Augut 1, 2001
Consultancy services for restructuring
of development processes ordered by a major vehicle parts manufacturer
iTiD, ISID's consultancy subsidiary for
the manufacturing industry
iTiD Consulting (abbreviated name: iTiD; head office: Nakano-ku, Tokyo; capital: ¥300,000,000; CEO: Atsushi YOSHIMOTO), a strategic engineering consultancy subsidiary of Information Services International - Dentsu Ltd. (abbreviated name: ISID; head office: Nakano-ku, Tokyo; capital ¥8,180,500,000; President: Jutaro TAKINAMI) for the manufacturing industry has received an order from Fuji Kiko Co. Ltd. (head office: Kosai City, Shizuoka Prefecture; capital: ¥3,619,000,000; CEO: Kazunari KOMATSU) for consultancy services for restructuring of development processes.
[The order from Fuji Kiko Co. Ltd.]
In the fiercely price-competitive vehicle parts industry, vehicle manufacturers have made a strong demand to vehicle parts manufacturers that prices be cut by half and development times be greatly reduced. In response to the stern demand and in order to succeed in improving levels of customer satisfaction and global competition, Fuji Kiko Co. Ltd. has established its "Processes Rationalisation Committee", its purpose being to halve the time it takes to design and develop products.
Its actual aims are outlined below.
Aim: halve the time it takes to design and develop seat, shifter, steering and mechanical drive parts.
iTiD has been commissioned to provide consultancy services to help achieve these aims.
The decision to place the order was arrived at after evaluation by Fuji
Kiko Co. Ltd.'s of the knowledge of methods of application and operation
of digital technology such as CAD/CAM/CAE/PDM, and methods for restructuring
development processes fostered by ISID.
In the future, iTiD has its major aim through its consultancy services to:
1. drive towards analysis-led product development and design (quality improvement)
2. drive towards cooperative design (concurrent) making practical use of 3D information
3. build an environment where all kinds of information is commonly owned and applied in a practical way
4. restructure the design review system
5. move towards a culture of "verify before making" by practical use of high-level analysis and technology
[Scale of the order]
It is planned that the seven consultancy staff members of iTiD operate consultancy services over the next three years.
[About iTiD]
iTiD was established in June of this year as a joint venture between ISID and the American company International TechneGroup Inc. (head office: Milford, Ohio, United States; abbreviated name: ITI; representative: Dr. Jason R. Lemon), and commenced engineering services for the manufacturing industry from July.
ITI is an engineering consultancy company established in 1983, and offers consulting and support services for "restructuring" of business processes, based on the CP/PD (Concurrent Product / Manufacturing Process Development) methodology. CP/PD is a methodology which integrates development, design, production, delivery, and distribution using IT tools and implements a highly efficient production system based on simultaneous and parallel real-time data gathering for each of these areas. It has produced favourable results since its introduction at GE, IBM, Caterpillar and Fiat.
Since ISID began its CAE business in 1982, it has provided technical support to the Japanese manufacturing industry for CAD*1/CAM*2/CAE*3/PDM*4 software as well as its implementation and practical application. From 1995, it has annually undertaken more than 150 engineering consultancy projects, based around software implementation. In 1991, in business partnership with ITI, it has provided consultancy services, technical support services, and software for data exchange between different types of CADs and PDMs developed by ITI, and QFD*5 (Quality Function Deployment).
ISID recognises the fact that rationalisation of the manufacturing industry through restructuring of workplaces will soon reach its limits of efficiency, and the following strategy will be the next main stream of consultancy services.
- Focussing on a higher level of development and design which is not just an accumulation of "improvements", reducing the time taken for development and cutting back on use of resources by a drastic restructuring of business processes.
- Practical application of simulation technology based on 3D design, and almost complete elimination of the need for trial manufacturing and design reviews.
Many companies are also aware of this future source of competitive power in the manufacturing industry, and it is estimated there will be increasing demand in the future for consultancy services in this field.
With this situation in mind, iTiD was established to deploy full-scale engineering consultancy services with a new methodology at its core, backed by a strong combination of ISID's software implementation and operation technology and ITI's business process restructuring consultancy knowledge and experience.
It could be said that a company specialising in consultancy services in design and development in the manufacturing industry has never been seen before in Japan.
Please note that for the present iTiD sales activities will be carried
out by ISID. iTiD's expected turnover is approximately ¥1,500,000,000 in
its first year and approximately ¥2,000,000,000 in its second.
*1:Computer Aided Design
= designing and sketching products on a computer.
*2:Computer Aided Manufacturing
= manufacturing aided by automatic creation of machine tool processing data from data created with CAD.
*3:Computer Aided Engineering
= simulation under conditions of actual use, using models created with CAD, results are analysed and evaluated.
*4:Product Data Management
= concept to promote collaboration between engineers by unitary management of all data related to a product.
* 5:Quality Function Deployment
= method of assuring quality by collecting together customers' quality and function needs, indicating these on a matrix chart along with technical specifications, and carrying out analysis on which of these needs attention be focused taking into consideration the strategies of competitors, and thereby producing products which reflect this.
<Overview of Fuji Kiko Co. Ltd.>
Name: Fuji Kiko Co. Ltd.
Representative: Kazunari KOMATSU, CEO
Head office: 2028 Washizu, Kosai City, Shizuoka Prefecture
URL: http://www.fujikiko-group.co.jp
Established: November 1944
Capital: ¥3,619,000,000
Employees: 997 (at March 2001)
Turnover: ¥58,006,000,000
Business: Manufacture of automobile parts. Manufacture and sale of seat, shifter, steering and mechanical drive parts.
<Overview of iTiD Consulting Ltd.>
Name: iTiD Consulting Ltd. (abbreviated name: iTiD)
Representative: Atsushi YOSHIMOTO, CEO
Head office: 4-11-10 Nakano-ku, Tokyo
URL: http://www.itid.co.jp
Established: June 2001
Capital: ¥300,000,000
Employees: 30 (at 1 April 2001)
Projected turnover: ¥1,500,000,000 in its first year, ¥2,000,000,000 in its second
Business:
- Presentation of methods for optimisation of product development, design and market introduction processes based on new methodologies, and support in their application to business practices.
- Presentation of methods of introduction of mainly 3D CAD and CAE product design and development systems, and support in their application to business practices.
- Proposals for system software for data transfer between different CADs and PDMs (ISID will conduct sale of software licences as usual ).
