Basis of the future: PLM 4.0 for automotive suppliers

Mahle, a development partner and supplier to the automotive industry, also known for its pistons, covers all important issues along the drivetrain and air conditioning technology - for drives with combustion engines as well as for electromobility.

In the age of electromobility, groundbreaking changes are imminent. Mahle was founded in 1920, when Hermann Mahle joined Hellmuth Hirth's engine workshop in Bad Cannstatt as the seventh employee.

Today, Mahle is a globally positioned group: around 77,000 employees at 170 production sites in 34 countries generated a turnover of 12.3 billion in 2016. The end of the combustion engine, at least in the passenger car sector, is only a matter of time - a real challenge for a supplier like Mahle, where the combustion engine is part of its DNA, so to speak.

The company is responding to the changes in the automotive industry with a dual strategy. On the one hand, the internal combustion engine is to be further optimized and thus made lower-emission and more efficient.

Secondly, the strategy is aimed at the new development of alternative drive technologies: Expanding expertise and offerings in the field of electromobility, establishing a new business area for mechatronic products and further expanding the thermal management division - which is already responsible for more than half of sales today - with new solutions for the cars of the future, such as battery cooling and interior surface heating systems.

To make this possible, the company has launched One PLM, a five-year program designed to standardize and expand the company's PLM landscape.

The overarching goal of the program is to increase the efficiency and flexibility of the underlying value-adding processes at Mahle as much as possible.

Synergies between the business divisions are also to be leveraged and cooperation intensified. To this end, the heterogeneity of the processes and systems must be addressed: Currently, PLM processes are regional and predominantly limited to the respective business unit.

More than half a dozen IT systems exist for mapping purposes. In most cases, SAP PLM is used as the PLM system, albeit in very different implementations in some cases.

Thinking beyond PML

At Mahle, the definition of PLM goes far beyond what is often understood by this term and in the end usually only means PDM - i.e. product data management. At Mahle, PLM and therefore also the area covered by One PLM starts with sales opportunity management, i.e. processing customer inquiries, preparing quotations and approving (pre-)development projects.

Via project and quality management, cost controlling and integrative product development, PLM extends further into the handover to production and support of the series process as well as the life cycle through to disposal. Change management, which takes effect in the series phase and is based on PLM processes, is therefore also important.

In order to achieve the goals of One PLM, all existing systems will be moved to a common, central data backbone and consistent, global processes will be established.

Where possible and appropriate, processes are also standardized across business units in order to generate synergies. This will enable global and cross-divisional collaboration in design, for example, in order to drive projects forward across all time zones according to the "follow-the-sun" principle. The end result should be a flexible process and IT landscape that can also be easily adapted in the event of further company acquisitions.

Mahle has opted for a three-pronged introduction. Alexander Burger, Head of One PLM at Mahle, explains:

"When expanding our PLM processes, we have to take into account the respective level of maturity and the heterogeneous product complexity of the business divisions. Our programme is therefore based on the pillars of globalization, harmonization and digitalization."

Within the first pillar of globalization, regional processes of individual business units are raised to a global level and stored in the leading PLM system.

Standardize processes

The second focus is on standardizing the processes of the individual business divisions wherever it makes sense. For example, the plan is to harmonize project management tools and project documentation across all business divisions and establish a common standard. This will also support the integration of the individual divisions' products into the overall system in terms of processes and IT.

The third focus of the programme is digitalization and the provision of an integrated, digital master, which aims to provide a holistic digital representation of the products and enable the resulting functions such as big data analyses or the use of assistant systems.

The new change processes for filters and thermal management have already been implemented. These are controlled from the PLM system and, in addition to the product data, also control the logistical and commercial information from the ERP systems.

Defining the new processes was not least an organizational challenge that went far beyond defining the technical IT aspects. Global process chains were defined and implemented for the business divisions. In the interests of greater efficiency and synergies, they will be networked in future through cross-divisional applications and processes.

Link with master data

The project is being implemented in collaboration with Cenit. Among other things, Mahle is using the CenitConnect Advanced Process Management (APM) software. "CenitConnect APM is a highly flexible workflow engine," explains Burger, "which enables us to map processes and link them with master data from various SAP systems."

Networking stakeholders

"CenitConnect APM connects the stakeholders involved in the change process"

Burger continues.

"We have already defined global change processes in two divisions and implemented them in APM and are now in the process of doing the same in the third division. We then want to create a cross-divisional link that simplifies collaboration between the divisions.

The new change process will thus enable clean, workflow-controlled collaboration that is audit-proof and auditable and reduces the duration of change cycles by cleverly linking those involved in the process."

"We work in partnership with Cenit, providing consulting services for change and PDM processes as well as software solutions. This also includes the integration of the various CAD and CAx systems into SAP using ECTR"

says Burger.

"We have now expanded this collaboration into a strategic partnership - not least because we want to work on core processes and coordinate our projects and development goals on a long-term basis. This ensures that the further development of Cenit solutions is aligned with Mahle's needs."

Burger is certain that the goals of One PLM will be achieved:

"The program is anchored in the Group management - the steering committee is made up of members of the management. This backing is necessary to make such an ambitious program, which ultimately affects and supports the entire company, a success.Cenit is a partner here to align Mahle for the future."