Background
NIDEC GPM GmbH has made a name for itself in the field of motor and pump development based on many years of experience. In order to guarantee this success in the future, NIDEC would like to expand its portfolio with mechatronic products, which are to be developed according to current standards and brought into series production. Approx. 50 employees worldwide work in electronics development at various locations, such as Ilmenau, Merbelsrod, Bietigheim, Barcelona and Krakow.
A platform developed by NIDEC, which serves as a basis for various products, will also serve as a basis for a successful entry as a supplier in the automotive industry. However, the standards to be fulfilled with regard to the maturity of the electronics development processes were classified as not sufficiently fulfilled in the context of a customer audit (2018).
The Automotive SPICE® standard, established in the automotive industry, served as the benchmark for the evaluation. The customer then demanded as a measure that milestones be defined in the concrete customer project for which certain requirements had to be met. In addition, the customer demanded from NIDEC the establishment of Automotive SPICE® compatible standard processes in the development.
Goals of the consulting project
Process Fellows has been mandated by NIDEC to assist them in achieving these two goals within the set milestones:
Based on an Automotive SPICE® Gap Analysis, an action plan was defined in which the individual action points were estimated, prioritized and assigned to the customer project or the organization-wide process improvement. Together with NIDEC, it was agreed that the customer project would have priority and that the improvements developed there would then be transferred to the organization.
Customer project
Within the scope of the customer project, Process Fellows supports
Standard processes in the organization
A process improvement project with the following key data was set up for the organization:
In the customer project, the customer has confirmed that the previous milestones have been reached. First improvements of the maturity level were already achieved within 4 months, and the project is now much more structured.
In the organization, the goals were defined and the necessary stakeholders identified, in order to then start the process improvement project.
Outlook
Despite the results achieved so far, there are still many challenges for further improvement. These include the continuation of improvement measures in the customer project with the aim of achieving a continuous Automotive SPICE® Level 1 by the end of 2019. In addition, the employees outside the customer project must also be "picked up" and the knowledge gained from the project must be transferred to the organization in order to achieve the target Level 3 in the first pilot projects by mid of 2020.
"Thanks to the open, well-founded and structured cooperation with Process Fellows, we were able to very quickly achieve initial successes in the project that were directly visible both in the organization and at the customer. Due to the positive results, NIDEC GPM GmbH moved into the role of pilot for the entire European organization of NIDEC Automotive. Here, too, Process Fellows provided support through suggestions for the best possible project setup. Through the direct participation in the project, the processes and improvements are developed together with the employees, which leads to a very high acceptance of the results in the organization. Agile methods are very popular in the development teams due to the coaching of process fellows, here we are currently preparing a further cooperation beyond the topic ASPICE and electronics development".
Jens Hoffmann, Director Systems Engineering, Electronics and Software Development
NIDEC GPM GmbH
NIDEC GPM GmbH has made a name for itself in the field of motor and pump development based on many years of experience. In order to guarantee this success in the future, NIDEC would like to expand its portfolio with mechatronic products, which are to be developed according to current standards and brought into series production. Approx. 50 employees worldwide work in electronics development at various locations, such as Ilmenau, Merbelsrod, Bietigheim, Barcelona and Krakow.
A platform developed by NIDEC, which serves as a basis for various products, will also serve as a basis for a successful entry as a supplier in the automotive industry. However, the standards to be fulfilled with regard to the maturity of the electronics development processes were classified as not sufficiently fulfilled in the context of a customer audit (2018).
The Automotive SPICE® standard, established in the automotive industry, served as the benchmark for the evaluation. The customer then demanded as a measure that milestones be defined in the concrete customer project for which certain requirements had to be met. In addition, the customer demanded from NIDEC the establishment of Automotive SPICE® compatible standard processes in the development.
Goals of the consulting project
Process Fellows has been mandated by NIDEC to assist them in achieving these two goals within the set milestones:
- Coaching in the concrete customer project in the application of Automotive SPICE® compatible processes and achievement of the defined milestones
- Definition and elaboration of Automotive SPICE® compatible standard development processes and the corresponding templates and guidelines (target level 3)
Based on an Automotive SPICE® Gap Analysis, an action plan was defined in which the individual action points were estimated, prioritized and assigned to the customer project or the organization-wide process improvement. Together with NIDEC, it was agreed that the customer project would have priority and that the improvements developed there would then be transferred to the organization.
Customer project
Within the scope of the customer project, Process Fellows supports
- providing templates, for example for the project plan, quality plan, configuration management plan, test plan, etc.
- filling the templates through coaching
- in the definition of the project-specific process
- in determining the traceability of requirements
- in the definition of the tool chain used (MS Project, JIRA, Polarion)
- through consulting for the tool chain adaptation, in particular defining the elements, attributes and workflows in Polarion
- for the configuration of the tools (especially Polarion)
- through coaching in the use of the tools
- the introduction of agile procedures by a Scrum Master (coaching in the project)
Standard processes in the organization
A process improvement project with the following key data was set up for the organization:
- Definition of a target definition for the project
- Definition of milestones for the achievement of goals
- Clarification of necessary organizational roles such as project management, process owners, process managers and process coaches
- A process architecture suitable for NIDEC (goal: Europe-wide roll-out)
- Use the knowledge gained from the project feedback to fill the lifecycle of the standard process with tasks, roles, work results, methods, templates, tools, etc..
In the customer project, the customer has confirmed that the previous milestones have been reached. First improvements of the maturity level were already achieved within 4 months, and the project is now much more structured.
In the organization, the goals were defined and the necessary stakeholders identified, in order to then start the process improvement project.
Outlook
Despite the results achieved so far, there are still many challenges for further improvement. These include the continuation of improvement measures in the customer project with the aim of achieving a continuous Automotive SPICE® Level 1 by the end of 2019. In addition, the employees outside the customer project must also be "picked up" and the knowledge gained from the project must be transferred to the organization in order to achieve the target Level 3 in the first pilot projects by mid of 2020.
"Thanks to the open, well-founded and structured cooperation with Process Fellows, we were able to very quickly achieve initial successes in the project that were directly visible both in the organization and at the customer. Due to the positive results, NIDEC GPM GmbH moved into the role of pilot for the entire European organization of NIDEC Automotive. Here, too, Process Fellows provided support through suggestions for the best possible project setup. Through the direct participation in the project, the processes and improvements are developed together with the employees, which leads to a very high acceptance of the results in the organization. Agile methods are very popular in the development teams due to the coaching of process fellows, here we are currently preparing a further cooperation beyond the topic ASPICE and electronics development".
Jens Hoffmann, Director Systems Engineering, Electronics and Software Development
NIDEC GPM GmbH