VDA issues "guidelines” for reducing development costs
Manufacturers and suppliers agree on common principles for reducing costs of compiling offers
Frankfurt am Main, 6 May 2009. Manufacturers and suppliers in the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) have now agreed on a set of common principles for reducing the amount of work that goes into drawing up an offer for new products, and published their "guidelines." The efficient use of corporate resources is absolutely essential, even at the early stage of compiling an offer, to strengthen joint development work, say the guidelines, which were signed by Matthias Wissmann, VDA President, Dr. Francisco J. Garcia Sanz, member of the Board of Management at Volkswagen AG and Chairman of the VDA's Raw Materials Committee, and Dr. Jürgen Geissinger, CEO of the Schaeffler Group, VDA Vice-president and chairman of the Advisory Board of Manufacturer Group III (suppliers) within the VDA.
The German automotive manufacturers' and suppliers' lead on the global market is founded on innovations providing customer-oriented, safe, reliable and environmentally sound products. However, there is still plenty of potential for increasing efficiency, especially in the process of making an offer. When it comes to offers involving a lot of development work and conceptual freedom, for example in concept competitions, it is possible to reduce the amount of input considerably, according to the VDA.
Under the VDA umbrella manufacturers and suppliers have compiled a set of six basic principles. For example, the manufacturer should divide the inquiry into mandatory and optional aspects. The manufacturer is to define criteria to be applied, depending upon the phase of the offer, maturity of the concept, and familiarity with the supplier. The supplier should in turn make the work involved in drawing up the offer clear and comprehensible to the manufacturer and point out options for reducing the amount of input. The aim is to "sensitize" manufacturers and suppliers to the costs.
Third, the level of technical and commercial detail in the offer should correspond to each decision-making phase and be jointly coordinated with the goal of achieving the greatest reduction. Furthermore, the number of variants subject to technological development and commercial assessment during the offer process should be brought down to the "minimum necessary" for reaching a decision (e.g. the main variants). Fifth, "non-relevant concepts" should be excluded from the offer process early on by the manufacturer. And finally, the presentation of the offer should be kept to the "minimum required" for an objective technical and economic assessment of the concept.
The companies in the VDA expect that applying these six principles will lead to a considerable reduction in the work involved in the costly process of making an offer and a clear boost to joint development work. In view of the worldwide slump in demand on the automotive markets, it is essential to be even more aware of the costs involved, especially in joint development of products, the VDA stressed.
Note for editorial offices:
The flyer "Reduzierung des Aufwandes im Angebotsprozess" is available in German from the VDA and can be downloaded from the following web site:
http://www.vda.de/de/publikationen/publikationen_downloads/detail.php?id=619
