Benchmarking

Questions 1, 3 & 4 are answered in the PPT in the zipped folder attached.

Question 2:

Benchmarking: 

Benchmarking can be defined as evaluating a product against a standard.eg. currently phone companies use the latest Iphone as a standard against which they compare their product. In simple terms can be defined as a form of reverse engineering. It is a comparison of our own product to the competition. Benchmarking is done in the automobile industry for various parts in a cars body, it can be conducted for the metal components to fixtures to lighting system or sensors etc. Benchmarking is used to determine where ones product stands in the market and how strong it is against its competition. Benchmarking data if organised and documented properly can be used by OEMs to replicate the strong points of their competition,they can be inspired by designs or technology used by their competion so as to overcome their own drawbacks. Automotive benchmarking in its easiest form means a complete teardown of a competitors product, the level of the teardown is determined by the accuricy of the benchmarking needed. Typically for bencmaking in the automotive industry around 3-4 competitors cars are torn down, scanned and analysed. Stages of automotive benchmarking are (these are from a2mac India):

1. Auto- Feature: Various features of a car are accurately measured in this stage like the dimensions and adjustability of moveable seats, volume of storage, headroom,windshield angle, ergonomics, etc.
2. 3D scanning: A non-reflective coating is applied to the torn down components of the competitors car and they are 3D scanned for an accurate CAD model to be generated. This CAD model is saved to be used as a reference for the design team for designing their own product so as to be better or atleast equal with their competition.
3. Auto-Reverse: The initial features are further analysed and a bill of material is made. The company can then analyse this data for the various materials used, subassembly designs, etc. and improve their own product by finding ways to either making the parts for a cheaper price or improbing their quality.
4. Lighting: This stage analyses the lighting system of the car, and measures the illumination of the lights and the latency.
5. Electrical Artichecture and Electronics: A detailed study of the wireing harness, pin- types and configerations are performed. The connection points and their location is also mapped to their location on the car body.

These 5 steps can be considered as the skeleton for the automotive benchmarking  process which in todays day are followed by almost all OEM manufactures to improve their products and keep it relevant in a highly compeititve market.