Co-development: A case study linking work from the automotive sector with the construction industry

Construction and automotive occupy premier positions in the UK economy and much work has been carried out seeking areas where best practice could be transferred. The Cogent Co-Development programme was £3M tri-partite initiative between Cranfield University, Nissan European Technology Centre-Europe and its suppliers. The programme focused upon supplier-in-the-loop design that engaged with over 130 supplier companies and 1000 personnel working on the design/development process for a new vehicle. Three researchers spent three years working with Nissan Technical Design Centre Europe and their key suppliers across Europe in design activity-led workshops that resulted in a reduction of 30% in design time, 40% in design cost, and in excess of 30% in the cost of manufactured parts. Following this programme, a pilot programme with two main construction companies tested the use of the Cogent learning from automotive and established that there were common factors across the sectors. The need for consistency within an organization before engaging in collaborative design activity with suppliers was found to be a key requirement, with the outputs from both programmes providing indicators on the different ways that the two sectors manage the design involvement/cost/reward equation and their supplier relationship management processes.