Automotive Development Processes: Processes for Successful Customer Oriented Vehicle Development

The book – based on the corresponding graduate course the author held at Clemson University, South Carolina – is a comprehensive, practically oriented presentation of the vehicle development processes. Based on the key question of the product strategy ("Which factors guarantee the product development’s success?") it characterizes the contents of the different stages, roles and activities during the product development process, the application of project management methods and the networking with suppliers – enriched with the author’s professional expertise. In contrast to the already available textbooks on vehicle development this publication is focused on the integration processes of the overall vehicle development, which means the "orchestration" of the single components for the strategic implementation of customer relevant characteristics of the completed product and to a lesser extent on the optimization of the vehicle components. Furthermore the construction and testing of virtual vehicles concentrating on the geometry-, function- and product-production-integration is broadly discussed.