Automotive Sector About Design Council Design Council Is an Enterprising Charity Which Improves People’S Lives Through the Use of Design
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Leading Business by Design: Automotive sector About Design Council Design Council is an enterprising charity which improves people’s lives through the use of design. Our work places design at the heart of stimulating business growth, helps to transform our public services and enhances places and cities to ensure a sustainable future for everyone. We advance new design thinking, encourage debate and inform government policy. Our vision is to create a better world by design. Contact us at: [email protected] About Warwick Business School Located at the centre of an outstanding university, Warwick Business School (WBS) is one of the world’s elite business schools, providing top-class programmes for ambitious people. WBS is led by innovation, creativity and change, and engages with the big debates in business and public policy. Its vision is to be the leading university-based business school in Europe. Its mission is to produce cutting-edge research and world-class, socially responsible leaders capable of shaping the way organisations operate and businesses are managed. About the Warwick Business School – Design Council partnership In 2011, WBS and Design Council formed a new collaboration to explore the intersection between design, business and behavioural science. Its mission is to place design at the heart of business education and research, and transform the science of behaviour into real-world solutions. Contents Executive summary 04 Main themes 06 Recommendations 08 Introduction 10 Research findings 14 Case studies: Section 1 – Innovation and growth Aston Martin 36 Tata Motors 42 Volvo Cars 48 Section 2 – Collaboration Bowers and Wilkins 56 Johnson Controls 62 Pininfarina 66 Wipac 72 Section 3 – Future trends Jaguar Land Rover 78 Liftshare 82 Transport Systems Catapult 86 Appendix: Methodology 90 Interview questions 94 Bibliography 96 About the authors 98 Executive summary Design is organisation. “ Design is image, absolutely. Design is the story, design is the material that you end up with, design is the object that you then are selling,“ promoting or making someone look at. Design Director, Aston Martin 04/05 The automobile is arguably Four themes have emerged: the most iconic product of the twentieth century and hugely 1 Design is one of the most important to the UK economy as important drivers of innovation it is responsible for nearly 7% of and competitive advantage UK turnover and employs around 730,000 people. Design’s role 2 Good design is the result of in the automotive industry has effective collaborations and progressively moved from sculpting partnerships within and pure form (‘styling’) to connecting between organisations technology to consumers’ needs and desires. More recently, the 3 Changes in the broader appearance, use and significance automotive ecosystem of cars has begun to be profoundly increasingly require designers affected by changes in the wider to develop a wider skillset automotive ecosystem, including: the introduction of increasingly 4 In the future, design will play intelligent vehicles, decreasing car a more fundamental role in ownership in urban areas, rising integrating products and environmental standards and the services and enhancing entry of new companies. customer experience. To better understand the current and future roles of design in the automotive sector, Warwick Business School has conducted a research project on behalf of Design Council, building on evidence produced in our 2014 report Leading Business by Design. Main themes Innovation and growth Collaboration Several companies are using Effective collaboration within design to propose and introduce and between organisations is new ideas. Avoiding the trap of fundamental for successful ‘designing by committee’, some products and services. Examples car manufacturers (known as in this report show the benefits of original equipment manufacturers cross-functional collaborations, or OEMs1), in collaboration with strategic partnerships between key suppliers, have been able automotive firms and new to experiment with and test new collaborations with traditionally ‘languages’ through concept cars, non-automotive companies. In prototyping successful models with the context of collaboration, novel exterior and interior designs design is able to help: and interfaces. Here, design has played a fundamental role in: – provide alternative viewpoints and challenge existing offerings – exploiting opportunities – convert ideas into objects arising from innovations in through visualisation and new materials interpretation – reinforcing existing brands and – enhance brand complementarity giving them greater relevance in buyer-supplier collaborations. – communicating and facilitating adoption of new technology. However, these benefits depend on designers’ early involvement in development, collaborative work with buyers/suppliers, support from top management and the ability of the Design Director to act as design champion. 1. OEMs are companies which provide parts to other companies’ end products. As many automotive companies use parts from various brands within the manufacturing process, a majority of car companies are in fact OEMs. 06/07 Designers’ skills Future trends and competences Increasing vehicle automation, Traditionally, automotive industry pervasive digital technology, designers have been able to bring entry of non-automotive firms, together aesthetics, functionality, environmental and safety concerns ease of use and product and changes in consumer habits – manufacturability. In line with eg, the shift from car ownership to current trends, however, they must car as service – are considerably develop a wider set of skills that impacting the industry and go beyond traditional automotive affecting design. For example, design and be able to work fast-moving digital technology across fields and collaborate with must be incorporated in models various functions and suppliers, with much longer life cycles. particularly new ones. They will Here, design could: need to: – help reconcile the physical – be familiar with emerging and digital car by creating market trends across an processes and models with array of industries in addition high inbuilt flexibility to automotive, including the – use new technology to automate development of new materials mundane, repetitive tasks and and new technologies create new features which are – become more involved in valued by customers organisational processes, – create appealing interiors and stakeholder management and human-machine interfaces (HMI)2 cultural change that meet emotional needs, as – look beyond the present needs driving, even if autonomous, will and capabilities of the vehicle still be experiential. – consider products and services more holistically – increasingly focus on user experience rather than the product per se. This will create opportunities, especially for user experience and interaction designers. 2. HMI manages how people interact with and use a car’s features and capabilities (eg, the responsiveness, efficiency, sensations and intuitiveness); it is becoming very important, as vehicle users are increasingly expecting to interact with technology in cars, but this should not become a source of distraction for drivers. Recommendations This report makes eight recommendations for business leaders, designers and policymakers. 1. Use design strategically 3. Don’t just use design for Design in the automotive premium products industry is not just ‘styling.’ Good design can make a It combines aesthetics, difference in all segments, from ergonomics, technology and luxury to compact cars. It is understanding of the market to highly appreciated by customers create products and services and differentiates from that create positive user competition. It can also embody experiences. To play this role, brand values and connect design must be able to influence brand promises to customer strategic decisions. This is only experience – at any price level. possible if top management understands and appreciates 4. Promote cross-functional design and the Chief Designer collaboration champions it inside and Successful products and outside the firm. Moreover, top services are the result of clear management should invest in processes in which every design and protect designers’ relevant stakeholder – internal work, particularly when and external – is involved developing novel products and from the start. This means visual languages. continuous, collaborative relationships between functions 2. Focus on user experience such as design, engineering and We are moving from product marketing – as well as end users. ownership to mobility services.3 Therefore, designers should focus more on the overall user experience than product creation, developing and exploiting technology with users’ functional, behavioural and emotional needs in mind. 3. Mobility services are a variety of transportation service arrangements that enable people to travel smartly and efficiently without owning a vehicle. 08/09 5. Value different viewpoints 7. Establish partnerships Every function brings a unique with new suppliers perspective. Rather than As digital technology attempting to create one version revolutionises the image and of ‘the truth’, organisations use of cars, automotive firms should promote mutual must build open, honest and understanding between groups trustworthy relationships with through, for example, sharing traditionally non-automotive space and regular meetings. suppliers. 6. Create clear processes 8. Provide