Product development gets leaner

Providers of design automation and product lifecycle management software tools believe they can help drive out waste from the automotive product development process.

It is no secret that the challenges of automotive product development are greater now than they have ever been. “Competitive and regulatory pressures [on automotive product development] have greatly accelerated in the past five years, and there will be no break anytime soon,” said Mark Chernoby, Vice President-Advance Vehicle Engineering for Chrysler.

Competition is forcing new vehicle introductions at faster rates. New regulations, such as average-fuel-economy and safety standards, are forcing technology innovations. Further complicating matters, product-development organizations feel they need to spread operations globally, forcing them to collaborate on platform designs with partners spread worldwide.