Synchronization of Innovation and Vehicle Projects: Proposal of a Management Tool at Renault SAS

The success of a vehicle on the market depends on its price, reliability, and attractiveness; for the latter, innovations are the key elements in the differentiation from competitors. Managing the processes of selecting and integrating innovation projects into vehicle projects is therefore crucial. This article presents a management tool that aims at managing the interplay between innovation projects and vehicle projects. The objectives are to increase and optimize the amount and value of innovation projects integrated into vehicle projects. The tool, called “Profilor,” is based on the concept of intrusiveness, which is presented from a theoretical and empirical point of view.

[1]  Vicky Lofthouse,et al.  Investigation into the role of core industrial designers in ecodesign projects , 2004 .

[2]  P. Lawrence,et al.  Differentiation and Integration in Complex Organizations , 1967 .

[3]  E. Hippel.  Sticky Information and the Locus of Problem Solving: Implications for Innovation , 1994 .

[4]  Catherine P. Killen,et al.  Understanding project interdependencies: The role of visual representation, culture and process , 2012 .

[5]  Eric Rebentisch,et al.  A Knowledge Asset-Based View of Technology: Transfer in International Joint Ventures , 2013 .

[6]  M. Engwall.  No project is an island: linking projects to history and context , 2003 .

[7]  W. Orlikowski,et al.  Windows of Opportunity: Temporal Patterns of Technological Adaptation in Organizations , 2011 .

[8]  Michael L. Tushman,et al.  R&D performance as a function of internal communication, project management, and the nature of the work , 1980, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management.

[9]  D. L. Ransley,et al.  Upgrading Your Patenting Process , 1997 .

[10]  P. John Clarkson,et al.  Understanding Design Process Robustness: a Modelling Approach , 2007 .

[11]  Thomas J. Allen,et al.  The Influence of Communication Technologies on Organizational Structure , 1987 .

[12]  K. Clark,et al.  Lead time in automobile product development explaining the Japanese advantage , 1989 .

[13]  Amy J. C. Trappey,et al.  Applying collaborative design and modularized assembly for automotive ODM supply chain integration , 2008, Comput. Ind..

[14]  Henry Chesbrough,et al.  Open Innovation: The New Imperative for Creating and Profiting from Technology , 2003 .

[15]  David Robertson,et al.  Product development performance: Strategy, organization, and management in the world auto industry , 1992 .

[16]  Christophe Midler,et al.  Featuring Capability : How Carmakers Organize to Deploy Innovative Features across Products , 2014 .

[17]  R. Cooper,et al.  New Product Portfolio Management : Practices and Performance , 1999 .

[18]  Kim B. Clark,et al.  Architectural Innovation: The Reconfiguration of Existing Product Technologies and the Failure of , 1990 .

[19]  Colin Ware,et al.  Visual Queries: The Foundation of Visual Thinking , 2005, Knowledge and Information Visualization.

[20]  Fereidoun Ghasemzadeh,et al.  An integrated framework for project portfolio selection , 1999 .

[21]  Christophe Midler,et al.  Crossing innovation and product projects management: comparative analysis in the automotive industry. , 2009 .

[22]  Marco Iansiti,et al.  Technology integration: Managing technological evolution in a complex environment , 1995 .

[23]  Diane H. Sonnenwald,et al.  Communication roles that support collaboration during the design process , 1996 .

[24]  T. J. Allen,et al.  Organizational structure, information technology, and R&D productivity , 2018, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management.

[25]  C. Freeman.  Economics of Industrial Innovation , 1975 .

[26]  R. Müller,et al.  Project Portfolio Control and Portfolio Management Performance in Different Contexts , 2008 .

[27]  Maaike Kleinsmann,et al.  Barriers and enablers for creating shared understanding in co-design projects , 2008 .

[28]  J. Schumpeter.  The Theory of Economic Development: An Inquiry into Profits, Capital, Credit, Interest, and the Business Cycle , 1934 .

[29]  B. Hobbs,et al.  Project Portfolios in Dynamic Environments: Sources of Uncertainty and Sensing Mechanisms , 2010 .

[30]  Marco Iansiti,et al.  From technological potential to product performance: an empirical analysis , 1997 .

[31]  D. Millet,et al.  Towards a Robust Process for Integrating Innovations into Vehicle Projects , 2010 .

[32]  Madeleine Akrich,et al.  A quoi tient le succès des innovations ? 1 : L'art de l'intéressement; 2 : Le choix des porte-parole , 1988 .

[33]  William J. Abernathy,et al.  Patterns of Industrial Innovation , 1978 .

[34]  Fiona Charnley,et al.  Exploring the process of whole system design , 2011 .

[35]  Eric Blanco,et al.  Intermediary Objects as a Means to Foster Co-operation in Engineering Design , 2003, Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW).

[36]  H. Gemünden,et al.  Establishing Project Portfolio Management: An Exploratory Analysis of the Influence of Internal Stakeholders’ Interactions , 2012 .

[37]  Jan Kratzer,et al.  Virtuality, communication, and new product team creativity: a social network perspective , 2003 .

[38]  Michael A. Cusumano,et al.  Multiproject strategy, design transfer, and project performance: a survey of automobile development projects in the US and Japan , 1995 .

[39]  P. John Clarkson,et al.  Modelling and Management of Engineering Processes , 2010 .

[40]  Eric von Hippel,et al.  Task Partitioning: An Innovation Process Variable , 2015 .

[41]  S. Winter,et al.  An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change.by Richard R. Nelson; Sidney G. Winter , 1987 .

[42]  R. Müller,et al.  On the nature of the project as a temporary organization , 2003 .

[43]  Dennis Nobelius,et al.  Linking product development to applied research: transfer experiences from an automotive company , 2004 .

[44]  J. Rodney Turner,et al.  The management of innovation in project-based firms , 2000 .

[45]  Emmett W. Eldred,et al.  Commercializing New Technology—I , 1997 .

[46]  Jens Frøslev Christensen.  Asset profiles for technological innovation , 1995 .

[47]  Kim B. Clark,et al.  Product Development and Competitiveness , 1992 .

[48]  R. Katz,et al.  Project Performance and the Locus of Influence in the R&d Matrix , 2015 .

[49]  Thomas Biedenbach,et al.  The Power of Combinative Capabilities: Facilitating the Outcome of Frequent Innovation in Pharmaceutical R&D Projects , 2011 .