DaimlerChrysler Cuts Deal with Parts Maker

DaimlerChrysler AG is already reaping the rewards from a directive to suppliers to comply with a massive, Web-based initiative to streamline design and production systems.

At the International Manufacturing Technology Show here this week, Rick Dauch, vice president of manufacturing at American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc. in Detroit, said his company had recently won a contract to build the front and rear axles on DaimlerChrysler's 2003 Dodge Ram pickup truck.

Because American Axle now shares the same design software system with DaimlerChrysler, it will be able to shave months off the production cycle of axles, Dauch said.

"It's taken a long time to get [automakers and suppliers] to sing off the same song sheet," said Rex Parker, an analyst at Tustin, Calif.-based AutoPacific Inc. "Manufacturers are relying on suppliers to produce components and to physically design the components that go into the car, which is a sea change in the relationship."

For example, early last month DaimlerChrysler unveiled FastCar, a Web-based infrastructure initiative to improve communications among once disparate departments within the company, such as design, engineering, quality control and manufacturing. The Stuttgart, Germany-based automaker also claims that FastCar will boost communication with the third-party suppliers that make parts for its vehicles.

3-D Design

FastCar also uses computer-aided 3-D interactive application (CATIA) software developed by French company Dassault Systemes SA and business integration software from Dallas-based i2 Technologies Inc.

The new infrastructure will augment existing CATIA systems and allow 4,100 internal employees and 5,000 external users to communicate and access design changes over the Web, said DaimlerChrysler officials.

To win the Dodge Ram contract from rival axle maker Dana Corp. in Toledo, Ohio, Dauch said his design team purchased and installed the CATIA system software over one weekend last spring to design the parts.

Once linked to DaimlerChrysler engineers working on the Dodge Ram driveline systems, American Axle was able to produce a working prototype part for the automaker in less than two months.

"We went from a clean sheet of paper to a fully designed specification to a working prototype in 53 days," Dauch said. Design and production of a ehicle part can take up to one year, he said.

Parker said adding concurrent communication to the automaker's CATIA systems should reduce development times and cut the cost of making changes to designs.

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