Mahindra & Mahindra uses Systems Engineering to accelerate product innovation

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The world of the Internet of Things (IoT) isn’t just about glamorous products – cars, washing machines, air conditioners, refrigerators – or of innovative experiences at airports and retail stores. It is also not only about ushering in Industry 4.0 led manufacturing practices and enabling digitization of the shop floor. To make all the above possible, there needs to be a Systems Engineering approach at the product design level itself, to make sure teams across job roles in design, testing, engineering are collaborating with each other smoothly!

Mahindra & Mahindra revolutionized its product development lifecycle

One such requirement came up with Mahindra & Mahindra, a leading manufacturer of vehicles in India. They wanted to accelerate product innovation with streamlined, traceable systems and software engineering capabilities. Working with IBM, their automotive division has since deployed an end-to-end collaborative lifecycle management solution that provides seamless traceability from requirements to delivery, and provides instant impact analysis.

The challenge

As with several automotive manufacturers, Mahindra & Mahindra struggled to integrate effective processes for systems and software innovation into an already-complex product design lifecycle. One of the biggest challenges was traceability. As projects move from requirements-gathering through architecture design and development to testing and delivery, information gets lost in translation. This results in the final deliverable not fully meeting the requirements – causing delays and defects, creating extra work, and slowing down the innovation process.

The solution

Designing and engineering connected products involves a greater number and variety of people in the organization, creating a need for more collaborative tools, and the ability to easily share information geographically, organizationally and between tools.

From a technical perspective, the solution was built from a suite of IBM Rational software.

• IBM Rational Team Concert™ provided a collaborative environment to connect architects, developers and testers to other stakeholders, and made it easier to define project plans.
• IBM Rational Engineering Lifecycle Manager defined hierarchies for the electrical and electronic products that are being developed.
• IBM Rational DOORS® Next Generation is used to elaborate requirements, while
• IBM Rational Quality Manager handles testing and quality management for development artifacts.
• Finally, IBM Rational Insight provides dashboards and reporting functionality.

The benefit

In the words of Kishore LM, Senior Lead engineer at Mahindra & Mahindra, “IBM is helping us gear up to meet the challenges of an auto industry undergoing tremendous change. By putting us in complete control of our software and systems development process, we can continue to deliver rapid innovation for the next generation of safe, efficient, connected automobiles.”

The benefits include reduced effort for the engineering team, better connectivity between all the stakeholders on the information required for delivering the system, and the ability to reliably deliver defect-free products to the end-users. Ultimately, the solution helps reduce time to market, increase quality, and encourage the development of well-defined components that can easily be reused in subsequent projects.

For many business and technology decision makers across the country their priorities will expand to orchestration and creating trust. To learn more about how over 12,000 leaders pivot to meet evolving priorities, read the blog “Incumbents Strike Back – Insights from the Global C-Suite Study”.

>> Read how IBM solution helps engineers in Mahindra & Mahindra’s automotive division collaborate more effectively with their peers and other stakeholders.