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e-Business Transformation to a Manufacturing Digital Enterprise

Pat Toole, Jr., IBM General Manager, Product Design Management
Joel Lemke, Chief Executive Officer, ENOVIA Corp.

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A second example of moving to a digital enterprise how Bosch Braking Systems plans to use e-business and ENOVIA in its global development operation.

Case History #2 – Bosch Braking Systems

Bosch Braking Systems intends to enhance and speed product innovation and development by evaluating the ENOVIA software solution from IBM and Dassault Systemes. A pilot project is being conducted in conjunction with a global design project at facilities in South Bend, Indiana, and Drancy, France. The program will include implementation of e-business services and support from IBM. Bosch Braking Systems wants to better leverage its development tools, including CATIA, which it has been using since 1986, developed by Dassault Systemes, marketed and supported worldwide by IBM Engineering Solutions.

Bosch is one of the largest industrial companies in Germany. Bosch scientists, engineers and technicians are at work around the world on the development, enhancement and reliability of existing automotive products -- such as brake systems and components, fuel-injection technology and driver information systems -- and on the development of new products and systems in areas as diverse as thermotechnology.

As part of the project, ENOVIA will be installed on a limited basis at South Bend and in Drancy and other European locations. Upon successful completion of the pilot phase, Bosch expects to receive 20-25 percent reduction in product design segment of the development process. With the increased collaboration, Bosch is relying on ENOVIA to reduce its component complexity while simultaneously offering its OEM customers products tailored to their vehicles. The company expects to improve the quality of the design while enabling a reduction in development costs and a more efficient development cycle with faster design response times.

"ENOVIA will enable the facilities in South Bend and Drancy to share conceptual designs in ways not previously possible," says Dr. Sigmar Micke, vice president of engineering and the leader of the Bosch Foundation Brake development organization. "Our goals are to extend our collaborative efforts throughout all levels of product development while giving our designers the ability to be more creative. We want to shorten the entire product development cycle and increase productivity across the enterprise to meet our customers' needs."

The point to be made here is that good manufacturing companies keep getting better because they believe no process – especially the innovation/design process – should ever be immune from being reviewed and improved. Conducting such reviews under the magnifying glass of e-business principles and strategies can yield ideas not seen before.

Summing Up: Points to Remember

For manufacturers, the advantages of adopting e-business and becoming a digital enterprise are real and they are now. But because entering the world of e-business truly involves a fundamental transformation of strategic direction and operations, it must be approached with care, as well as speed and decisiveness.

Opportunities to increase competitiveness are bigger than ever. A digital enterprise leverages changes in four key areas: digitization, capital utilization, globalization, and competition. While operational efficiency is now a competitive necessity, a product creation process that facilitates innovation can deliver competitive advantage.

The bottom line is that e-business can deliver better run businesses, lower costs with better products and services, satisfied customers and suppliers . . . and more profits and happy shareholders! It's time to act. If manufacturers wait until their competition does something, that's not good enough. The time to look closely at how things are done and how those things can be transformed in to a competitive advantage is now.

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