The increased utilization of shared parts makes for more efficient production. However, it also necessitates solutions that can be effectively employed in the heterogeneous IT worlds at the affected business units and external companies. DaimlerChrysler researchers played a role in the creation of such an IT “artist of adaptation” and are now expanding its capabilities.

The two vehicles — the tiny smart fortwo and the big, powerful Actros truck — couldn’t be more different. Nevertheless, they have more in common than meets the eye, as the same type of bolt is used to fasten the instrument panel in both the two-seater and the truck. Vehicles made by Mercedes-Benz, Chrysler, Mitsubishi and smart also have the same hose clamps and cupholders.

The reason for this has to do with the fact that the greater the number of units of a part produced, the lower will be the cost per unit. Experts refer to this phenomenon as an economy of scale — and a visit to any home improvement store will show you just how much of an effect it has. There, you will find that a box of 100 screws is hardly more expensive than a small pack containing only ten.

In line with this economic law, any cost-conscious DaimlerChrysler vehicle developer will try to consistently exploit the cost advantage it presents. The problem is that the various business units in the Group have their own separate IT structures that are the product of historical development and therefore differ from one another. In practice, this means that Chrysler developers use a different database system for managing “their” components than the one used by their colleagues at the Mercedes Car Group, for example. And Mercedes development engineers work with different systems than their colleagues in the Truck Group, while Japanese engineers at Fuso employ yet another IT system. Databases can deviate even further when you move beyond the Group and into the realm of suppliers and other automakers, with whom DaimlerChrysler might like to operate an effective shared component management system.

Such a system was in fact set up two years ago within the framework of a project known as cP3. It is run by Wolfgang Bogenschütz, who is responsible for Global Change Management at Mercedes Car Group Passenger Car Development. Back in 2004, a joint project team consisting of Elke Piekenbring from Bogenschütz’ staff, truck developers from Mercedes-Benz and Fuso, and Ulm-based IT specialist Stefan Schreinert from the Data and Process Management research department headed by Frank Arbes, set up the initial version of a system-independent database known as CRT. CRT, which stands for “Cross Reference Table,” is an electronic reference list of all the parts that are used in more than one vehicle.
A small team at the Chrysler Group in Auburn Hills is responsible for the operation and further development of the CRT database, which contains not only the exact designation and version of each component, but also provides the name and contact data of any other person who also uses that component. Convenient search functions enable users to rapidly obtain the information they need, regardless of how — or from where — they begin their inquiry.

“A database like this really isn’t something you win a Nobel Prize for,” Ingo Melzer from Arbes’ department admits. Still, its development did involve a great challenge, namely “shaping” the tool in a way that would enable all participants in the system to continue to work with their IT environments while also being able to link these with the CRT joint hub for the exchange of information on the components they were all using.
Moreover, this had to be done without requiring any changes to be made to the participants’ local systems. All of this was ultimately accomplished, and the application is now available for use by all DaimlerChrysler business units. In addition, the CRT database contains components also used by Mitsubishi, McLaren and VW, with the latter alone having contributed 16,000 components.

> Reconciling different interests and wishes

The researchers in Ulm not only had to overcome technical hurdles in creating CRT, such as providing for smooth “docking” of the database with extremely diverse IT systems. They also had to take into account the people who would use the tool, with all of their different goals and requirements. Because the team in Ulm is responsible for testing software elements in the system network, it has sometimes been forced to assume the difficult role of mediator. In the event of an error, it must also come up with a functional solution that doesn’t generate a high level of additional costs for any of the participants in the system.

In this connection, the Ulm team developed a tool that monitors how much of the overall system capacity is being used at different times during the day, and the extent to which capacity utilization at any given time affects the users’ ability to do their work. They were thus quickly able to determine at which time of the day the CRT database was being used least. The monitoring tool also quickly calls attention to disturbances in the system and provides information on possible causes. Such information is not as easy to generate as one might think, as the CRT database is constantly being used by people in Japan, the U.S. and Germany — in other words, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, all around the world.

The second phase of the CRT project focused on the change management feature for shared components. Here, the challenge was to ensure that the best intentions wouldn’t end up ruining a good thing. That’s why any plan to make alterations to a shared component must be examined by all of the engineers responsible for the model series that use that component, with a joint solution to be formulated at the conclusion of this process. The reason for this is that while a smart-brand engineer could save on materials by shortening a part, for example, his or her counterpart in the Truck Group would face huge problems if forced to use that shortened component in an Actros.

It’s also important to completely think through the impact an alteration can have, because even “minor” modifications can trigger a long chain of corrections that need to be made to other components as a result. For this reason, each business unit and all external partners have their own IT applications for change management that can be used to examine the full impact of alterations. This, in turn, requires a second system-independent database as a supplement to CRT — the Communication Database (CDB), which can communicate with all of the partners’ change management IT systems.

One of the most important jobs of CDB is to inform all users of a particular shared component as soon as an engineer has proposed a change to that part. It does this by automatically sending a message to the local change management systems, and e-mails to all partners, who can then use their own IT systems to determine the effect the proposed change will have on their products.

> An indispensable tool for cooperation projects

Once CDB has gone into action, it is used by all the affected partners as a central hub as they gradually search for a design solution acceptable to everyone. Once this process has been concluded, the modified shared component is entered into the CRT database as the new reference. “This tool is absolutely indispensable for synchronizing and aligning complex development activities in projects involving more than one business unit or cooperation with outside companies,” says Arbes. “It’s the only way to ensure the desired product quality.”

To make cooperation even easier, the researchers in Ulm are constantly examining new developments in the IT sector to determine if they can help improve the shared component management system. One technology they recently took a close look at — known as Web Services — enables computer systems to communicate with one another regardless of the platforms or operating systems they use. Such a system can enable a publishing house, for example, to offer all libraries the possibility of ordering additional copies of books using their own administration systems. Thus Web Services seems made to order for heterogeneous IT environments.

The researchers in Ulm therefore viewed these tools as a new opportunity to more firmly integrate supplier companies into the shared component management system, since many of them work with completely different IT systems. They soon ran into a big problem, however, as every company has strict guidelines with regard to security — and rightfully so, especially when data is to be sent to external partners. At the moment, the team in Ulm is conducting extensive discussions with various units, with the goal of developing solutions that will allow for the use of Web Services while also addressing the security concerns of all partners.

“That’s really how our work brings everything together across divisions,” says Arbes. “We know the IT systems at the Group inside and out — and we’ve also got our ears to the ground in the IT sector, which enables us to quickly incorporate lucrative possibilities into corporate projects.”



The illustration shows what happens when a change is to be made to a shared component. In this case, the initiative is taken by an engineer from the Mercedes Car Group. His inquiry shows him that the component he wishes to change is also used by a colleague at Chrysler, who then learns of the planned alteration via CDB (Communication Data Base) and subsequently uses Chrysler’s change management system to examine the impact the proposed modification will have. If the two engineers can come up with a design solution that benefits both uses of the component, the modified part is entered into the CRT database as the new reference.


These two vehicles couldn’t be more different in terms of their appearance, design or use — and still this automotive David and Goliath couple share several parts, such as bolts and hose clamps.



The CRT database consists exclusively of shared components used by at least two of the participating partners. It is system-independent in design, which means it can be “docked” to any partner’s proprietary database system, enabling them to continue working with “their” systems and parts lists, while also being informed by CRT as to who else in the network besides themselves are using the same component.


Copyright © 2006, DaimlerChrysler AG