| La lettre du GERPISA | no 103 (mai 1996) |
Debate - Bertrand Ciavaldini
This thesis, resulting from a research-intervention project with the PSA Peugeot Citroen Group, joins other studies which have been carried out over the past ten years by the Centre de gestion scientifique de l'Ecole des Mines (CGS) and the Centre de recherche en gestion de l'Ecole Polytechnique (CRG) in the realm of conception, more particularly in the automobile industry.
The originality of the thesis is to furnish an analysis of these activities within their temporal globality, and not to focus on just one phase as is habitually the case. Hence, this study presents the actual situation concerning organization in the automobile industry, and highlights an important step in the the evolution initiated more than twenty years ago in production, and pursued in development over the past ten years. In particular, and beyond confirming functioning in development, the study offers a profound description and analysis of the the upstream one, an important and complex phase since it gives rise to future projects, not to mention its particularly secret nature because of its high degree of strategic importance.
In this text, I would like to propose a summary which will focus on the following five points: first of all, a global definition and a characterization of the conception's rationalization process; secondly, an evaluation of development projects; thirdly, an upstream description and analysis; fourthly, an analysis of evolutions underway; and finally, an analysis of organizational perspectives.
More particularly, the product greatly evolves with an ever-growing technicity and innovation. In order to adapt to the markets uncertainties and to take on variety (which, according to us, is ever-growing), the search for reactivity with regards to the product results in a tendency to separate - in function of projects involved - technical complexity from commercial innovation. Hence, this tendency results in a policy of platforms and in two types of vehicles: mainstream vehicles and by-product vehicles. The objective of the latter category is to lower costs, investments, risks, and delays in conception.
At the level of organization, the search for reactivity thus translates into a continuous rationalization process towards what one could call, using an analogy with production, a "lean design". This process can be broken up into several steps, moving slowly towards the upstream : development, trades & crafts, and finally the upstream. Each of these rationalizations have effects on delays, allowing for a progressive shortening of development, however only the entity will allow for the achievement of a coherent conception as well as substantial cuts in delays and, more importantly, economic gains
We are now going to detail each of the steps in order to then evaluate organizational evolution perspectives with regards to the automobile's conception.
At present, this is well-known in the scientific field, and more or less correctly applied by industrials, as CRG and CGS studies of Renault point out. These studies are confirmed by our observations within PSA Peugeot Citroen, where ad hoc functioning and structuring by the product are more particularly underlined due to the geographic dispersal of study sites and the presence of two automobile brandname companies.
Project management can essentially be analyzed from three highly interrelated standpoints : either as a reinforcement of the company's industrial competition thanks to an increasing control of Quality/Cost and Delay indicators, or as an informational control thanks to coordination and stimulation exchanges, or finally as a control of organizational complexity thanks to more clarified, limited, automated, and responsible structures.
However, as our observations have pointed out, far from solving the problems encountered, this initial rationalization creates new ones. First of all, global delays have not declined significantly, and second of all, the projects have had a rather destabilizing effect upon the company, especially in the realm of trades & crafts; more notably, it is noted that links between projects are very delicate, in particular, in terms of know-how with, for example, the capitalization of experiences, and innovation becomes more and more difficult (we will return to this aspect in our discussion on the upstream).
In summary, evolutions in development are, on a general basis, positive ones, but they nevertheless still remain limited and insufficient... Indeed, problems have been reported outside of the projects, and more especially in the upstream where today, techno-organizational functioning appears to be lagging behind with regards to new development and market demands.
This relatively traditional technico-organizational approach is nonetheless a heavy and often sub-optimal one, which underlines any and all reactivity searching.
In addition, despite the high level of market demand for innovations, they are often refused and validations often judged to be insufficient following a complex process between trades & crafts and projects. In fact, its fundamental origin is linked to a mutual contamination of both phases as well as to an exaggerated emphasis attributed to the projects. Upstream functioning is therefore insufficiently differentiated and adapted to its level of uncertainty.
Finally, a major difference with development, i.e. coordination, turns out to be difficult: first of all, an inverted form of ad hoc activity is created at the intermediary hierarchical level which provokes a traditional functioning, in other words, one that is relatively self-containing, compartmentalized, and sequential; secondly, relationships with suppliers are somewhat delicate; and thirdly, the platform-projects have difficulty emerging from the functional structure.
Last but not least, the upstream seems to be perturbed by the rationalization of development, thus undermining its traditional role and function.
In the final analysis, these two steps underline the search for a new global coherence between company trades & crafts and their projects, in other words, of learning all about competition. At present, they are used in PSA Peugeot Citroen, and more particularly and since 1994 in the Research and Development Department. An important step was taken on January 1st 1996: trades & crafts were reorganized into poles of competence; inter-project technical syntheses and upstream coordination positions were created; finally, a consolidated and unique project for the Group was created in the realm of managing the activities of the upstream.
Hence, and at least in the majority of cases, projects will no longer consist in a scientific sort of assembling much more rapid and economical than is the case today. They will share common upstream activities as increasingly efficient as their number increases. This responds to demands for market diversity but also to an important consideration of trades & crafts thanks to the facilitation of expertise cross-managing. This new organizational and technical approach - necessarily more predictive and systemic - thus makes up the basis of a greater reactivity.
In the long run, the conception's structure and functioning seem to move towards a "generalized competition" to the upstream which will regroup (apart from the initialization of project vehicles and prospectives) traditional activities and a pre-development of technical concepts in the form of multi-directional structures. In terms of know-how, this involves developing in the upstream two types of conception methods, know-how and know-combination, in order to improve performances both at the upstream and development levels.
This trades & crafts/concepts upstream structure, similar to the trades & crafts/projects development, will clarify the role and functioning of the upstream with regards to innovation and projects. It will also allow for the upstream establishment of the notion of performance in function of appropriate indicators. Finally, it should allow for a minimum of criticism, and guarantee PSA's technical community in the service of two brands and two development sites, in other words it would allow for the full exploitation of the Group's brandname riches and resources.
In a more general manner, new questions are arising, first of all involving the consequences of managing generalized upstream projects, especially at the level of its piloting, next the potential future steps of its rationalization (in all likelihood, Research, Marketing), and finally extending project management to other areas as a new managerial method.