickly, which in turn limits the ability to meet customer expectations and stay ahead of the curve with genuine innovation.
With traditional automotive project management, vehicles are completed in one long stretch over several years. An iterative, agile design process, on the other hand, allows manufacturers to maximise output, implement feedback, and test new vehicles – so vehicles can be rolled out with the best-possible features.
Because automotive manufacturers have been following the same process for decades, there's little room for innovation. For automotive designers and manufacturers to achieve truly great designs that raise the bar and delight discerning customers, they need to re-evaluate their processes and incorporate new ways of doing things.
Traditional automotive project management fails to inspire when it’s too slow and cumbersome for team visionaries to realise their product vision. So how is one to foster speed, innovation, and creativity? Embracing agile project management is a great start. But beyond that, companies can take cue from leading automotive brands like Tesla and Toyota that have clear design principles that guide every decision.
In Tesla’s case, first principles thinking helps lead to timeless design choices geared around the user problem they solve, rather than merely ticking boxes on what a car should have. Toyota’s j-factor design philosophy draws on Japanese culture and values to inspire automotive design that’s both timeless and distinct.
At tesa, we strive to inspire innovation with every customer engagement. As a testament to this, we’ve written an ebook to help manufacturers like you make each automotive project better than the last. To download your free copy, click the link below.
To learn how we put innovation into practice with our attachment part mounting solutions, click here.