Knowledge-based Risk Management - a Competitive Advantage in the Automotive Industry

LÜBECK, Germany - April 23, 2013 - PRLog -- PLATO, a German provider of software solutions for system and risk analysis (FMEA) - from requirement to DVP&R, complemented by action and SOP management - provided Behr, a systems partner of the international automotive industry, with an excellent solution for sharing lessons learned by risk management across departments and country borders.

With PLATO SCIO™, Behr established a solid basis for efficient problem solution management and has been able to execute complex projects for its worldwide customers in due time.

The Behr Group is one of the world’s leading manufacturers and suppliers of original equipment for light vehicles and trucks. As Behr employs some 17,400 staff at 36 production locations and 17 R&D centers worldwide, it was looking for a way of sharing lessons learned by risk management across departments and international borders for its global projects.

A Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) is a standard requirement for automotive suppliers. With FMEA, potential errors in products and processes can be identified at an early stage, evaluated, and minimized or eliminated. So, Behr started creating product families from its generic FMEAs. These generic FMEAs were released, disseminated, and archived along a predefined workflow.

When a new project is being developed, the project manager and his team can learn about known errors and problems by using the corresponding generic FMEA as baseline for the new project FMEA. The project FMEA can be modified when new faults, problems or claims arise and changes in design or processes are needed. This “new” knowledge (“lessons learned”) will be reviewed and may, if appropriate, be integrated into the generic FMEA as well. All FMEA staff that had generated a baseline from this generic FMEA are informed about the modification and can decide whether they would like to integrate these changes into their customized project FMEA.

“Now, a continuously growing knowledge base exists which enjoys a high acceptance rate among users, and which provides a very good FMEA basis for the project teams”, confirms Jürgen Heinzelmann, group quality management, Behr GmbH & Co. KG: “Moreover, the SCIO™ software solution from PLATO AG offers excellent, systematic support for the generation of a system FMEA, for baseline FMEA management, and for lessons learned from the development projects.”

“With SCIO™-FMEA, PLATO provides customers from all over the world with a highly professional, effective, and efficient software solution for FMEA. In addition to the main benefit of SCIO™-FMEA, a reduction of time and effort due to its simple handling and operation, SCIO™-FMEA can, combined with SCIO™-Template-Manager, form the basis for efficient problem solution management which turns into a true competitive advantage”, adds Andreas Grossmann, CEO of PLATO.

PLATO SCIO™ is FMEA software which is well known in Germany - home of the automotive industry with the highest quality standards worldwide. On May 6-8, PLATO will be exhibiting at ASQ’s World Conference on Quality and Improvement (WCQI) 2013 in Indianapolis, IN, introducing their solutions Made in Germany to the global community of quality improvement professionals. Focusing on their system and risk analysis (FMEA) solutions, more products and services for complex quality processes, which are e.g. characteristic for the automotive industry, will be presented. For further information, please refer to http://www.plato.de/asq and http://youtu.be/B01_36Iuvkc or contact: Stephan.Reinke@plato.de



About PLATO AG
PLATO’s services include analysis and consultancy as well as development, implementation, and customization of software solutions for engineering, compliance, and quality management. More than 80,000 software licenses have been sold to over 600 customers worldwide, coming from different industries, such as automotive, health care, manufacturing, and renewable energy technology. PLATO’s workshops, training sessions, and webinars are characterized by excellent know-how, unique expertise in engineering and compliance and, above all, by over 20 years of experience, especially in the automotive industry.

About Behr GmbH & Co. KG
Behr GmbH & Co. KG, Stuttgart, is a specialist for automotive air-conditioning and engine cooling systems and one of the world’s leading manufacturers and suppliers of original equipment for light vehicles and trucks. Group sales in the 2011 business year came to EUR 3.7 billion. Currently, Behr employs some 17,400 staff at 36 production locations and 17 R&D centers worldwide. Behr’s goal is to expand the company's international position as the leader in innovations and become the number one in customer service worldwide.