Automotive

PREAMBLE

First thing I want to note regarding this case – when I was done reading the case and reviewing the website, the first thought popped up in my mind is “I definitely have to possess one of these...”

BACKGROUND

Later 90’s represents the period of fundamental change and progress in the motor industry. The rivalry among competitors grew not year after year, but probably on day-to-day basis. The competition implied every sphere: quality, speed, design, and most important – satisfying consumers demand ON TIME. The latest possibly represents the hardest challenge of all, as the technologies and operations are still not modified for fast introduction of the new car model to the market.

BMW struggles with the above-mentioned problem, as it took 5 years (!) to launch a new car. It should be mentioned, that consumer was really listened to throughout the process, however late 90’s came with the new trend – consumers demands were changing faster that it was possible for BMW with the current processes to keep up with the brand new tendencies. It represented the serious threat to the company’s leadership on the market.

EVOLUTION OF PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT AT BMW

For me, one word describes the whole process of product development at BMW – Amazing. First of all, I could never imagine the cars were made of clay, 1:1 scale. Handcraftsmanship is something that made BMW cars unique, in the time period when technologies were not much developed to undertake the same task successfully.

I would evaluate Product Development Evolution at BMW (70’s – 90’s) as successful. It should be mentioned that the period required for the product development reduced by 1 year only, however, the methods still remained the same. The time reduction was mainly grounded on more parallel processes and constrained timeframes for teams, which I would evaluate as very good finding, as it was very challenging for the teams.

It should be noted, that the production process was rather costly....