FROM CUSTOMER NEED TO INNOVATION

The principles and processes for developing and introducing new products in Kongsberg Automotive are streamlined and efficient.

The project stages:

Define: Understand the business case and prepare the project
Development: Define the product by closing knowledge gaps
Pre-production: Implement and validate the production processes
Start of production and close project: Perform a flawless production launch

Kongsberg Automotive follows state of the art innovation processes to meet customer needs better and quicker than most in the automotive industry.

All projects at Kongsberg Automotive follow the principles of Knowledge Based Development (KBD) and New Product Introduction (NPI). This is a systematic approach to the innovation process and to developing products. The process enables us to maintain and expand our technological edge by launching successful applications faster and better.

KBD is more than developing new products. It's about our ability to understand customer needs and to bring the right solutions to the table. The knowledge we build up enables us to deliver great products at the right time, says Simen Skiaker, Director Mechanical Design Europe, Kongsberg Automotive

The process

Everything starts with a proposal. When developing new products,we place strong emphasis on the initial phase to identify knowledge gaps that need to be filled. We always start with several solutions and later exclude the bad ones.

The knowledge is systemised and we are able to gain from this while the project is under way. The risk of big surprises late in the process is significantly reduced. The knowledge that we develop is used in subsequent projects.

We have received nothing but positive feedback, says Simen Skiaker

NPI started as a research project at Kongsberg Automotive in 2007. It was soon identified as an important project and got crucial backing from top management. Since then we have thoroughly tested thee concept and launched it globally.

KBD is more than developing new products. It is about our ability to understand customer needs and to bring the right solutions to the table. The knowledge we build up enables us to deliver great products at the right time, says Simen Skiaker, Director Mechanical Design Europe, Kongsberg Automotive

Research collaboration

The research project Knowledge-based Development (KBD) was initiated by Norwegian Centres of Expertise Systems Engineering (NCE SE) in 2011 and will last until the end of 2014
The participants are FMC Technologies, Kongsberg Automotive, Kongsberg Gruppen, Kongsberg Devotek, The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and Buskerud University College

Thanks to NCE Systems Engineering for support during the research project and to this article