Situation
Volvo Cars has a long history of building cars in collaboration with other car manufacturers around the world. Since 2010 Volvo Cars has been part of the Geely Group. Over the years the collaboration has spanned common product development as well as common production. Following the successful introduction and sales of new models, Volvo Cars is now moving forward and its collaborations and joint ventures are growing in number as well as complexity.
Problem
Sharing of product information across organizations is complex. With increasing product complexity this challenge is growing. In order to manage the situation and support the growth Volvo Cars had the need for a fast and flexible system to meet the following challenges:
- Management of multiple collaboration projects
- Outsourcing of larger, more complex, assignments
- Secure technology sharing with other OEMs and system suppliers
- Rapid set-up of new joint ventures
- Easy establishment and termination of collaborations
Solution
ShareAspace maintains the part information of “Shared Technology” between Volvo Cars and its partners. The solution is delivered as a hosted cloud service. It presents Volvo Cars with up-to-date information on technology shared with partners, manages intellectual property (IP) as requested and implements a controlled change process. Users continue to work with their current tools and existing processes. This minimizes the need for training and change of IT tools.
Benefits
- Early integration – “Experience has proved the importance of integration at an early stage in the larger project”
- Flexible – “Integration should not be built into the internal structure, it takes away flexibility”
- To the point – “A large portion of collaborative data is important here and now. Long term only a limited part of that data will need to be saved”
- Small step approach – “Building brick by brick from the ground is proven to be the best foundation”
- Keep existing software and processes – “Training and investments in technology kept at a minimum”
