Leading Research and Development

R&D Overview
Nexteer Automotive is committed to bringing the most advanced, fuel-efficient, safe and responsive steering solutions to market. To accomplish this, the company is committed to results-driven research and development initiatives.

Processes like Lean Design Methodology (LDM), Horizontal Modeling (HM), Digital Process Design (DPD) and other lean initiatives are proven to cut waste, cost and lead times while improving quality. By eliminating waste and non-value-added activities, companies that implement lean processes are able to:

  • realize greater efficiency
  • respond more quickly to customer needs and competitive pressures
  • lower costs
  • provide higher quality
  • improve profitability

Lean Design Methodology
Nexteer Automotive’s LDM takes the proven principles of lean from the factory floor to the product development process — the “engineering factory.”

Within a CAD department, most time is spent in rework — a non-value-added activity. It is not uncommon for designers and engineers to spend approximately 20 percent of their collective time creating CAD models, 30 percent detailing them and 50 percent editing. Much of this work is clearly wasted.

Few things affect product cost and delivery more than wasted time and rework caused by lack of standardized design processes and poor-quality MCAD data. To make matters worse, non-standard methodology and poor interoperability prevent people from collaborating effectively. Nexteer Automotive personnel addressed this by documenting their design processes and techniques — collecting the best of their “best practices” — and testing and testing again until these were proven to make a difference in production.

First, we defined the Nexteer Automotive standard — the Lean Design Methodology. Then all Nexteer Automotive designers and engineers were taught to use LDM, and our world changed.

  • Productivity and efficiency increased dramatically.
  • Design teams around the world collaborated better, creating improved products and responding more quickly to customer demands.
  • Millions of dollars were saved that could be applied to new products and projects.

LDM consists of two main techniques: one for product design and the other for manufacturing process design. These are methodologies, not software. LDM enables instant, controlled propagation of design changes throughout the global enterprise, supporting a “lean” approach to product design and a highly efficient change-management process.

Horizontal Modeling
HM produces higher-quality CAD data that are easier to change and much more usable in downstream functions.

Digital Process Design Modeling
DPD takes advantage of the more flexible HM models to enable the rapid creation of master process models and fully associated process sheets, all from a single CAD file. DPD also keeps all process documentation automatically updated as design changes occur.

Accelerating Design Cycles
and Reducing Waste in Product Development
Actual time studies have shown that Nexteer Automotive’s Lean Design Methodology delivers these productivity improvements in typical product development scenarios:

  • 50 percent reduction in time needed to create product design and manufacturing process models
  • 65 percent reduction in time spent editing models
  • 75 percent reduction in total project time
  • 100 percent reusable designs in downstream applications
  • 50 percent reduction in staff and resource requirements

Other advantages:

  • Supports lean design and Six Sigma quality manufacturing practices
  • Optimizes use of CAD licenses and workstations
  • Accelerates time to market through the integration of design and production