...NOVEMBER 1, 2001 STEFAN THOMKE BMW AG: The Digital Car Project (A) “Looks great,” thought Chris Bangle as he walked by a picture of the new BMW 3-Series which was about one year away from its scheduled 1998 launch in Germany. Bangle, a former Wisconsin native, who became the company’s director of worldwide design at age 35, glanced at his watch. In just 30 minutes, he would meet with other senior managers about project recommendations that might revolutionize the way cars had been designed over the past eight decades at BMW. The meeting was in the inner sanctum of BMW’s research and engineering building, the Forschungs-und Ingenieurszentrum, known locally as the “FIZ” (pronounced “fits”). Built in 1987, this massive building centralized the work of 40 facilities previously scattered through Munich. All work from product concept to pilot production occurred in the FIZ. But only a privileged few out of the five thousand who worked in the building had ever visited this corner of the company where the meeting was to be held. Bangle pulled out his card key that would let him pass through a sleek space-age security system that resembled an oval chamber. After negotiating a push card entry system, a set of doors slid close behind him and another set opened up to reveal the styling area—a world of future visions, inhabited by many life-size clay models of cars under development that would eventually come to life on roads of the next millennium. BMW had weathered several storms over...
Words: 8363 - Pages: 34
...Executive Summary BMW is an acronym for Bayerische Motoren Werke AG or in English: Bavarian Motor Works. It is a German automotive company brand founded in 1917 with its headquarters in Munich, Bavaria, Germany and is amongst the worlds best automakers known for it’s intriguing - one of the kind designs, quality of engineering, performance and elegance in its fleet of vehicles. BMW Group is also a manufacturing company for motorcycles and engines for aircrafts, bullet- trains and has won the award for the best engines a numerous times in the worldwide automotive industry. The BMW Group also owns and produces vehicles under the brand MINI marquee, motorcycles under BMW Motorrad and Husqyarna and is also the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, which are known to be the most luxurious, expensive and hand built vehicles baring not only a heavy price tag but specifically known to have a prestigious status symbol. To insure the company’s stability and expansion, BMW Group has a strong management control that ensures an edge over its competitors in the automotive market. The Group faces constant demands for cost, quality and productivity improvements within shorter product lifecycles, but also face the new challenge of building cars to customer order in short order lead-times and numerous other external and internal environmental factors. This report focuses on BMW’s flexible production and the process of technologies that enable the shift towards achieving a higher market...
Words: 4001 - Pages: 17
...knowledge sharing system and partnering with a design firm, Chrysler can become a dominant force in the auto industry, not just domestically but globally. The initial startup costs for implementing these innovations are quite high, yet the long term payoffs such as lower manufacturing costs, higher quality products, less waste, a variety of innovative designs, better supplier relationships, increased sales, profits, market share, and greater customer retention and loyalty, all support changing to a more innovative company. Introduction The target of this project was to find and research innovative methods to apply to a current existing company. Our team chose Chrysler to apply the innovations researched to help their company domestically and globally. With Fiat recently acquiring a 35% stake in Chrysler, it is necessary for Chrysler to focus on the global market to remain competitive in this day and age. This project takes an in-depth look at TaTa Motors business model, Toyota’s knowledge sharing system and BMW’s DesignWorksUSA design system and proposes ideas for implementing them with Chrysler. We evaluate what it will take to implement these design processes and evaluate the success factors leading to the implementation of these innovations. Innovative Companies In today’s flat world, companies are finding it tougher to remain competitive by being centralized in one country....
Words: 3527 - Pages: 15
...Abstract Ford Motor Company is an American multinational corporation and one of the world’s largest automakers based on worldwide vehicle sales. On June 16, 1903, Henry Ford founded and incorporated the business which continues to operate and is controlled largest by the Ford family for over 100 years. This paper will discuss one of Ford’s CEO’s, Alan Mulally, who is currently the company’s president and chief executive officer. This paper explores the role of leadership and how it impacts the organizational performance at Ford Motor Company. This paper discusses Alan Mulally’s leadership style and how goal setting helped Ford improve its performance. In addition, an assessment of Mulally’s leadership will analyzed on each element in communication openness including message transmission, trust, agendas, and goals. In summary, an evaluation of the effectiveness of Mulally’s leadership style will be discussed along with a recommendation on whether he should continue with his style, or pursue a different style. (Hellriegel, D., & Slocum, J W, Jr. 2011) The Role of Leadership and its Impact on Organizational Performance Leadership is an important function in any business and should establish a clear vision while communicating the vision to others. Leadership can have a significant impact on an organization’s performance. The role of leadership is the act of motivating people toward reaching a common goal. There are three types of leadership which commonly exists in...
Words: 1164 - Pages: 5
...BMW’s Dream Factory & Culture The History Bayerische Motoren Werke (BMW) is a German automobile company that was founded in 1916. With over 90 years of experience BMW has driven its way to the top of the auto industry and is best known for its performance and luxury vehicles. BMW is the ultimate driving machine. While BMW celebrates its successes, the company remains humble and recognizes that things can go wrong. In 1959 the company nearly went bankrupt after it badly misjudged the market trends of the era. The company would not be here today if it did not receive a bailout from a wealthy German family and the continued support of their workforce. This served as a pivotal point in BMW’s history that would drive the company’s performance. As a part of the on-boarding orientation training BMW makes a point to share the story of 1959 with each new plant associate. From day one BMW employees understand the vision, mission, and goals of the company; this in turn creates a sense of placement for the employee within the company. Employees are not only armed with the training and knowledge they will need to be successful at BMW but know how they have and continue to impact the company. The Culture & Leadership BMW has created a workplace that embraces an entrepreneurial culture. BMW believes that there are always better solutions and everyone in the company is expected to help find those solutions. BMW also recognizes that “ninety-nine percent of all leadership occurs not...
Words: 1192 - Pages: 5
...HEALTH CARE WASTE MANAGEMENT SCENARIO IN WEST BENGAL The wastes generated from health care units are generally classified as infectious and non-infectious. The infectious health care wastes are termed as ‘bio-medical wastes’ and are considered to be potentially hazardous in nature. The disposal of untreated bio-medical wastes mixed with non-infectious health care wastes or other general municipal wastes poses an environmental threat and public health risk.Indiscriminate disposal of untreated bio-medical waste is often the cause for the spread of several infectious diseases. It is also responsible for the nosocomial diseases i.e. the hospital acquired diseases to the health care personnel who handle these wastes at the point of generation. Moreover, this is equally harmful to persons involved in the bio-medical waste management i.e. segregation, storage, transport, treatment and disposal. Apart from the above, a good amount of bio-medical wastes such as disposable syringes, saline bottles, I.V. fluid bottles etc. are picked up by rag pickers and are recycled back into the market without any disinfection. It is imperative, therefore, to adopt an appropriate environmentally safe method for the disposal of the hospital wastes. Sources of generation of Bio-medical wastes: Hospitals, Nursing Homes, Veterinary Hospitals, Dental Clinics, Pathological & Diagnostic Laboratories, Blood Bank etc. Type of Health Care Waste: These are of two types (i) Infectious Wastes (ii) Non-infectious...
Words: 3321 - Pages: 14
...PART II: – THE CHANGE ANALYSIS – IMAGES OF CHANGE This part of the project is presenting to readers an analysis of the images of change found in the two companies – Royal Philips Electrical and BMW. A review of the said companies is made and comparison based on their change stories. The image of change possessed by any manager is determined by how best he/she is able to plan, direct and control the organization's resources (human, finances, materials/equipment and time) in the best possible way. Rodger Dean Duncan (2013), maintained that managers of change should be gardeners as he presented it in a sub-heading “ Be a Gardener, Go for Growth; A first tendency of many business people is to fix things. But successful leaders invest energy in growing rather than fixing. They know the organization is a living organism with many interrelated elements capable of extinction or growth. Successful leaders are gardeners, they create a nurturing environment and they cultivate with care.'' The above quotation has given us a clear picture of how managers of change should look like and what they need to do in order to keep the organizations in continuous growth. Therefore, it is necessary to present a critical analysis of change images in organizations which may apply to any situation of management and not limited to any specific organization. 2.1 Review of the changes in each of the case study organizations: 2.1.1 Royal Philips Electronics Company: ...
Words: 2571 - Pages: 11
...BMW Company study Abstract: BMW is one of the leading luxury car makers in the market today. This study provides an insight into the company’s history and background. Also it contains an examination of BMW’s quality system, six sigma’s application and an observation of the quality control process throughout the different stages of the production phase. In addition, detailed information is presented on the number of employees and the training they receive before and during their work time in BMW. This project also reveals BMW’s customers relation policy: sharing customer’s feedback, meetings with customers and the adopted strategies in order to assure customers retention. It reveals the company’s place in the automobile market and its position among its competitors. Finally, at the end of the paper, a brief summary is found. It discusses the company’s strengths and weaknesses along with some proposals on how to deal with them. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to analyze BMW’s quality systems and quality control procedures. Also it aims at identifying BMW’s place in the market today and its relationship with its customers, employees and suppliers. Methodology: Primary and secondary Data used in this study had been collected from different sources: essays, books, articles and BMW’s annual reports. Results and conclusion: BMW is a well known and highly valued brand and has a high diversity in the products portfolio. It possesses high internal competence and a...
Words: 6824 - Pages: 28
...Introduction to Project Management Systems _________________________________ Week 9 Case Study Report Recommendations for BMW _________________________________________ Contents 1. Recommendations 2. Rationale 3. Implementation 4. Alternatives 5. Metrics Report by: Lee Matthews Venugopol Puddipeddi Kai Zhou Miyake Yasuhiro Fan Wang 1. Recommendations 1.1 We recommend the 3-series Touring station wagon is used as the pilot for the Digital Car Project. Given that there is less pressure in terms of work load and less financial risk in the 3-series project, a more experimental attitude can be adopted by the project stakeholders. If the project is successful, the new processes can be transferred to the 7-series and all other new projects. 1.2 The adoption of a philosophy of ‘kaizen’ i.e. incremental ‘continuous improvement’ during the project. The key issue in this case is the development of capabilities such as inter-group collaboration on design and such capabilities are developed incrementally, not overnight, and there is no guarantee of success. 1.3 Benchmark other companies that have attempted to develop similar capabilities to those desired. This will...
Words: 1264 - Pages: 6
...strategy of BMW Published: 23, March 2015 2. INTRODUCTION AND SCOPE OF THE PROJECT The topic that has been chosen for the project is related to the car industry i.e. to research the business strategies of BMW. BMW is the leading premium car manufacturer in the world. The report will look at the current business strategy that BMW adopts and also the future strategy of BMW Group. Business strategy has been defined by Johnson, Scholes & Whittington in their book "Exploring Corporate Strategy" as "a strategy that is concerned with how a business competes successfully in a particular market. It concerns strategic decisions about choice of products, meeting needs of customers, gaining advantage over competitors, exploiting or creating new opportunities etc." In this project, the author will research the marketing and pricing strategies of BMW Group. Also the markets BMW target and how BMW group as an automobile industry faced the recession period. The project will also look at the growing competition in the automobile industry and the major competitors for BMW Group. The marketing strategy of BMW Group will include their segmentation, target markets, marketing mix and by using SWOT analysis, the author will describe the advantages and benefits it is delivering to its customers and also its disadvantages. The pricing strategy of BMW will also be described. BMW adopts a differentiated strategy so the author will describe how it affects the prices of BMW cars. The project was...
Words: 3768 - Pages: 16
...BMW: Redefining Premium Brand Identity BMW: Redefining Premium Brand Identity MGMT 8700 Strategic Management MBA Trimester 2, 2011 |Patrick Gallagher |20805458 | |Sion Karta |20182345 | |Mark Lim |10468237 | |Wei Zhe Poh |20605321 | |Jackie Tran |20597931 | |Janifer Yap |20841177 | BMW: Redefining Premium Brand Identity |Table of Contents | | | List of Tables and |4 | |Figures............................................................................................................... | | | BMW Case Study |5 | |........................................................................................................................... | | | Introduction ...
Words: 13392 - Pages: 54
...CASE STUDY OF BMWi INTRODUCTION: BMW start their work as a business entity in 1917. They entered in automobiles in 1928-29. They first significant aircraft engine then they shift their business to motorcycle and then automobile industry. They unveiled two new models, they launch their electric motoring division BMWi. This i3 is an electric small car and on the other hand i8 is a very powerful sports car. They combine the electric motor with the three cylinder combustion engine. For the reduction of weight the car is constructed with the light weight aluminum, in their structure and body from the strong but light carbon fiber. They also have small batteries. BMW are very much cautious about predicting that there will be a demand of electric car in the future. TASK 1 (1a,1b): Reason behind this decision: The reason behind this decision of BMW to make BMWi is that, they have taken preventive measures to reduce the impact of automobiles on the environment. They want to design less polluting cars by making their existing models into the more efficient along with the environmental friendly fuels as vehicles if future. The possibilities of which are as: electric power, hybrid power (combustion engine and electric motors) hydrogen engine. Now the BMWi has all this, it is relatively simple in production process. It does not involve any press shop, welding shop and the paint work is also in a very small quantity. Mr. Robertson insists that it means, “it is much easier to ramp up production...
Words: 2294 - Pages: 10
...The BMW Group – one of Germany’s largest industrial companies – is one of the most successful car and motorcycle manufacturers in the world.With BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce, the BMW Group owns three of the strongest premium brands in the automobile industry. The company formulated their Strategy Number ONE, which aligns the BMW Group with two targets: to be profitable and to enhance long-term value in times of change. And this applies to technological, structural as well as cultural aspects of our company. Since 2007, they have been implementing various initiatives in keeping with the strategy’s four pillars: Growth, Shaping the Future, Profitability and Access to Technologies and Customers. The four pillars of strategy number one: 1.Growth BMW adopted the view of “customers service=growth driver” as the underlying principle to grow its market. In 2008, the company had accumulated more than 14 million BMW automobiles on the road,which in recognized as 14 million potential service customers. For this reason,BMW launched global initiatives to systematically exploit to huge sales potential of the service and part business,enabling the organization to reach out entirely new group of customers. As result,customer focus became the heart of all of BMW’s sales and marketing activities. BMW focused on developing its growth market by continuously pursuing targeted regional expansion strategy particularly in parts of Asia. 2. Shaping the Future BMW’s future primarily...
Words: 1212 - Pages: 5
...& Culture 2 How would you describe the culture at BMW? Entrepreneurial culture is rarely the norm in German corporations. Employees at BMW are innovative because management has learned from experience that listening to assembly workers' ideas and customers likes make for a very creative culture. The employees at the plant, to include engineers, assembly line employees and management are known to brainstorm when a problem arises with a car model in production. The task force concept is a powerful tool BMW has learned to use when it needs to either solve a problem or create a new concept of operation for a project. (Hellriegel, D. & /Slocum J, 2007, pp.522-524). Managers came to realize that they don't necessarily have all the right answers. Audi and Toyota are BMW's closest market rivals in Germany and this keeps everyone at BMW thinking from top to bottom. No sooner does an innovation hit the market, people at BMW stay on their toes to see if that is something their clientele might go for in a "Bimmer" or not. Norbert Reithofer, the current CEO at BMW stated "we push change through the organization to ensure its strength. There are always better solutions". (Hellriegel, D, 2007, p522). Not being afraid of change, or from which level within the organization the new idea or concept came from, is perhaps one of BMW's best strengths at present. What model of leadership is illustrated at BMW ? How does this impact BMW's culture? American top managers at...
Words: 1060 - Pages: 5
...BMW Group Information 2004 Employing environmental principles to build cars Holistic concepts that lead to optimum solutions Taking an actively responsible approach to the protection of our natural environment is of fundamental importance to the development, manufacture, use and recycling of vehicles and their components. The BMW Group has thus for many years consistently employed methods such as Life Cycle Assessment and Design for Recycling in its decision-making. The application of these holistic philosophies generates results that are often surprising – and decisive. BMW Group research & development The BMW Group Concept: Sustainable Mobility In every corner of the world, individual mobility is an essential requirement for maintaining economic growth and prosperity. As traffic on the road grows steadily, it is imperative that solutions be found which are compatible with the needs of people and the environment. In this context, the BMW Group pursues a holistic approach in its efforts to entirely eliminate or continuously reduce the environmental impact of its products and processes through intelligent technology-based solutions. Key aspects of this strategy are: • Mobility-based research focused on the intelligent networking of various modes of transport • Improving environmental awareness and safety in the transport sector • Encouraging suppliers and partners to adopt the BMW Group guiding principle of sustainable development. • Further integration of the automobile...
Words: 2923 - Pages: 12
