The current situation of domestic auto parts new product development project management is not optimistic

How to face the increasingly fierce market competition and increasingly stringent performance requirements of vehicle manufacturers, there is a shorter and shorter market life cycle, which has become an unavoidable issue for every auto parts supplier.

From a technical point of view, the main issues are the increasing level of product integration, the increasing number of developments, and the increasing urgency of the development cycle. To some extent, the key to the success of product development is not the difference in its own research and development capabilities, but mainly depends on the excellent and effective management of the development process. This is difficult for every company to imitate, and it is also one of the core competencies that cannot be bought with money.

Domestic new product development project management status is not optimistic

The project management of auto parts product development may seem like a commonplace, but in practical application, most factories need to be improved in many places. At present, the development of new products for most parts and components companies in China can only follow up with the requirements of the OEMs, and it is somewhat the feeling of being led by the OEM.

For FMEA (potential failure mode and consequence analysis) in the new product development process, 60% of the companies have not used effectively and analyzed it. The record of new product development process was not effectively retained, so that latecomers could not understand the ins and outs of product development and repeated the same tests after product problems occurred. This greatly wastes manpower and material resources, coupled with the frequent flow of domestic auto parts factory designers. These unfavorable factors have great potential for product quality stability.

Insufficient planning in the early stage of new product development leads to continuous changes in the latter stage. After the completion of product development, small batches of trial production can be carried out, and when loopholes are produced during batch production, or problems occur after loading, adverse effects will be caused to parts manufacturers, especially new products. It is the first time supporting the main engine plant, which can easily cause the distrust of the main engine plant, and has great negative factors for the future business and technological development.

Due to the lack of a good product development project management team and development process, during the development of new products, the project team did not really work effectively, coordination between departments was not good, and the responsibility for new product development was unknown, leaving the technicians “exhausted”.

1. APQP (pre-production quality planning and control plan)

APQP is developed by the United States General Motors, Ford and Chrysler to ensure that parts suppliers meet their product requirements and developed the "pre-quality product planning and control plan", this process is the development process of most domestic manufacturers product developers first contact, coupled with Incorporating the ISO/TS16949 quality management system as one of the five major manuals. With the advancement of the ISO/TS16949 system, APQP has become synonymous with the product development process.

Since APQP is a requirement of the three major vehicle manufacturers in the United States, most of the global vehicle manufacturers have accepted this standard process, or on the basis of this, combined with their actual conditions to make certain additions or explanations, but for German car manufacturers (such as German Volkswagen), Will ask their own suppliers to do according to their own VDA standards.

2. Quality assurance before VDA4.3 batch production (project planning)

The third part of the VDA Series Volume 4 Volume 1 was developed and expanded by the German Automobile Industry Association Quality Management Center, VDA 4.3 "Quality Assurance before Mass Production - Project Planning".

Germans pursue high-quality planning of the development process and production process, increase the effectiveness of logistics and information and reduce consumption. In the project development, we pay attention to the preliminary planning. They put forward the concept of a “milestone” and set a questioning table in each “milestone” to effectively carry out project summary and self-examination, and set goals before the “milestone”. Summing up the completed matters after the "milestone" will effectively integrate the PDCA law into project management.

Compared with APQP, the most outstanding feature of VDA 4.3 is that the latter emphasizes the setting of goals and inspections at each stage, proposes the concept of “milestone”, puts the review of stages into an important position, and pays attention to new products. Continuous questioning and review of the process, as soon as possible to prepare for measures that do not meet the improvement, in order to achieve the ultimate customer satisfaction goals.

3. Nissan's Joint New Product Quality Step (ANPQP)

ANPQP is based on QS9000APQP "Planning and Control Plan for Product Quality" and is also divided into five phases.

The goal of Phase 1 is to organize and plan product development projects;

The goal of Phase 2 is to ensure that supplier products and process designs meet quality, cost, and supply requirements;

Phase 3 ensures that product tool development is fully ready for tool-related validation;

The goal of Phase 4 is to complete the product and process development, confirm the manufacturing process and its production capacity to meet the quality, cost, and supply requirements for full-load production;

The goal of the post-SOP phase is to monitor and improve the manufacturing process by specifying requirements, such as reducing process changes to continuously improve customer satisfaction during serial production.

4, PSA Peugeot Citroen's product development process

As the French automotive industry quality management system (EAQF) puts forward clear requirements for project management in the product development phase, such as project organization, project managers, project reports and project cost control. Therefore, for PSA, when adopting its own national standards, the concept of project management and project management requirements were proposed earlier in the automotive industry, mainly in the following three stages: the expression of needs and the selection of suppliers. Quality assurance (AQMPP) is achieved through the control of products and processes; quality control of products produced during the mass production phase. For product development, the most important thing is AQMPP.

For AQMPP, PSA also specifically developed a dedicated process: Step-by-step identification of products and processes QPPP (Q3P). Q3P is mainly composed of the following processes: 1 product design stage; 2 sample confirmation stage; 3 definition formalization stage; 4 production stage of representative parts; 5 process unconfirmed vehicle production stage; 6 process finalized vehicle production stage ;7 Batch production of commercial vehicles;8 Commercial mass production.

Compared with other development processes, it turns the approval of outsourced parts from after-sales control of supplier inspection and sample approval into the pre-emptive control of the main/for both parties' early participation and active supervision; it has carried out specific product batch production. Subdivision: pre-line approval, online pre- approval, pre-batch, and batch growth, which reduces the risk of batch production difficulties due to the instability of new product quality. The entire process is based on a tabular approach, through continuous audits and assessments to facilitate the development of the product/process and its approval.

Discussion on Domestic New Product Development Project Management

1. Effectively learn from foreign experience, improve the management of new product development projects, and establish core competitiveness

Most auto parts manufacturers in China have passed the ISO/TS16949 quality management system certification of the automotive industry. Most companies' parts and components development processes seem to be the same. Therefore, we need to “true” (write in unanimously) the development process of our own company at the source, and on this basis, we must gradually and progressively upgrade. This requires us to do “real” project management like products. Actually put the project processes into place step by step.

Responsibilities are clarified, and the responsibilities of each department in the new product development phase are clarified. Only clear responsibilities can make the development process smooth and clear division of labor, so that the project team members can perform their duties, and only in this way can we resist all stages of product development. "Paste paste" behavior.

Development team, in the emphasis on teamwork today, the team is more and more important for a project, the success of a project, often depends on the development team is good or bad. A good team must have several conditions: there is an independent, authoritative, technically proficient project leader, stable resource provision and quick information exchange, and most importantly leadership support, so as to eliminate the development of product projects. "Everyone's fault".

2. Projects for the development of multi-species and low-volume products are guided by “standardization”

The replacement of the current models is getting faster and faster. It seems that less and less durable cars like the "three-year" model seem to be less and less. In the same market, changing models have prompted component manufacturers to continuously develop parts and components. The "standardization" of parts is also imminent. This standardization is reflected in the following aspects:

(1) Generalization of parts and components: Based on specialization, different products can be borrowed from the same part, different models can borrow the same products, and parts can be used in common to minimize the cost of mold development. At the same time, it minimizes the waste of resources and shortens the product development cycle.

(2) Generalization of test methods: It can be seen that the same test method can be adopted for the series of products. The only difference is the change of matching tooling, which makes the test simple and easy, and the testing cost becomes relatively low.

(3) Standardization of production process: It is mainly reflected in the same series of products adopting the same process, artificially concentrating different “small batches” into “big batches”, to save the waste of the process to the greatest extent, and also to be reflected in the production process. The versatility of various tooling / fixtures.

To improve the standardization of parts and components to achieve the "universal" purpose, it is also a good development method. This requires that in the early stage of project management, maintain the closest contact with the OEM or customer. Otherwise, it will be too late after other vehicle types are determined.

3, have the initiative to develop awareness, early participation

At present, the development of parts and components of most domestic companies is passive development. After the vehicle model is determined, the main engine manufacturer provides the parts and components data, and the parts suppliers conduct product development according to the drawings/in-kind, so that the development of new products is confined within a certain range. There is no awareness of active development. Active development will involve simultaneous development with the OEM/customer in the early stage of project identification. Starting from the concept design, the OEM product will be introduced as far as possible in the direction of component standardization. This is the purpose of active participation.

Any project, as long as the earlier participation, the more the project benefits. For the entire component group, the sooner you participate in the development of the model, the better the development of parts and components; and for the project, the sooner you participate, the better the communication in all aspects.

4, the effective use of planning tools in advance to avoid any subsequent changes

New products are not afraid of improvement, and they are most afraid of frequent changes. Such changes often cause unnecessary losses. This requires us to learn from the advanced experience of foreign countries, "for my use," such as FMEA, using brainstorming methods, the wisdom of all people in one, to provide the protection to minimize the changes; for example, design review, this is like making A quality door rejects mistakes outside the door.

5. Combination of process and technology, simultaneous development

Processes and products are inherently integral, and at some point the process is more important than product development itself. With a good product, there must be a production process that matches it. At present, some companies separate the process and product development for management. It is of course good to refine the work, but if it is out of touch, it will seriously affect product development. In this case, project management synchronization is particularly important.