Virtual team working in the european automotive industry: User requirements and a case study approach

Abstract

The globalization of the automotive industry and increasing competition from U.S. and Asian-Pacific firms are forcing the European automotive industry to introduce information technology and telecommunications that enable more efficient collaboration along the supply chain, and hence a reduction in the time to market for new vehicles. This paper illustrates the nature of the automotive supply chain and summarizes current barriers to collaborative working between European automotive manufacturers and suppliers. To achieve a greater degree of concurrent engineering, organizational and user requirements are outlined, drawn from a series of collaborative European automotive projects. Finally, a case study is presented, based on the development, demonstration, and evaluation of a heterogeneous computer-supported cooperative working platform to support working between virtual teams during the product introduction process.