CGI's scaled agile consulting expertise enables a global tier-1 automotive supplier to reduce product development lead time, improve production consistency and efficiency, and cut costs.

Moving to an agile way of working

Consumer demands for electric cars, autonomous driving, car sharing and in-vehicle connectivity are transforming the automotive industry. These trends have created a new software-driven value chain where agility, innovation and speed-to-market reign supreme.

Operating in this rapidly evolving market, a global automotive technology leader sought to stay ahead of intensifying competition by transforming how they worked to be more agile. In particular, the company was looking to use agile in a key business unit, which accounts for 20% of its revenue.

Process agility is business-critical

The particular business unit delivers scalable power management, electronics, software and connected services solutions. However, the teams were spread across various geographies. They also used the traditional waterfall-based approach that didn't consider the frequent iterations required in software development and the flexibility needed to make changes. Several SLDC processes were ad hoc and reactive, while the tools were legacy and unable to meet the product development requirements.

As a result, the company faced higher product development lead time and inconsistent production execution. They also wanted to reduce costs and boost efficiency.

Moreover, many employees had worked in this business unit for decades, using the same methodologies and processes for numerous years. A complete mindset change was also needed.

Pivoting to agile

Our client turned to us for our Agile Transformation expertise. Based on LADx, a component of CGI's Lean Enterprise Agile Pivot (LEAP), we provided a holistic approach focused on process transformation using product life cycle management technology, Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) and agile team methods. The goal was to transform a project-based waterfall-driven organization to a product and value stream-focused and flow-based delivery organization.

Joining the dots for a holistic approach

The first step was assessing maturity across skills, organizational model, processes and tools across all the locations. This included Spain (where the core team was located), as well as the U.S., Philippines, India, Germany and Morocco. A series of initial workshops with the client's senior management teams helped to drive executive and stakeholder alignment and the design and implementation of the agile operating model.

Our experts conducted ~50 workshops and trainings to support the application of SAFe, Agile Development and DevOps, preparing the organization and employees for their new roles and ways of delivering work in agile scrum teams, organized in product-based Agile Release Trains (ART). The SAFe implementation was further customized to the client’s unique cyber-physical business structure.

Learning fuels success

Utilizing our extensive experience as a Scaled Agile Global Transformation Partner, we coached, mentored and trained the product development teams, empowering them to use agile methodologies in real-life situations and embrace mindset change. This resulted in establishing a performance management system in various client locations.

Ahead of the engagement, to ensure we clearly understood our client's unique business requirements, CGI consultants underwent ASPICE (Automotive Software Process Improvement Capability Determination) training, an industry-standard guideline for evaluating software development processes in the automotive industry.

Delivering business value consistently

Taking a holistic view across people, processes, technology and tools, CGI helped the client deliver the following tangible benefits:

  • 60% improvement in the defect management process for a key product line
  • 21% improvement in the overall time taken to respond to change requests
  • 20% improvement in the cycle time of projects
  • Hundreds of leaders trained in the relevance and application of SAFe, Agile development and DevOps
  • Established a performance management system

 

“Right from the beginning, CGI worked with us as one team focused on the same goal. Their experts understood the specific organizational challenges we were dealing with in our agile transformation and helped us navigate them successfully.” - Product Development Lead