With vehicle recall costs predicted to reach billions of dollars, and concern for potential damage to brand reputation, tests and processes to ensure quality are top priority on many executives’ minds. And OEMs are not solely bearing the consequences of vehicle failure. More and more, they are focusing their efforts on holding suppliers accountable for the costs associated with recall responsibilities.
Quality and testing regimens help to ensure delivery of quality products that consumers demand. In practice, testing that delivers the level of quality required to meet industry demands and reduce risk of recall continues to be complex, inflexible and expensive. Often these processes are disconnected from other business workflows including those throughout the automotive supply chain.
V+R Test to Reduce Warranty Claims and Recall Risk
Reducing exposure to warranty claims and recalls is about leveraging holistic, integrated testing and validation capabilities. But test activities must be viewed in context. Excessive mandates and tests that are too rigorous can stretch resources, cause product delays and drive up costs. Too few, or poorly managed processes can result in product failure or worse.
Product specifications act as the driving dimension for vehicle test regimens. As requirements change, it’s essential to have the ability to maintain and audit product specifications throughout the development lifecycle. Using integrated technology designed to execute test and validation processes helps keep track of changing design parameters. This capacity allows OEMs and suppliers to deliver products that meet expectations, without excessive overhead, to those involved in development and test processes.
V+R Test Strategy
Test and validation strategies have a significant impact on the bottom line. It’s not just about cost improvement, but also the reduction of recall risk and increasing the responsiveness of project (and product) operations. Obviously there are multiple dimensions that can enhance this agility. One might be the more efficient management, use and reuse of tests, output and resources. A second could be the businesses’ ability to monitor and measure test program performance so that they can adapt development effectively.
Digital dashboards play an important role by providing an instant view on test performance, adherence to product specifications, resources, company requirements and industry standards throughout the project lifecycle. The advancement of virtual testing has greatly reduced the high cost of physical prototypes, improved cycle time and enabled better lifecycle management.
By integrating test initiatives into a coherent strategy, OEMs and suppliers can create an agile and collaborative environment that maximizes quality, streamlines resources and reduces risk.
Physical and Virtual Testing for Success
Virtual testing has advanced exponentially and now plays a major role in the product development process. For one, simulation allows us to test early and test often, which has proven to improve product quality. It also allows us to shorten development cycles, reduce test overhead and improve the reliability of physical prototypes.
Advances in virtual modeling software now enable us to model, prototype and test complex products at a systems level, on assemblies or even complete vehicles. These techniques allow us to evaluate design options and test in ways that have been difficult, if not impossible, to realize in the past.
Physical testing and reporting is still a necessity for final vehicle refinement and business analysis. Gratefully, many virtual solutions also integrate automated tools to accelerate physical testing capture and analysis, and can further ensure traceability should recall questions arise.
Make Testing and Validation Part of Your Long-term Plan
Although expensive, physical prototypes are still an essential element and regulatory requirement, an optimal test strategy integrates both virtual and physical testing to deliver more efficient, accurate and timely information throughout the product development process while reducing the cost of physical prototypes. For example, test conditions and parameters can be usefully leveraged across the virtual and the physical environments, with real-world results driving improvement into virtual models and their test parameters.
These techniques provide the capacity to evaluate design options and test in ways that have been difficult, if not impossible in the past. Technology is a catalyst for rethinking the testing and validation process and plays an essential role in reducing the cost and risks associated with recalls.
Product recalls are the most visible symptoms of less than ideal testing and validation. But simply executing more tests isn’t the solution. We must test smarter, automate analysis, and manage results more efficiently. With profit, safety and time to market high on executives’ agendas, how can we do better redefine testing as a competitive advantage and not a necessary evil? And if so what steps might we take to make this a more immediate and practical reality?
