Brendalen Special Vehicles
Niche vehicle manufacturer, three platforms, one new launch per year
- Engagement
- 24 weeks
- Office
- Munich
- Lead partner
- Katharina Brandt
The challenge
Brendalen's launches were famous for slipping: the last three took 41, 44, and 39 weeks from design freeze to stable rate, each slip burning working capital and dealer patience.
What we did
Katharina's team rebuilt the NPI gates with named entry and exit criteria, brought the two key suppliers into design review two, and staffed the pilot build with the production crew on the production calendar.
A single release calendar now governs engineering, purchasing, and the plant; gate skips require a logged decision from the program board, which meets weekly for forty minutes.
The outcome
The next launch reached stable rate in 19 weeks from design freeze — less than half the recent average — with first-pass yield at 97 percent by week four of ramp.
Design freeze to stable rate −22 weeks
First-pass yield at ramp week 4 +13%
Late engineering changes −31 count
Bars are scaled per metric against its own maximum. Direction of improvement: Design freeze to stable rate, First-pass yield at ramp week 4, Late engineering changes — see each metric.
| Metric | Before | After | Change | Improvement |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Design freeze to stable rate | 41 weeks | 19 weeks | −22 weeks | Lower is better |
| First-pass yield at ramp week 4 | 84 % | 97 % | +13% | Higher is better |
| Late engineering changes | 37 count | 6 count | −31 count | Lower is better |
Expertise behind this program
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