MARCH 2019CIOAPPLICATIONSEUROPE.COM 19t has been a great journey within mechatronics, software, business, and politics. Up to date I have never seen so many new challenges and opportunities within the automotive business at the same time.What are the typical challenges?Product planningToday many vehicle brands share similar design and base content. Product planning is a critical task in any company and especially so in the automotive industry where time to market with the latest technology at an affordable price for a product takes at least 4-5 years to develop. It requires a good long-term vision into the future to stay on a prosperous path. In today's cars performance of standard features and Quality are pure hygiene factors, nevertheless still challenging as projects are pushed to shorter development time, often including late changes.Make or BuyCorrect decision on making a vehicle sub-system in-house or to buy it off-shelf from a Tier-1 supplier is one typical challenge. True cost walks are often complex to make. Piece cost, tooling cost, freight& customs cost, Engineering Development cost, assembly cost and not least the system maintenance over time are all factors to consider in a "make or buy" decision. Sometimes OEM's are too "protectionist" or just too "disjointed" as an organization to understand benefits of a sub-system buy strategy. Another risk is not letting go of in-house mature technology to supply base, enabling your OEM key resources to move on to new development or target setting.Engineering& TalentEngineering know-how is all about integration of several complex systems enabling a competitive vehicle performance level and managing it in time and on budget. If you would put dots on the globe for all engineers involved in making a vehicle today it would show up in very many different locations and time zones. Project Engineering leaders with good communication skills and understanding of different cultures are therefore valuable for success. With so many OEM's and tech companies out-there it is also becoming more challenging to recruit experienced talent in general. As a result,my current workplace in Sweden now has handpicked engineers from 27 different nations which makes the office an inspiring workplace.What are the current opportunities?ElectrificationEnvironment and sustainability is driven by legislation, taxes, and planet earth climate. We must push energy efficient and low emission vehicle solutions. Electrification is now firmly placed on all OEM's roadmaps. During the on-going powertrain transformation (Combustion->Hybrid->Full Electric) all different powertrain options eats lots of resources and cost in variant complexity for OEMs. So, obviously new OEM's only making 100 percent full electric vehicles has the advantage of a clear focus on a much less complex powertrain system.Current Automotive Challenges & OpportunitiesPETER STAVERED, VP CHASSIS & SAFETY ELECTRONICS - CEVT AB, SWEDENcXoinsightsI
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