BRP Inc. is a leading global manufacturer of powersports vehicles. Its Austrian subsidiary, BRP-Rotax GmbH & Co KG, develops and manufactures powertrains for the recreational and powersports sectors, such as for BRP’s Ski-Doo and Lynx snowmobiles and Sea-Doo personal watercraft in Austria and Mexico.
BRP-Rotax develops and manufactures powertrain systems for a wide range of vehicles—on water, on the road, off-road, or on snow—and strives to find the optimal solution for every customer. “At the same time, we need to develop and produce products more efficiently, manage portfolio complexity, and realize cost-saving potential,” says Richard Winklhofer, Director of Program Management, R&D Powertrain at BRP-Rotax. “Modularization allows us to use standardized interfaces to keep internal complexity—and thus costs—low within the company, while at the same time offering optimized solutions for all applications.”
In collaboration with 3DSE and drawing on its expertise and industry experience in the field of product architecture, aspects of modular product development were incorporated into the existing and successful product development process.
The expanded process includes technical activities such as gathering cross-brand product requirements, designing the module structure, and defining module variants and module interfaces. A clear evaluation methodology provides transparency regarding potential cost savings and supports management in making decisions.
In parallel with the process design, activities, tools, and templates were piloted using a specific example. As part of the implementation, the role of Chief Modularity Architect was introduced, and a clear governance framework was defined to embed the process within the organization.
“In addition to the content and methodological support provided by 3DSE, the Rotax team’s dedication was a key factor in our success,” said Richard Winklhofer. “Together with 3DSE, we adapted existing concepts from the industry so that they would be a perfect fit for BRP.”
The process has already been applied in initial projects. It provides a structured set of alternative solutions and clearly demonstrates the advantages of a modular product architecture. Even in the first project, it was demonstrated that significant cost savings are possible. The process will now be gradually applied to other parts of the Rotax product portfolio in order to fully exploit the potential of modular products.
