NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

Chrysler and BMW:

Tritec Engine Joint Venture
Presented by: Ashish Bhushan,26NMP17 Sandeep Arora, 26NMP44 Vivekanand, 26NMP48

The Story
BMW & Chrysler form JV for Small Engine Development (Jan 1997)
50-50% partnership 4 lac annual capacity at Brazil Investment equally shared

 Deadlock in Engine Block Sealing Design (May 1997)

Product engineers

The Issue

Lower tie bar drawbacks

Machining difficult leading to impact on productivity (AMEs) Quality Assurance concern (AMEs) Chatter leading to uneven finish during machining (AMEs) Tool life problem expected Lower capital investment, fixed investment and variable costs, while providing a seal that would eliminate oil leaks (PEs) 23 Prototypes created (Pes)

Innovative Lower tie bar for cylinder block

Advanced Manufacturing Engineers

Tested Bedplate Design, or Rear retainer design

Pros and Cons

Tested Bedplate Design, or
Proven and tested Use of conventional tools Complicate assembly line, requiring three lines Overall project timing affected (PE) Higher investment (PE)

Trade-off:
Investment cost Variable Cost Impact on Project Timing Estimated Warranty Cost

Rear retainer design

Fewest machining challenge Cheaper to manufacture High potential of Engine leaks (PE)

Chrysler
1979-92
Twice Courted Bankruptcy Few new offerings to the market

Chrysler: Product Development Method- Evolution

Early 1990s
Sequential in Functional Departments
Work in Silos

Late 1990s
Defined Five Cross Functional teams
Large car, small car, minivan, jeep/truck, power train

Platform projects (Chrysler vs Honda/Toyota)

High cycle time (60 mons vs 36 mons) Half as effective Poor in quality (conformance & Design)

Tech clubs
Informal interaction and learning

Product Assurance Plan

A guide for keepings things on track
Responsibilities, tasks, deliverables, quality/ reliability methods, tools, milestones

Improvements in Manufacturing and Procurement

70% material outsourced SCoRE

The Joint Venture: Background

Chrysler:
Need for Small Car High growth potential for 11.6 l engine (low cost) Team formed but disbanded Perceived high cost of development Need for a partner to share cost Perceived knowledge sharing
Engine durability and reliability testing for European type Market

BMW:
New engine for Rover Mini
Rover acquired in 1994

Plan to lower costs thru (Capacity Strategy)

Using common supplier Component purchasing from outside UK

Perceived knowledge sharing (Network)

Design and produced low cost engine

The JV Team
PM
New to Product development

Team (120)
Fully dedicated Cross Functional Team
Engine Engineering, AME, Supplier Quality, Procurement and Supply, Finance

Contract Book to aid time adherance and decision of tradeoffs

Specification of measurable objectives Processes defined Overall strategy defined for easy correlation with daily work activities Critical Success factors
High quality Function, reliability, variability Low overall cost World class product development process Chrysler Operating System Continuous Learning

AME involvement since beginning

understand and own the process

Collocation
Across the table, informal discussion

Approach
Frequent Team Meetings and Interactions
Weekly: Encourage cross-functional ownership of issues Monthly: Inform all about project status, near term goals, facilitate feedback Quarterly: JV steering committee meeting

Archival Notebook
Tracking of quality, cost, timing and weight of components Recording of decisions and their background
Avoiding second guessing during manufacturing setup regarding design issues and changes

Assessment Measures
12 panel chart
Key program objectives and their status

Spider Chart
Comparison of Major objectives and their process and product benchmark

Integrated Program Timing chart

Who was to do what and when

One page Program Dashboard

Real time visualisation of status

JV Team- Drawbacks
AME collocation in different AMEs viewpoint/ approach Building Engine Reliability Manufacturing defects AME interference from Scrap beginning
Looking things from manufacturing angle
Contrary to BMW cited eg.
BMW manufacturing group found ways to develop manufacturing means to suite what design engineers gave as they had trust on design engineers

Production Assembly flow Fire fighting/ Just-fix-it approach Torque Horsepower Fuel Economy Methodical/ Systematic approach

PEs viewpoint/ approach

Simultaneous Engineering Teams co-led by AME and PE

Primarily engineering driven process diluted Conflicts in approach and thinking

Aftermath
The Decision
Meeting of a group of 30 key people, represented both by PEs and AMEs Bedplate because the quality outcome of the other two designs were questionable

Tritec Engine (also known as Pentagon) developed

Commended as a landmark engine in those times Produced from 1999 to 2007 at Campo Largo of Curitiba, Brazil Used in Chrysler and Mini Models Rover disintegrated in 2000 BMW exited out of JV in 2007 selling its stake to Chrysler (moved to PSA Peugeot Citroen- Prince engine for mini) BMW, Tritec engine old fashioned; not very effective on function, performance and fuel efficiency