Tossing out the manual: OEMs, suppliers benefit from managing programs through Web-enabled collaboration - Supplier Business

Automotive Industries,  August, 2002  by Anne Taylor

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During the life of a product development program, there are significant amounts of data and documents generated. In a manual system, this information resides in folders, binders, and filing cabinets, making it difficult to access and maintain. These manual systems often result in ineffective use of time, resources and historical information, which in turn results in poor product quality, time delays and excessive costs.

Most of these can be eliminated using internet based technology.

While moving from manual processes to a technology-driven system may seem a bit foreboding, it doesn't have to be an enormous undertaking. Rather, transitioning to Web-enabled collaboration tools can be done very cost effectively, allowing companies to better compete in the evolving e-business environment.

Problems with Manual Based Systems

The need to manage information starts when a new opportunity is identified and a company works through their quoting process. If done properly, a cross-functional group of people, including vendors, are involved in this process. In many instances, these people are at different locations, making it even more difficult to obtain and manage the necessary information to support the quoting steps. Often key people or data are excluded from the process in order to accommodate customer quote response timing, which leads to inaccurate quotes and, ultimately, unprofitable business. In addition, historical information is often too difficult to access in a manual system, so lessons learned from past programs are not incorporated into new ones, leading to the repetition of past errors. Companies are losing millions of dollars due to inefficient quoting processes that spend hundreds of hours reprocessing similar data and information that could be found on past quotes.

If the program is awarded, design and process development stages include numerous activities that must take place in a predefined sequence to be effective. In a manual system, the data and documents from these activities tend to reside with the document creator and are distributed when requested. This means that a substantial effort may be required to access information in such a system. In addition, over the life of a program, team members can change and information can be lost in the transition to new team members. The larger and more complex the organization is, the greater the effort and cost to obtain necessary information becomes. Often, this can lead to individuals making decisions without referencing past information due to the fact that it's too difficult to locate. All of this makes it very difficult to manage the overall program and foresee the impact of poor actions and decisions today on overall program timing in the future.

The Added Incentive for Automotive Suppliers

The need to effectively manage program-related data and documents is an issue in all types of organizations. However, new requirements for automotive suppliers will make this an even more important issue to resolve. Web-based technology geared at product quality team collaboration between customers and suppliers, such as Powerway.com and Covisint's Collaboration Manager, will bring to light those companies who are struggling to electronically manage their internal information. These initiatives are geared at "enhancing supply chain performance visibility." The goal is to allow customers faster access to quote, product, and project data for advanced analysis. If companies don't have internal systems that meet this faster-paced environment, they'll struggle to meet the customer's demands.

Technology Solutions

Web-enabled collaboration tools have a wide range of functionality that automates a variety of business processes. The goal is to manage and create program-related data and documents in a central information repository, facilitating program management. This allows team members a virtual workspace through which they can access necessary information. But what's the best way to reach this goal in a timely manner? For some companies, this could mean managing data through a multifaceted and complex CPD (Collaborative Product Development) tool. Although these applications that manage data can be very effective and robust (see the attached diagram), they also can be extremely time consuming to implement and cost prohibitive to smaller companies. Organizations often aren't prepared to make the leap to such advanced systems but instead find it beneficial to develop a plan to transition to more advanced technology over time.

Web-enabled document management tools are available on the market that can provide the structure and control needed to organize program-level information. Although not nearly as robust as more advanced technology, these tools can provide a simple solution, showing substantial improvement in a short period of time. Functionality of these tools typically includes Web access, version control, check in/check out and automatic notification capabilities. As outlined in the diagram, these types of document-driven systems allow forms and templates to be more effectively utilized, ensuring better-defined business processes. If every program follows the same basic steps, it's easier for management to view the status of each program as they progress, leading to a better decision-making process. In addition, consistency allows team members to more easily transition from program to program as often occurs in today's business environment.