“You can’t design tomorrow’s products, using yesterday’s technology”
-Peter Schroer
For over a century, the rapidly flourishing car culture has been continually shaping not only the global economy but also how trillions of people out there live. According to a research by Statista, the global sales of cars were forecasted to hit 78.6 million vehicles in 2017. The automotive industry accounts for some 10 million jobs in Europe, 9 million in the US and some 6 million in Japan. Though, for all of its staying power, the automotive industry has constantly witnessed massive transformations. Gone are the days when car development was largely about mechanical designs along with small amount of electrical wirings.
Today’s modern cars with its smart drive assistants and steer-by-wire electric systems would have surely startled Ferdinand Porsche, Enzo Ferrari, Henry Ford and Kiichiro Toyoda. They must also have been astonished by the dramatically changing global economies which are largely provoked by growth in the emerging markets, sustainability policies, constantly changing consumer behaviors around ownerships and sped up rise of new technologies. Automotive Industry is no exception when digitization and contemporary business models have already transformed other industries. So, how the automotive industry gains a cutting edge with PLM software?Unparalleled Challenges Today, the automotive industry faces a complex marketplace with progressively stricter regulations, intense global competition, cost restrictions- and above all the tech-savvy users who largely expect a seamless and personalized experience. The pressure is on. The industry is expected to design, develop and deliver complex models with shorter time-to-market in the cut-throat competitive world.The automotive companies face ardent challenges and complexities competing in the present environment with
- Digitization
According to an analysis by PwC, over 90% of the future changes and innovations in the automotive industry would be related to electronics of which 80% would be software driven. Thus, the complexity in the designing and development would increase as it will advance in software, connectivity, and electrification. A car will, thus, no longer remain just a car. With digitization, it has now transformed into a smart instrument that is highly intelligent, communicative and inter connected. The future will only allow more collaboration with everything that is transport related. This will thus reinvent the conventional business models within the automotive industry and completely disrupt the current ecosystems. In order to stay afloat, automotive companies must realize this monumental transformation - Globalization
Globalization, further impedes the vehicle development equation in the Automotive industry. As the side effect of liberalization, the national markets are largely globalized. This provides OEM’s the chance to explore and enter new markets at the same time threatens them of fresh entrants and increased competitiveness in the traditional markets. Complexity due to globalization also arises from constantly altering international supply chain partnerships and global collaborations. At the same time, with rising mergers and acquisitions, endless competitors are created in the tier supplier landscape. This disturbs and further complicates the protection of intellectual property along with the management of design processes.
To combat these global complexities, we need development processes that are capable of transforming and adapting in no big time. We need the ability to transform our processes at the speed of strategizing. - Accelerated Modifications and Diversifications in products
Consumer demands, regulatory demands, and global competitive pressures are the major factors to mince down the vehicle development cycle time from historical 7-8 years to 1-2 years. According to an analysis by IHS Automotive, OEM’s are expected to launch roughly 430 vehicles into the global markets between 2016 and 2018. With the development costs of the vehicles remaining the same or even rising, concurrently implies to lesser amortization time and eventually will lead to lesser profits. Without greater agility in the development process, the automotive companies will, in turn, compromise the competitiveness to the long-term market. - Individualisation
Today, consumers demand products that are not standardized but those that satisfy their individual requirements.
Keeping up with competitive pressures The senior management is looking for both growth and cost reduction to put their respective companies on the competitive edge and make them profitable. Rising number of vehicle models are introduced to more dynamically segmented market; the greater number of models are being launched every year. To satisfy consumer demands, the vehicles are becoming more complex with respect to safety, economy, performance, fuel, and quality. The antiquated IT systems can neither support this pace of innovation nor control the thriving costs of managing expected quality across extended enterprises. To meet these pressures, accomplish product and process improvements and to differentiate themselves from the competitors; a focus on innovation and new capabilities is needed.
With the increasing complexities and accelerating conditions in the real world, the automotive industry is massively undertaking digital transformation to better manage the processes. Looking at the digital disruption in the industry, companies focus being more systems- engineering oriented by efficiently managing its mechanical components, electrical components and software which are seamlessly integrated to form ‘digital twin’ of the product data at the system level. Digital twin and digital thread are acknowledged as crucial to future’s smart, connected vehicles for interpreting the complex IoT data. The way the automotive industry will emerge victorious is by undertaking a digital transformation without rupturing the existing systems like PLM, ALM, PDM and many othersHow does Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) Software help? To address the different challenges faced by the automotive industry, companies today need to have an in-depth understanding of various trends affecting their particular business areas. Today, automakers are aiming hard to design world-best cars and build them cost efficiently providing the highest quality. To meet this aim, automakers need to be highly innovative and productive than ever before. To successfully launch a car to the market in time is only possible when design, engineering and manufacturing can collaborate effectively and share information without any hindrance. As the use of the advanced materials along with varied composites and components becomes increasingly common, auto-industry need to ensure structural feasibility and manufacturer ability as an imperative.
With each passing year, the reliance of critical automotive systems on the expertise of the suppliers is increasing. Most of the global automaking companies find themselves held back by legacy systems which are burdensome to adapt, integrate and upgrade. That is why, automakers all over the world, turn to the PLM softwares to prefer choice for collaboration and process integration across the global automotive enterprise. With the comprehensive and integrated tools, automakers can do quick design analysis, check feasibility in production process and more. Automakers, thus, in turn contribute to reduce ownership costs, upgrade their systems to keep up with the advancing technologies, enable cross-functional and cross-discipline collaboration. Key benefits from PLM software
- Enables efficient collaboration in a heterogeneous environment
Globalization to today’s industry refers to manage varied regional requirements, multiple approvals, development teams scattered all around the globe and fluctuating supply chain partners. The actual challenge here is to provide the teams with a secure, collaborative and connected environment which actually works. Users throughout the organization must be able to easily view and comment on all the type of product information with appropriate security, context, and control. The PLM platform thus enables everyone from engineering, sales, quality, operations and the supply chain to communicate about their respective product effectively. - Accomplishing digital twin and digital thread
With the futuristic automotive industry trending towards smart and connected products, the industry is working cautiously towards digital twin with a complete digital thread which would have synchronized information across every department throughout the product life cycle. - Fully integrated product development
Automotive product development is no longer confined to mechanical components. Today, the industry has a new approach to manage the designs, development, and release of various components (mechanical, electrical, software or hardware). Various technical documents, Application Life Management, change management solutions etc can be all linked to any discipline be it mechanical/electrical/software. PLM enables access to the most correct and updated product information to every user in any department.
Other benefits
- Improved productivity in manufacturing and design
- Reduced time to market
- Reduced dependency on physical models by using simulation and other automated tools
- Enhanced environment fostering innovation
In order to thrive and prosper, automotive industry needs to discover new ways to create value by combating all the ardent challenges they face. The automotive industry needs to be able to respond to various transformations with focus, resilience, variability, and responsiveness. AIMDek technologies have the thorough set of integrated applications to help you catch a hold of varied opportunities that a contemporary PLM provides. To understand how PLM can drive growth in your business, write to us at hello@aimdek.com
