Product development process for complex, high volume products in a VUCA environment

Abstract

The development of a new automotive vehicle is a complex task. There are mutually influencing components, new technologies, strict requirements and high customer expectations to implement in short period of time. The vehicle has to be developed not only in regards of physic and technology, but also to high volume, stable, quality serial production. Bertrandt AG develops components, modules and vehicles for car manufacturer (OEM) and suppliers. The goal is to develop a new product development process, that supports project contributors and project sponsors in processing projects effectively through nowadays challenges. For vehicle development projects, there is a product development process (PDP) which is used for new project to derive specific project time plans. The PDP shows all tasks from the start to the end of the project aligned with the organizations processes and milestones. It cuts the project in controllable sections and phases and delivers essential information for the team members, the project management, suppliers and the customer. In the last years a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) situation emerged at the automotive environment. Examples of VUCA effects can be found in volatile demands and raw material offer, uncertain technology empowerment, complex interactions and ambiguous information. First, demands from customer side are volatile, because good and bad new are spreading fast. But also, when calculating correct lead times to minimize advance payments, availability of raw materials with its volatility in sometimes reverse direction to demands, can lead to production stops. The lack of raw material can also impact demands for prototypes for development. Second, uncertain technology empowerment is a risk that can take place, when a technology that was intended to use in the new product is not ready when the rest of the vehicle is ready for serial production. For example, in battery technology or automated functions, customer demands latest and mature technology. There are a lot of technologies raising at the same time and there is a risk that the evaluated technology cannot reach serial production ability. New technologies give new manufacturer the chance to create new ideas. These new Automotive manufacturers have different needs and approaches and are considered in the thesis too. Third, complex interactions are sudden impacts that are not forecastable because they are deriving from other global locations or from different industry. For example, a political confrontation on a place far away can have effects on transportation and supply chain of products produced here. Not only production sites are located in different countries, but also development teams are also organized decentral, global and sometimes self-organized. The new forms of collaborations have impacts on a time plan and can be supported by a proper design of a PDP. Fourth, project contributors and Leaders in organizations have to handle ambiguous information, that can be interpreted in different ways or have more than one possible solution. Time for collecting further data and postponing the decision is sometimes not available. This question can be a decision on the next product technology where some customer tests showing a positive and some tests negative feedback. In summary, the cause of the effects of VUCA environment is digitalization, resulting in the possibility to act and react faster. This trend will increasingly continue. The thesis aims to track these effects from the organization impact via the project impact to the project time plan impact and work out requirements for a new PDP. Knowing the requirements for a new PDP, principles and procedures from current research that are able to fulfil the given requirements are collected and presented. Based on the promising principles from research and with experience from accomplished business projects, a new PDP gets compiled. To assess the new PDP, the new PDP is evaluated by the elaborated requirements. The result of the evaluation, a possible implementation, the observed limitations and possible future research questions conclude the thesis. The goal of this thesis is an analysis of current requirements and project management methods and establishing an improved PDP with appropriate quality gates for the development of a complex product for a high production rate in a VUCA environment.