Program Manager
Automotive
Customer
International Tier1/American OEM
Client
R&D Management
Activity
Task Force Management
Duration
9 months
Team
~50 employees / 4 locations
Achievements
Best-in-class Supplier, Benchmark of all suppliers
Description
A diesel engine for pickups and vans in the USA was developed in an exceptionally short time. The electronic engine control was one of the biggest challenges and at the beginning of production it was among the 10 components with the worst quality. After detailed analysis and presentation of a clearly structured catalogue of actions, a task force was set up under the sponsorship of the customer top management. The task was to find the causes for the immature design, the unacceptable supplier quality and the production errors in the shortest possible time, to develop countermeasures and to implement them immediately. After a successful analysis, Mr. Schmidt was also entrusted with the management of the task force, leading the teams in different locations and representing the customer interface. As a result, a 95% improvement in product quality was achieved and the teams were brought back together. Under his leadership the product developed from one of the worst to one of the top 3 components. The project was declared a benchmark by the customer and the methodology and approach was successfully transferred to other suppliers and their components.