How Systems Engineering in Automotive R&D Significantly Increases Customer Value, Launch Maturity, and Efficiency

Introduction

Through our 3DSE Insights, we share our latest findings and experiences regarding the implementation of Systems Engineering (SE) and Functional Orientation in the automotive industry. These insights are particularly relevant for OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers. We begin by defining Systems Engineering in the automotive industry. We then provide an overview of the industry’s current challenges and explain the six levers that can be used to overcome them. We summarize the significant benefits of SE and describe our approach to realizing its potential.

SE in the Automotive Industry: Master the successful implementation of customer-function-oriented and profitable mobility solutions, taking into account the entire product lifecycle. This also involves leveraging interdisciplinary teamwork, systematic problem-solving processes, holistic thinking, and model-based engineering approaches.

Our contribution: We advise and assist our customers in transforming automotive R&D units into high-performance software engineering organizations, taking into account products, technologies, processes, organization, and culture.

Current Challenges for Automotive R&D

The automotive industry is undergoing a major transformation. The key drivers challenging today’s state-of-the-art vehicle development stem from trends such as autonomous driving, electrification, and connectivity, as well as existing factors like globalization and geopolitical changes. Based on our experience, current challenges can be categorized into the areas of technology, requirements, and cost pressure, as well as culture and collaboration.

Complex & New Technologies – including new and immature technologies for which few established procedures are available, resulting in significant integration and testing efforts.

Demanding Requirements & Cost Pressure – including strict regulatory requirements (environmental, safety/security), intense cost pressure from competition and the economic situation, and high customer demand for lifecycle updates/upgrades.

Culture & Collaboration Clash – including cultural clashes between software, mechatronics, and hardware development; organizational boundaries and cross-functional collaboration; and new co-development arrangements with partners and suppliers.

Six Key Strategies for Tackling Future Challenges

To address the growing complexity and challenges, we recommend implementing SE not only as a structured approach but also as a philosophy and way of thinking. In our projects, we have identified six key levers that focus on a pragmatic and solution-oriented implementation. These levers are explained below.

• End-to-end functional responsibility —including responsibility for customer functions, from design through approval to updates. This involves a cross-departmental and cross-domain role with a clear organizational assignment, mandate, and strong veto power for the customer.
• Architecture-driven development —including architecture design that takes into account scalability, reusability, flexibility, robustness, decoupling, and the balance between electrical/electronic (EE), software (SW), and hardware (HW). There is a greater emphasis on architecture that considers the overall system value, such as the power system and the software stack.
• Function-oriented target management —including a top-down target system based on total vehicle and customer value, R&D budgeting and guidance from the customer, and a product-functional perspective.
• System maturity management —maturity planning, agreement, and monitoring of functions and properties from a complete vehicle perspective, including interfaces for purchasing and production. Identification of system and integration conflicts in early development phases.
• Virtual development, integration, and testing —inspection and early validation of maturity in virtual prototypes, systematic simulation, and model development. Reuse is taken into account, and cross-R&D models and data are integrated. A consistent integration platform/integration layer and team are established.
• Requirement compliance & traceability – focus traceability on requirements critical to regulatory and compliance. There is a clear organizational allocation and cascading of specification and approval responsibilities from the complete vehicle level down to components, taking into account the make-or-buy scope as well as hardware, software, and electrical/electronic components.

Significant Benefits

The targeted implementation of SE leads to significant benefits in three areas: efficiency, launch maturity, and customer value. Based on our project experience, the following results can be achieved if the six levers are implemented within the organization in a disciplined manner.

Up to an 18% reduction in development effort—reduce waste, deliver lean.

Efficiency gains achieved through the reuse of function modules and system specifications, a reduction in non-testable prototypes, reduced use of hardware, and a reduction in the effort required for error and root cause analyses.

Up to a 35% reduction in costs associated with poor quality—get it right the first time

Launch maturity benefits achieved by reaching early product maturity, reducing late changes, reducing rework at the plant, reducing warranty claims, and reducing task force effort

Up to 20% additional revenue through features over the product lifecycle—deliver additional and unexpected value

Customer value benefits achieved through greater consideration of the customer journey and a focus on use cases result in increased customer enthusiasm that goes beyond mere satisfaction. This leads to a better cost-value ratio from both the internal and the customer’s perspective.

The 3DSE Approach for Successful SE Implementation

“We transform automotive R&D units into high-performance systems engineering (SE) organizations, taking into account products, technologies, processes, organization, and culture.”– Therefore, 3DSE Management Consultants offers a customized, pragmatic, and automotive-proven SE implementation approach that follows four iterative steps: engage, shape, apply, and anchor proven practices, mechanisms, and structures.
Within these four steps, various aspects and deliverables were developed in collaboration with our clients based on their company-specific needs. This ensures a tailor-made solution while simultaneously strengthening the drive for change within the organization.

• Engage —fostering a comprehensive understanding and the willingness to change among stakeholders. This is achieved by providing clarity on the current situation and helping stakeholders understand the value, benefits, strategic fit, and value contribution of SE. This builds a strong leadership coalition to initiate consistent communication throughout the organization.
• Shape – shaping specific SE solution elements, including the incorporation of 3DSE best practices and benchmarks, and determining implementation steps (e.g., Entry, Target, Vision). We begin by selecting appropriate, high-impact projects and establishing clear guidelines and role definitions. At the same time, we analyze the organizational and procedural requirements, resources, and implications of the implementation.
• Apply – enabling the organization to adopt SE artifacts. This includes ensuring that key roles meet the appropriate qualifications, as well as pragmatic implementation and application. Our experts support employees on the job in their specific projects. To pave the way for embedding SE, effectiveness monitoring and adaptation are carried out in parallel. SE multipliers within the organization are engaged.
• Anchor – enable further growth and broad application of SE within the organization. To this end, SE is institutionalized, structurally allocated, and target, control, and steering mechanisms are anchored. To further ensure the long-term benefits of SE, the transition to a line organization is carried out.

SE Experience @ 3DSE

3DSE has more than two decades of software engineering (SE) experience across a variety of industries. As an R&D consulting firm, 3DSE offers a proven approach to software engineering in the automotive industry, as well as unique capabilities for sustainable implementation. We offer deep systems engineering expertise in methodology, best practices, and standards, as well as a thorough understanding of technical products —including the ability to communicate effectively with engineers. We also provide extensive expertise in R&D processes and organizational structures, including in-depth knowledge of development processes, organizational frameworks, project and program management, and R&D best practices. We take a “hands-on” approach and drive transformations, including leading large-scale transformations, ensuring sustainable implementation and management, and fostering employee engagement, enablement, and communication skills. With this set of unique selling points (USPs), we ensure that R&D organizations evolve into high-performance systems engineering organizations.