Causes And Consequences Of BMW

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Puneet Singh 1514034 1. What are the causes and consequences of BMW's quality problems with newly launched products? What should be done to improve "launch quality"? Answer: Following causes can be ascribed for Quality related issues: A] One major cause which I could identify for BMW’S quality problems is the usage of different types of tools and materials used for manufacturing of the prototypes. This “flexible” approach of BMW was a major cause for quality issues. If anything had to be altered in the prototype, it was quite easy as the lead time for production tools was only 1 week while the pre-production tools had a lead time of 6 months. Because of this incoherence in the production processes, a lot of issues used to crop in later…show more content…
BMW’s flagship, the seven series. But following points need consideration: A) With the ‘flexible’ approach, it was possible to alter the production tools in a span of 1 week only but then the use of pre-production tools during prototyping would require a lead time of 6 months and then there is an order lead time of 6 months further. B) Another major block on the road is that cockpit design has still not been frozen and if some alterations in the manufacturing process are made at this point of time, it will further delay the production by 6 months (lead time for new set of pre-production tools). Considering above factors I would not recommend ‘experiments’ at this stage of production cycle as I have said in the beginning of this discussion too. 7 series is the flagship product for BMW and a lot of company’s image depends on how well the product turns out and that too in time. This also involves market share in the luxury car segment. 3. What changes would you recommend in the way BMW develops new models? What attributes of newly launched products would you expect to improve as a result of these recommendations? Which attributes might deteriorate?…show more content…
If despite paying best of the price customer receives a luxury car with faults, it hurts the BMW’s brand image tremendously. Hence, considering high pre-production costs involved in this segment, rather than being price competitive BMW should focus on brand image. Simultaneously, BMW can also consider the concept of incremental changes in lower segment of 20-40 k. This way it will be possible for BMW to address both the cost issue as well as the quality issue. At one instance, it has been mentioned in the case that it takes only one week to make production tools during the prototype stage. BMW should seriously consider scaling up further on this aspect as production tool manufacturing could add to the core competence of BMW and may significantly bring down costs and lead time ( currently 6 months) in the long run. One more recommendation from my end would be to compete in environment friendly vehicles segment. While Toyota Prius has been a huge success, nothing has hugely successful has yet come out from BMW’s stable. Environment friendly cars are the future. Success of Prius has created a flagship product on its own for Toyota. BMW too should focusing on this aspect of car

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