Industries · Automotive
OEMs and suppliers develop with a growing share of software, spread across several sites and against fixed production dates. We have developed, run programmes and made development and release processes faster and more reliable in such organisations ourselves.
What we see again and again
Engineering organisations in the vehicle industry grow fast. Every site has its own way of planning projects and managing requirements, and by the next assessment at the latest it becomes clear that the evidence does not fit together.
On top of that the product is changing: software, electronics and now machine learning drive deadlines and risks. Yet the way engineering is governed often dates from a time when mechanics set the pace.
How we help
We compare your documented development and release process with daily practice and close the gaps in roles, handovers and decision rights. We merge process steps and ticket states, for example in Jira, into one status model from which reports are derived directly.
We make the critical path across ECUs, software versions, parts and releases visible and track every blocker with an owner and a date. Readiness checks ahead of vehicle testing bring problems forward while they do not yet cost a deadline.
We trace field and warranty failures from root cause to an owned countermeasure and place quality gates where software and configuration enter validation. Lessons learned become a condition for the next release, so known causes do not return.
We run ongoing development programmes operationally, from daily coordination and status reports to decision papers and escalations for the steering committee. On request we take over project leadership for a defined period and hand over to your team in an orderly way.
From practice
Automotive, 2021 to 2022
An engineering organisation that had grown fast to more than 4,000 people, with a patchwork of PM practices and hard certification deadlines. Project and product governance was modelled to maturity level 5 and unified across four sites, with attribute-level traceability.
Result: passed ISO 9001 and ASPICE, one consistent governance model across all sites, know-how handed over to internal process managers.
Automotive, premium audio systems
Programme management for high-end audio systems of a premium manufacturer, with many variants, several suppliers and fixed production dates.
Result: a standardised development process for the entire audio programme, time to market down 30 percent, field defects down 40 percent.
Insights
R&D organisation and performance
Seven R&D performance metrics for automotive and machinery, with benchmark values: time to market, first pass yield, R&D intensity and more.
R&D organisation and performance
Most unsuccessful R&D projects fail for the same reasons: unclear requirements, weak management, too few resources, unrealistic timelines. How to fix each.
R&D organisation and performance
Metrics show how R&D work runs, KPIs show whether it reaches the goal. The difference explained, with examples for engineering teams.
In the intro call we clarify where your engineering stands, where deadlines and quality suffer and where the first step pays off most.