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Bragging about Long Cycle Time?
October 17, 2007

Thanks to a reader, Ryan, for sending this in (click here for an image). He asked why BMW would brag about it taking SEVEN years to develop a new vehicle? This is much slower than the industry average.

Most auto industry focus is on speeding product development times, to get new vehicles and new features to market faster. I'm not a product development expert, by any means, but I know Toyota had always been much faster than the rest of the industry because of their product development system. GM and the others have gotten much faster, but Toyota still leads that race, right?

Is BMW assuming the car buying public is impressed by their devotion, that they didn't rush this new vehicle to market, ala "No Wine Before Its Time?" When I toured the BMW plant in South Carolina a few years back, they bragged (to a public tour) about how many inspections they did at the end of the line. Again, I assume people are impressed by that.

But, as Lean Thinkers, we'll ask "Why don't you build in quality instead of relying on inspections and rework?" the same way we'll ask "Shouldn't you be able to develop a new car in LESS than seven years?" I guess this is why BMW isn't known as a Lean Manufacturer?

Related Reading: The Toyota Product Development System: Integrating People, Process And Technology

Posted by Mark Graban on October 17, 2007 | Comments (1)