Agile methods are revolutionising vehicle production

Efficiency and precision in production are key success factors in the automotive industry. Consequently, every work step and every required action on the assembly line is timed to the second. Space requirements and worker density are also calculated down to the square centimetre. Things get even more exciting when several models and derivatives of a vehicle line are produced on the same assembly line. Integrating additional work steps in such a situation without stopping production, increasing space requirements or changing the cycle time is a highly complex challenge. At a major German sports car manufacturer, however, this was unavoidable because a new directive required additional testing of all connections. In order to master this task, the decision was made to tackle the integration of the necessary new work steps as an agile project. Together with a consulting company that specialises in complex mechatronic projects, it was possible to integrate the implementation of the new directive during ongoing production.

Additional testing of each individual connection during vehicle assembly actually causes an enormous amount of extra work. Given the requirement that neither assembly timing nor space requirements may be changed, this means utilising precisely those moments when the individual connections are freely accessible and at the same time no other work step is disturbed by the test. Given that several hundred connections are affected per vehicle and that the automatic evaluation of the test results must be integrated into the existing processes just as smoothly as the handling of faulty connections, the extraordinary complexity of the task is easy to understand. This made it all the more impressive that the challenging implementation project was not only completed smoothly, but also in a comparatively short time with the help of the agility experts from the Eschborn-based consultancy CO Improve.

It was helpful that the Management Board of the car manufacturer had already concluded a framework agreement with various consultants for agile coaching in 2017 for the introduction of agile working methods and that a transformation team with members from all key departments was already in place. Nevertheless, only a few of the agile pilot projects launched to date had proved to be a real success. This is not unusual. After all, the introduction of agile working methods requires a rethink and far-reaching changes at various levels of the organisation. As long as a project is not really important, it often proves very difficult to bring about these necessary changes. In the case of the "Implementation of the new assembly guideline" project, there could be no doubt about its relevance for the company. The support from the responsible managers was correspondingly high.

The "Operations" department responsible for implementing the new guideline selected CO Improve from the pool of consultants because its consultants were considered to be particularly method-savvy and experts in challenging tasks. Together with the expert for connection technology in the context of assembly planning, who took on the role of product owner, the agile coach immediately set about formulating the requirements in what is known as the product backlog. In contrast to a conventional specification sheet, the agile backlog is consistently prioritised in order to make the complexity of the task manageable. The defined requirements and the prioritisation made are continuously reviewed during the course of the project and dynamically adapted to the progress of the project. It is also crucial that all requirements to be fulfilled are clearly and precisely formulated.

A newly formed interdisciplinary team then developed an initial concept to integrate the new guideline for checking connections into the production process. The team was coached by the CO Improve consultant in the application of the agile Scrum working method. The consultant also took on the role of Scrum Master, whose main task is to create the right framework conditions and remove obstacles.

In this role, the agility experts had a lot to do, especially at the start of the project. For example, it became clear that the available work capacity was nowhere near sufficient to solve the complex task in a reasonable amount of time. In fact, some of the nine Development Team members were only able to devote 20 per cent of their working time to the project. Although the team showed great commitment and repeatedly developed ideas to work even more efficiently, they were unable to achieve their interim goals and the desired work progress. Using a burn-up chart, the product owner and the consultant explained to the stakeholders that the difference between the predicted completion rates and the actual work performed would inevitably increase from sprint to sprint if capacities remained the same. The vivid presentation was effective. Thanks to the support of the stakeholders, the team members were given significantly more working time for the project.

This measure paid off. After just six weeks of project work, the first pilot application was launched as a minimum viable product (MVP) on a limited section of the assembly line with around 25 connections during ongoing production. The task now was to analyse how the newly integrated work steps affected production: Was the calculation of the work paths correct? Were the joints actually easy to reach? Was the physical strain on the inspectors reasonable? Was there enough time for testing and evaluation? Was it possible to correct errors without disrupting production? In order to clarify all these questions in detail, the development team repeatedly obtained detailed feedback from all those involved in the production process, such as assembly staff, assembly supervisors, foremen, planners and quality managers, during the 14-day test phase.

The concept was revised and optimised on this basis. Unlike conventional methods, agile development is based on iterative steps instead of a single concept phase, which is then implemented with a "big bang" throughout production. Accordingly, the test field for this task was gradually expanded and repeatedly adapted. After the third test phase, the roll-out to the entire assembly line could already take place. Overall, the highly complex task was successfully completed within eight months.

Within the company, the agile success has attracted a great deal of attention and positive feedback. Beyond the actual problem solving, this project has succeeded in establishing a new quality of problem-solving expertise, speed and interdisciplinary cooperation. The well-deserved recognition of this success was also expressed in the fact that the product owner was invited to give a review presentation to the plant management.

The sports car manufacturer is planning a further agile reorganisation of processes for the future. Together with CO Improve, the entire assembly process is to be reorganised so that electric cars and combustion engines can be assembled in parallel.