Design-Manufacturing Integration : Challenges in change management for new component in-house manufacturing

Abstract: In the highly competitive transportation industry, one way to gain a competitive advantage is to ensure the customer needs are satisfied and tailored according to each customer’s need. Scania’s one of the core values is customers first and believes that the organization is successful only when its customers are successful. In order to achieve their goals, modularization is the key to tailoring the needs of each customer. Considering this factor, an ‘n’ number of variants are required in each module of the trucks and buses offered to the customer. This thesis focuses onthe high voltage cables i.e. VCB cables in Scania’s terms, the cable harnesses are considered as the human nerves and blood vessels for automobiles. Scania is set to produce the VCB cables in-house instead of buying them from the suppliers which is the current method. The thesis focuses on the challenges in change management for new components in-house manufacturing by design-manufacturing integration as a solution. A case study is conducted for the products of electric trucks and buses to understand the design manufacturing integrations. The thesis aims to identify gaps and find where the highest risk exists for deviations in today’s process in terms of design demands, product specification, and product preparation in the production of VCB cables. The case study is conducted, including a literature review and semi-structured qualitative interviews to understand the workflow of how the information is transferred between many cross-functional groups with different business areas such as research & development (R&D) and production. The thesis aims to understand what challenges Scania’s METP (Engineering and process, Battery & VCB production) production group faces while going through a change of organizational structure and interpreting the information via engineering drawings between different stakeholders/groups. A conceptual framework is presented by emphasizing the communication between the R&D groups and the production group by benchmarking the DMI practices for collaborative product development. Furthermore, suggestions for effective drawing methods and increasing the group dynamics between R&D and production are discussed in the thesis. It is hoped that the thesis provides a guide to initiate the stated tasks in results to ensure a smooth production start-up.