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Bmw Car the Digital Project

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Submitted By alinutza73
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Founded in 1916, by Gustav Otto, to manufacture aircraft engines After 1923 Treaty of Versailles turned to produce motorcycles 1936 launches its BMW 328 sports car BMW first entered Formula One as a full-fledged team in 2006. Niche player: “manufacturer of unique automobiles for a clearly defined, exclusive and demanding clientele all over the world” 13th rank in manufacturers’ top today

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Design Concept - manual renderings on paper Clay models – the “excitement” of its designs Computer-aided Design models -> Computer-aided Styling Handcraftsmanship EMOTIONS:
◦ Precision of the surface ◦ The surface stress ◦ The lines of reflection

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“artful of deformation of sheet metal” Functional & manufacturable exterior design “front-loading” -> functionality (crashworthiness, dynamics)





State of the art design - meticulous handcraftsmanship to assure silky precision and offer the customer “emotions” Consistent design -> familiar resemblance between all its models

These increased a lot the engineering lead time making almost impossible to come up with “fresh” models at the same speed as the competition.




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A sequential approach of phases Many operations executed manually for personal touch and artistic excellence High-quality physical prototyping Low frequency of launching new platforms (only incremental model changes from year to year) Low use of computer-aided software

“Developing a new product with a new process is dangerous. We didn’t know how to develop a car in such a short time, but many felt that longer we waited, the longer people would find reasons not to do it”

Considering the long tradition, the costs involved in the process and the fierce competition, a drastic decision like changing all the processess could be fatal for the business. On the other hand, BMW had to find a way to align to the market competition, shorten its engineering lead time maintaing also its high quality standards and commitment to its customers.

On a long term the new development strategy will provide a viable long-term competitive position. By speeding up the processess BMW will not change its core principles, they will just use different instruments. They will maintain their quality standards, and even improve them after the learning curve of the new instruments will expire. They will still rely on people experience, but in different areas, encouraging teamwork and flow of information. The “Digital Car” project is a third generation system which will reduce lead time by 50% and also cut development costs.

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