Nissan Motor Corporation

Product Lifecycle Management Case Study

April 2008

A CIMdata Case Study

Nissan Motor Corporation

Product Lifecycle Management Case Study

April 2008

Produced by
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Copyright 2008 by CIMdata, Inc. All rights reserved.

Nissan Motor Corporation

Product Lifecycle Management Case Study

Todays automotive industry is global, both in terms of customers spread across
multiple regions (from mature and emerging markets) and manufacturers and
suppliers scattered around the world. The issue from an original equipment
manufacturers perspective is how to respond to and best satisfy complicated
demands while at the same time delivering attractive vehicles at higher quality
levels, at the right time, and at a reasonable price. Nissan appears to have an
appropriate answer to achieving these goals through product and process
innovation enabled by a sound PLM approach and solution. In the end, Nissan
has realized it with Shift the Proving Ground to deliver attractive models with
their conceptTrusted Driving Pleasure.

1. Introduction

Nissans plans call for the utilization of this new

development environment on all vehicle programs by 2010.

Regardless of your interest in the design and manufacturing

processes related to the vehicle you will purchase or are
currently driving, the latest model you own most likely has
been produced by digital technology operating within a
comprehensive Product Lifecycle Management (PLM)
environment. This is certainly the case when one considers
the latest vehicles from the Nissan Motor Corporation
(Nissan), such as the Infiniti G37 Coupe (Skyline Coupe in
Japan) the top of their brand (shown in Figure 1). Nissan,
founded in 1933 and headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, has
extensively deployed and utilized a fully digital PLMenabled environment to design both the vehicle and the
processes used to manufacture it. Nissan has coupled their
development environment of the future initiative to new
strategic business concepts to increase their success in the
global automotive market. The Infiniti G37 Coupe is the
fourth vehicle program in which Nissan has utilized this
new digital environment to bring a new model to market.

The world of vehicle design and manufacture is evolving

along with the Information Technology (IT) application
software used to support the process throughout all phases
of the vehicle programs lifecycle; from customer
requirements and conceptual design, to detail and
production design and manufacturing, to sales support and
maintenance services. The vehicle development
technologies that support the design of both the vehicle and
its production processes are now distributed throughout the
organization on every engineers workstation. Gone are the
days when hundreds of physical prototypes had to be
produced by hand just to satisfy the requirements of one
specific market. There is no doubt that todays vehicle
development environment is much more complex than that
of the past. Todays modern vehicle development
environments provide a wealth of well-defined product and
process information to all those in the organization that
require it, enabling them to more effectively perform their
tasks in the development of a vehicle that
must satisfy the requirements of multiple
markets.

Figure 1The Latest Model from Nissan: The Infiniti G37 Coupe
(Skyline Coupe in Japan, Courtesy of Nissan)

Nissan Motors PLMA CIMdata Case Study

Todays automotive market is global. No

longer can Nissan or any other automotive
manufacturer design and deliver a vehicle to
only one market in a cost-effective manner.
No longer can Nissan afford to develop a
new vehicle in one market and hope that it
will satisfy the requirements of others. As a
result, these development programs need to
be global and multi-cultural in nature. This
complexity is made more severe by the fact
that todays vehicle is filled with an ever-

Page 1

increasing number of complex electromechanical systems

that include a significant amount of embedded software. As
if this isnt enough, the typical automotive manufacturer
finds itself under an ever-increasing regulatory weight
where each country where the product is to be sold and
serviced continues to add requirements for safety,
environmental concerns, etc.

Future, are at the core of Nissans values and business

philosophies.
Much of the information technology that is currently used
to digitally create, design, and manufacture Nissans
vehicles has been utilized in the aerospace industry for
some time. Its availability to the automotive industry, in
many ways, means that a new era of product and process
definition is now in place enabled by todays PLM
solutions, which include a host of enabling technologies
such as CAD, CAM, CAE, PDM, Digital Manufacturing,
and visualization.

Even under these circumstances, todays global automotive

original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) have become
more competitive when one considers the standard
measures of Quality, Cost, and Time (QCT). As a result,
they are increasingly challenged to differentiate themselves
and to respond to market demand in mature markets like
North America and Japan, some growing markets in
Europe, and very active and evolving markets in
developing counties like India and China. This means that
each and every OEM needs to establish its own strategicoriented business solution to sustain and grow the company
in this highly competitive global market. Nissan is no
exception to this rule. They are being challenged to
innovate the company, and as a result are focusing on
improving their Product Definition Model, which in
Nissans terms includes the process of creation,
dissemination and use, and management of the product
definition, through the extensive deployment of PLM
enabling solutions.

CIMdata defines Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) as

a strategic business approach that applies a consistent set of
business solutions in support of the collaborative creation,
management, dissemination, and use of product definition
information across the extended enterprise from concept to
end of lifeintegrating people, processes, and information.
PLM forms the product information backbone for a
company and its extended enterprise. It is composed of
multiple elements including: foundation technologies and
standards (e.g., XML, visualization, collaboration, and
enterprise application integration), information authoring
tools (e.g., MCAD, ECAD, and technical publishing), core
functions (e.g., data vaults, document and content
management, workflow and program management), and
functional applications (e.g., configuration management),
and business solutions built on the other elements. Nissans
PLM concept is illustrated in Figure 2.

Nissans approach to marketing and selling cars is evolving

from a classical model that dates back to the 1970s. This
legacy model focused on providing a vehicle of equal
Todays globally competitive automotive industry demands
quality and performance at a lower price point than its
PLMa business strategy that seeks to enable innovation
competitors. This approach was very successful in gaining
of an enterprises product and product definition related
a market position in new
markets such as North America
Concept Phase
Development Phase
Production Phase
and Europe. Nissan built on
precise
Applied Model
their
earlier
success
by
CAD
consistently seeding the markets
precise
precise
Global Market
they entered, especially North
Applied Model
Applied Model
Applied Model
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lier
Applied Model
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America, with their signature
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technological improvements and
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by focusing on superior
customer service programs.
Parts Property
Cost / Weight/Material/Production Site
Nissans classical approach has
evolved and expanded to include
a focus on safety and
BOP
environmental issues, as well as
an enhanced focus on their
historic position as a leader in
delivering
high-performance CAE/CAT
Result of Test
Template
Result of Simulation
Result of Digital TestResult of Simulation
vehicles.
Their
current
Figure
2Nissans
PLM
Concept:
Empowerment
by
PLM
marketing campaigns, Driving
(Courtesy of Nissan)
Pleasure and Shifting to the
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Nissan Motors PLMA CIMdata Case Study

processes, making sure that the enterprises people,

processes, and technologies are continuously improved in a
closed-loop fashion. The importance of PLM is heightened
due to the fact that todays OEMs need to continue to
shorten time-to-market while at the same time designing
more complex globally-applicable vehicles and associated
manufacturing capabilities.

2. Issues: Challenges at Nissan

At the 2007 general meeting of shareholders, Mr. Carlos
Ghosn, Nissans CEO, described Nissans current and
future state, and specific strategies to be executed to
achieve the goals. Mr. Ghosns main message included
building Nissans brand image by delivering internally and
externally attractive designs, driving pleasure (see Figure
3), and a high level of customer service. He also reinforced
Nissans intent to stay competitive with regard to quality,
prices, and availability. Mr. Ghosn also mentioned the
companys continued focus on people investment
throughout their global operations and motivating their
people to work more efficiently and cross-functionally.
Finally, Mr. Ghosn stressed Nissans need to continue to
lead through innovation with a focus on R&D spending on
new technologies, safety features, and meeting societys
environmental expectations.

new CEO of Nissan who had come from Renault S.A.,

made a commitment to Nissans renewal. The initial
program, Nissan Revival Plan (NRP) as it was called,
defined a set of messages that included specific timeframes
for corporate improvement. Over the years, the program
was extended and renamed Nissan 180. This program
focused on profitable growth based on the completion of
the NRP. This program in turn was transformed into the
Nissan Value-Up Plan program, which focused on
sustaining growth by improving value throughout all phases
of the product lifecycle. Nissans revitalization programs
are well known in the industry and have been instrumental
in Nissans financial success.
Under the NRP program, Nissan formed a number of Cross
Functional Teams (CFTs). Each team was comprised of a
number of individuals throughout the organization, each
with a different background. The purpose of these teams
was to improve and solve, through cross-functional
communication and teamwork, a set of long-time business
issues that had plagued the organization. These issues
included the lack of profit orientation, lack of customer
orientation, lack of cross-functional and cross-border work
practices, lack of sense of urgency, and lack of shared
vision and common long-term plan. In all, Nissan formed
the following nine CFTs: Business Development,
Purchasing, Manufacturing & Logistics, R&D, Sales &
Marketing, G&A, Finance Cost, Product Phasing Cost, and
Organization. Each of these teams was instructed to
challenge the current status of the organization and the
manner in which it works, and to develop plans for
improvement.

2.1 Shifting the Proving Ground: The

Need for Innovative Products and
Processes

Figure 3Nissans Core Value: Trusted Driving Pleasure

(Courtesy of Nissan)

Mr. Ghosns message was a result of Nissans continued

and long-term effort to revive and modernize itselfan
effort that began in the late 1990s when finances were so
fragile that the company could not afford to maintain its
reputation for technological innovation, the traditional core
of its brand identity. In the autumn of 1999, Mr. Ghosn, the

Nissan Motors PLMA CIMdata Case Study

The CFT responsible for challenging the way R&D

operated spent much of its time studying and discussing
how new and innovative engineering processes could meet
Nissans changing business modela model that sought to
improve profitability and competitive position as well as
introduce more global products supported by a globallyoperating organization and supply base. This CFT needed
to find and establish a best practice-based methodology that
would consistently deliver the right model to the right
customer at right time and at the right profit level. One
specific area of attention for this R&D-focused CFT was
the body (herein, body refers to the Body-in-White
(BIW) and other associated parts and components except
for the chassis and powertrain; Nissan often refers to this as
Upper Body design, Uwaya in Japanese). For Nissan to

Page 3

improve in this critical vehicle design area, the CFT needed

to embed QCT best practices, including BIW
manufacturing process design into the overall body design
processes. Ultimately, the CFT felt that this required
capturing and managing product and process engineering
know-how in an enterprise database so that these
intellectual assets (i.e., corporate knowledge) could be reused across vehicle programs. The implementation of such
an environment has resulted in Nissans ability to deliver
vehicles in shorter development cycles while at the same
time keeping and increasing their quality, lowering cost
levels, and providing more attractive models to the global
automotive market.
It is interesting to note that over the last 30 years, Nissan
has seen a 20% increase in the amount of development
work required to design a new vehicle platform. According
to Nissan, this increase is a direct result of the increase in
vehicle complexity due to increased safety and
environmental demands, and the mechatronics content of
the vehicle. Nissan points out that this 20% increase would
have been much higher were it not for the reduction in
workforce they have been able to accomplish due to a
significant increase in product and process knowledge and
part re-use. Overall, this increased complexity has placed
additional pressure on the organization to implement new
innovative engineering processes and/or systems to
optimize its workforce further to address these additional
complexities.
One of the major initiatives that the R&D CFT seriously
considered was the deployment of additional information
technology (IT) in support of Nissans development
process. By doing so, the CFT hoped to gain efficiency
during the preparation of product definition information
resulting in a dramatic reduction of development time. In
addition, the CFT hoped that this new and innovative IT
supported process would facilitate the digitization of their
product lifecycle processes since it would be enabled with
fully-developed 3D product modelsmodels that would be
leveraged throughout the lifecycle and the extended
enterprise to support the definition of dies, fixtures, and
complete manufacturing processes, and would be used to
ensure the availability of quality product information to
everyone who needs it.
The R&D CFT also sought to extend the initial enablement
of product development processes, especially the body
design processes, with additional focus on simulation and
validation techniques. The implementation of these new
techniques and supporting technologies have already
proven to accelerate product development and increase
product quality from styling freeze (i.e., all product
definition information is ready so that production

Page 4

engineering and physical prototypes can be prepared by the

various working groups involved, including the supplier
community) to Start of Production (SOP) by decreasing the
number of physical prototypes and increasing the speed at
which manufacturing process optimization has taken place.
To realize this goal, Nissan has had to move from three
physical prototypes to one while at the same time putting
into place technologies that supported their shift from
physical testing to digital testing as the proving ground.
As part of the NRP, the R&D CFT and other product
development supporting CFTs and their implemented
improvements have resulted in a higher level of process
confidence and a reduction of the development cycle (i.e.,
from styling freeze to SOP) of more than ten months (from
21 months to 10.5 months). Nissan reports that in the
Spring of 2001, they evolved the NRP into the Value-Up
Innovation of Product, Process and Program (V-3P) that
was designed to focus on design and delivery of more
attractive vehicle models to the global automotive market.

3. Deployment
Nissans V-3P has proven to be a significant step forward
for Nissan. This program, which included a sizeable budget
for purchasing and implementation of PLM-enabling
technologies (e.g., CAD/CAM/CAE/CAT and PDM, and
the necessary hardware), is the responsibility of Mr. Keigo
Fukushi, General Manager and V-3P Program Director.
Beyond the technology element of the program, it also
included funding and resources for people, including a new
production engineering team, and application development.
Mr. Fukushi works within the Process Information
Management Department. This department is part of
Nissans R&D Engineering Management Division based in
Atsugi, Kanagawa, Japan. The commitment made by the
organization with regard to V-3P has been significant. The
programs initial goal, as defined at its launch in the Spring
of 2001, was to define, implement, and utilize the new V3P process to design and deliver a completely new global
vehicle platform by the September 2004 Paris Auto Show.
This new vehicle, known as the Tone concept model, was
sold as the Note in Japan initially and supported by the
marketing phrase SHIFT_compact flexibility, which
Nissan believed captured its V-3P vision and intent.

3.1 Defining theV-3P Program and its

Goals
Nissan simply and clearly defines V-3P as follows:

Nissan Motors PLMA CIMdata Case Study

The activity of dramatically improving QCT

metrics by creating and capturing Nissans
Know-How about KURUMA-ZUKURI (i.e.,
vehicle design and manufacture best practices)
into an enterprise accessible database
Consistently executing the development process
from Styling Freeze to SOP in 10.5 months
utilizing one physical prototype prior to formal
production

To achieve the V-3P vision, Nissan quickly realized that it

needed to define and make an extensive set of changes to
its vehicle development process and their fundamental
approach to standardization of various aspects of design.

3.2 Standardization
For many years, standardization has been a common
buzzword throughout the automotive and other industries.
In many ways, the standardization of parts and components
is a common expectation in the automotive industry (i.e.,
defining and utilizing common parts, components, and
systems across multiple vehicle platforms) and is something
that is well supported by todays PLM solutions. For most
companies, this has meant standardization around single
parts or simple assemblies in order to reduce internal costs
or costs associated with purchasing. For some, this has
meant using existing designs and morphing them into new
parts and assemblies. Unfortunately, these typical
techniques tend to not deliver QCT benefits after SOP.
Because of this, Nissan decided that their V-3P process
needed to be more advanced and proactive, delivering
benefits throughout the product lifecycle. They felt that an
incremental improvement was not sufficient.
The ultimate goal for Nissans standardization directive, in
V-3P terms, was to create a complete product and process
definition; one that described the entire vehicle, including
the production process definition and other information that
covered all of the product and process issues within the
scope of developing and delivering a car to the market.
From the beginning, V-3Ps goal was to establish Nissans
know-how database related to the design and production
processes; namely establishing MONO-ZUKURI (i.e.,
equal meaning to KURUMA-ZUKURI, but a more general
industry term) know-how as the standard supported by
solid and proven processes that are enabled by technology
that support history-based 3D CAD architecture instead of
the old paper-based system. Overall, Nissan is able to use
templates that enhance the databases content and context
for further model development within the context of
validated best practices. Nissan believes that 40% of those
processes may be standardized elements and therefore

Nissan Motors PLMA CIMdata Case Study

should be automated, and that the remaining 60% are more

likely to be vehicle model-specific processes that include
30% of an engineers decision process in design. Nissan
names it Know-How CAD and templates were also used
to incorporate design process best practices for re-use and
improvement as required in support of QCT initiatives
across the entire product lifecycle. Nissan named this
standardization directive Digitalized Knowledge.

3.3 Process Changes

Historically, Nissans engineering process (used to define
product definition information up to SOP) was comprised
of two major phases. The first phase was partially
concurrent in nature, with Styling, Design, Production, and
Production Preparation tasks executing simultaneously to
define the product definition information and to provide it
to production engineering as a styling freeze. The second
phase focused on prototyping production to develop
additional rich product information including production
process definitions, and actual vehicle test and validation
data taken from the three physical prototypes constructed
prior to SOP. With Nissans deployment of 3D modeling
technologies in the late 1990s, Nissans engineering
process gained a certain level of efficiency and cut the time
it took to get to SOP to approximately 20 months
comparable to other Japanese OEMs and shorter than most
European and US-based OEMs who were taking
approximately 35 months at that time. For Nissan, this
improvement was not good enough.
To achieve the desired efficiency gains, Nissan had to find
and implement a more advanced approach. The approach
Nissan took sought to incorporate richer and more mature
context into the product definition information by the end
of Styling Freeze. Nissan accomplished this by involving
more partners in the development process earlier, and by
focusing on the use of only one physical prototype prior to
SOP. In many ways, this forced Nissan to greatly enhance
the maturity of their vehicles virtual product and process
definition, including the validation of this information prior
to SOP. Without doing this, Nissan would not be able to
successfully assembly the vehicle at SOP. At the core of
this approach is what Nissan described as Digital
Collaboration. This collaborative approach simultaneously
involves participants from various development
organizations, including Styling, Design, Production, and
Production Preparation, in a tight partnership. This process,
which is now called Digital Lot, is a very innovative
processone that could not have been achieved without
shifting Nissans culture and how its people work,
dramatically changing multiple processes, and aggressively

Page 5

Figure 4Accelerating Production Engineering Studies

(Courtesy of Nissan)

using IT in support of collaborative engineering and the

deployment of simulation and validation technology for
what Nissan describes as Digital Evaluation. Figure 4
summarizes Nissans improvements gained through
standardization and digital evaluation.

3.4 Process Innovation and

Standardization: A Historical
Prospective
To understand how Nissan was able to shift to a digital
environment as defined by the V-3P program, it is
important to review the path and various product datarelated improvement activities that Nissan has taken over
the years. Nissan recognized that the utilization of 3D
models and the proper management of product information
are essential to enable an effective digital environment for
defining the virtual product design and production
processes, as well as linking the virtual product with the
physical product. Much of this was due to Nissans
experiences in switching from their corporate homegrown
CAD system, based on 3D proprietary wire-frame
technology, to a commercially-available 3D solids based
CAD system (i.e., I-deas from SDRC, now supported by
Siemens PLM Software) in the mid-1990s.
Nissans recognition that they needed to standardize on a
commercially-available 3D CAD package was also due to
their understanding that they needed to support their global
enterprise, including the integration of its suppliers. From
the beginning, Nissan expended a significant effort on
incorporating their design process into I-deas and utilizing

Page 6

the 3D model as part of a fairly

comprehensive Digital Mockup and
Design Review (DMDR) process.
Nissans
efforts
shortened
the
development cycle to approximately 20
months and allowed them to
successfully create production molds
without physical prototyping, in a
process Nissan calls One Shot Formal
Mold. In the area of supplier
integration, Nissan applied European
OEM-styled modular responsibilities,
where suppliers deliver integrated and
completely assembled modules. The
adoption of this approach has provided
Nissan with significantly more
flexibility for the introduction of new
models.

Nissan has spent a significant amount

of time and effort to ensure that
product definition information is prepared appropriately
and accurately within a streamlined and digitalized manner.
Their ability to do this is a key element in innovating their
vehicle development process under the V-3P program.
Nissan calls this ability Data-Show and it represents an
initiative in the activity of product data definition
management. Show here is the Japanese pronunciation
for the Kanji character pictured in Figure 5. Show holds a
significant meaning for Nissan; it can be translated as
Core, Important Role, or Pivotal, and it may express
an extended meaning of Balancing or Impact by adding
one or more small Japanese characters. As fundamental as
Data-Show is for Nissan, their dedication to ensuring that
accurate product information is given to the next step in the
vehicle development process is also important. Without
being able to do so, Nissan would not be able to create
accurate designs for simulation and validation of the digital
product and manufacturing processeskeys to an efficient

Figure 5Symbolized, Japanese Character Show

Represents Preparing in Practice Accurate Product
Information at Nissan

Nissan Motors PLMA CIMdata Case Study

and productive PLM environment. It is interesting to note

that Nissan owns and tracks a proprietary metric that
measures the maturity of product definition information
(i.e., its accuracy) for new parts. Nissan reports that they
have seen steady improvement with regard to this metric
(they have reported that they achieved 95% in 2004).

3.5 New Process Examples

This section lists a few specific examples to provide a
better understanding of the types of processes that Nissan
has implemented.
Standardized
DesignNissan
examined
existing paper-based design processes, and
extended them with the inclusion of additional
production engineering process content and
supplier community collaboration, and then
defined and established a new procedure called
digital flow. This procedure leverages an
integrated database environment that contains
standard structures, i.e., templates containing
history-based 3D solid CAD data modeled in Ideas. Design engineers working within this
environment can create geometry while
following the appropriate quality standards and
taking advantage expertise and know-how via
the environments web interface (see Figure 6).

Figure 6Knowledge Database with Template Approach

(Courtesy of Nissan)

Performance AnalysisIn this area, Nissan has

spent a significant amount of effort expanding
the availability and use of simulation and
validation technologies in support of virtual
testing. As a result, Nissan has deployed several
software applications, mainly from global
vendors, in support of conventional Structure
Analysis, Crash Analysis, Flow Analysis, Engine
Performance Analysis, Mechanical Analysis,
Electromagnetic
Analysis,
Optimization,
Modeling,
and
Animation.
With
the
implementation of the V-3P program, Nissan

Nissan Motors PLMA CIMdata Case Study

placed a specific emphasis on enabling virtual

crashing testing and other virtual testing that
would support their desire to utilize only one
physical prototype. Nissan reports that the
implementation of these technologies has
allowed (so far) accurate and predicable digital
evaluation of approximately 45% of a vehicles
items. Nissan reports that they have successfully
applied these digital evaluation technologies on
the 2003 Note program and in that vehicle
program they were able to accurately evaluate
95% of its thousands of items. According to
Nissan, this was the highest rate ever accurately
digitally prototyped and it has validated that they
could reduce the number of physical prototypes
used during development with predictable and
accurate analysis processes.
Production and Plant EngineeringAs
described above, production engineering is now
supported in the early design phase with KnowHow CAD, which provides the ability to reuse
intellectual assets, which are now stored in a
database. This is a major improvement over the
old conventional process where information was
gathered based on physical prototyping. Nissan
established two phases to validate production
processes (e.g., Press, Welding, Body, Resin,
Powertrain,
and
Assembly)
with
the
implementation of the V-3P program. To
accomplish this, Nissan has implemented a
number of software applications in support of
Product Process Simulation, Die Product
Simulation, Analysis Simulation, and Digital
Testing. With the support of these applications
and the new processes they support, Nissan has
been able to more quickly transform the designs
in the physical plant. Besides being able to reach
the SOP quicker, Nissan reports that the
resulting product lines and their interaction with
suppliers have been of a much higher quality.
With this success, Nissan established new
production support facility as a part of V-3P
program. This new facility, which was
established in April 2007, is called the Global
Production Engineering Center (GPEC) and is
located in Zama of Kanagawa, Japan. Its purpose
is to focus on production process optimization
through the use of production trials and analysis
to achieve the best quality at SOP at the same
level on a global basis.
Visualizing
Product
and
Process
InformationIn support of this, Nissan has
deployed what it calls Computer Graphics (CG)
to support the process of styling evaluation.
CGs purpose is to allow virtual evaluation of a

Page 7

vehicles styling on one large-scale screen. It has

been expanded into the production area to allow
inexperienced workers to visualize and better
understand assembly techniques that have been
defined by skilled experts, and it is now part of
Nissans e-learning system.

3.6 IT Solution View

In order to realize V-3Ps vision, where product and
process innovation is at the core, Nissan needed to
implement the appropriate information technology (IT) as
an enabler. As described previously, Nissan replaced its
proprietary CAD software with a
globally-available,
commercial
CAD tool and moved to a 3D
design paradigm. Nissan strongly
feels that their decision to purchase
commercially-available software
and to utilize the industry-proven
best practices that have been
embedded in them has allowed the
company to create and maintain
3D designs that are of a high
quality,
without
incurring
continuous in-house software
development expenses. From the
beginning of the V-3P initiative,
Nissan has focused on building
their specific vehicle development
processes on the purchased
software
and
continuously
improving them so that they can
economically sustain the business
and enable a competitive edge. For Nissan, this has been a
fundamental philosophy for the implementation and use of
enabling technologies.
In addition to tools that create product definition
information, Nissans V-3P program has recognized the
importance of product data management technologies.
Nissan considers these technologies as another critical and
core-enabling component of the V-3P program. As
described previously, Nissans Data-Show ability
demands that product definition information is accurate and
that it covers all aspects of a vehicles definition, including
its production processes. This is no simple process since the
collaborative environment needs to support multiple
organizations on a concurrent basis, and provide access to
the right product definition information, in the desired
format, to the right person, at right the time, in a quick
manner. This is further complicated due to the diversity of
the information managed, which includes 3D geometry,

Page 8

raw materials, weight, various specifications, FEM and

other analyses, prototype test instruction, reports, process
sheets, tooling, assembly instructions, regulation, etc. that
all have multiple relationships. On top of this complexity,
the volume of data to be managed is significant. For Nissan,
this environment demanded the implementation and use of
a PDM solution to manage this complexitya solution that
could manage, disseminate, and provide controlled access
in a collaborative fashion to its product definition
information. To support this need, Nissan implemented
Teamcenter Engineering as part of the V-3P program (IT
systems map illustrated in Figure 7).

Figure 7Nissan IT Systems Map

(Courtesy of Nissan)

4. Initial Results
After years of executing the V-3P program, Nissan proved
that it could design and deliver a new vehicle (i.e., the
Note) to the market in a shorter period of time and at the
high quality level required. As described earlier, the Note
project proved that Nissan could reduce the time it takes to
reach SOP from styling freeze (from 21 months to 10.5
months). This reduction was a result of process innovation
that incorporated the production engineering process into
an earlier design stage, along with the standardization of
corporate know-how related to re-use. Additionally, Nissan
was able to reduce the number of physical or production
prototypes it constructed prior to SOP by utilizing various
simulation and validation techniques that proved to be
accurate and repeatable. Shortening the development cycle
continues to be one of Nissans key targets and a clear

Nissan Motors PLMA CIMdata Case Study

measurement of the V-3P activity. However, there are a

couple of other key areas of focus though the V-3P
program that may be even more important for Nissans
future success.

4.1 Delivering Industry-Leading

Quality
To validate and clarify the results of its process innovation,
Nissan has been compiling statistics on two important
aspects (i.e., metrics) of the V-3P and its effect on the
vehicle development process. Nissan uses these metrics to
better understand and recognize V-3Ps contribution to its
business. These two metrics are:
Reducing Frequency of Design Changes
This metric measures the number of design
changes prior to SOP. According to Nissans
internal figures, before the V-3P implementation
they achieved an approximate 25% reduction of
design changes with the deployment of 3D CAD
modeling based on solids as compared to the
conventional design methodology previously
deployed. With the additional deployment of V3P and its associated process innovation and
enabling technologies, Nissan reports that they
measured a 75% reduction in design changes
during the execution of the Note vehicle
program. A follow-up vehicle program (i.e., the
Wingroad for family use and AD van for
business use), which was based on same
platform as the Note (internal B-platform),
reported an approximate 90% reduction as
compared with programs that were not supported
by V-3P program-defined processes and
technologies.
This
clearly
demonstrated
substantial improvements. In the G36 sedan
(Skyline in Japan) and G37 Coupe (Skyline
Coupe in Japan) vehicle program, which
represents the incorporation of a significant
amount of new vehicle technology (e.g.,
advanced safety design and the incorporation of
green technologies that protect the occupants in
an accident), the reduction measured 60%a
slightly lower rate than the Note and related
vehicles that are mainly comprised of matured
technologies and processes. This should be of
little surprise, since the G36/37 program utilized
a significant amount of first-time use
technologies that required extensive testing, and
the definition and trial of a number of new
manufacturing processes.
Increasing Market QualityIn many ways this
is a more significant metric than the reduction in

Nissan Motors PLMA CIMdata Case Study

design changes; it measures the number of errors

found during a specific period after the initial
release of a new vehicle to the market. Nissans
internal figures that compare previous models
that were designed using their conventional
vehicle development methodology show an
approximately 80% reduction in the number of
errors found in vehicles developed (e.g., Note,
Wingroad, and G36 sedan) using the V-3P
deployed process and enabling technologies.
Nissan is happy to see that their work to ensure
that both the product and process definition are
accurately defined prior to SOP has resulted in a
lower error rate once the vehicle has been
released to the market. Nissan feels that this is a
direct result of leveraging the digital design into
the validation of the production process itself.

4.2 Higher ROI than Expected

When ROI is considered, Nissan reports that they have
received better results than they had originally expected.
According to Mr. Fukushi, Nissan estimates that a
significant ROI on a direct revenue basis has resulted by
applying this newly-developed innovation process. Mr.
Ghosn has commented that he recognizes that this new
innovative approach was the right way for Nissan to
become a more innovative company and is a result of the
commitment made by the R&D CFT. Additionally, Mr.
Ghosn commented that the project illustrated a good
practice where people work together to create and deliver
the right product to the market with the support of welldefined technologies and processes, and based on their
intellectual assets and corporate knowledge.
In addition to the above-mentioned ROI metrics, this
transformation will undoubtedly provide much larger
benefits as Nissan delivers well-defined and new attractive
models to the market that display Nissans competitive
advantage and their Driving Pleasure strategy. Finally, it
should be noted that Nissan has already decided to
implement V-3P process improvements and enabling
technologies to support all new vehicle programs. Nissan
expects the implementation to be completed by 2010.

5. Current and Future Plans

Nissans current and future plans for its PLM initiative can
be divided into the following three main areas:
Enhance products and processes by continuous
incorporation of feedback

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Support additional business initiatives and

lifecycle phases
Expand V-3P fully to the supplier community

5.1 Enhance Products and Processes by

Continuous Incorporation of
Feedback
Nissan will continue to enhance and mature the intellectual
assets related to its products and processes in support of the
V-3P methodology by continuously incorporating feedback
(i.e., lessons learned) in a closed loop manner into new
vehicle development (see Figure 8). In general, this is
expected to result in the ability to respond in a timelier and
accurate manner to changes in market demand with the ontime delivery of Nissans brand strategy and will improve
Nissans intellectual property with confidence.

process in support of cost management throughout the

vehicle development process.

5.3 Expand V-3P Fully to the Supplier

Community
To date, the implementation of the V-3P process at Nissan
has supported four vehicle programs. This support has
proven to be beneficial, but not without its own difficulties;
especially those associated with the incorporation of the
supplier community within the V-3P program and their
ability to deliver assembled modules and components that
met the shorten development cycle time. To accelerate the
delivery of both product information and physical
components to Nissans integrated process, suppliers will
need to improve their product and processes to a level
comparable to V-3P. To facilitate this, Nissan is open to
disclosing the V-3P methodology to their supplier base as a
partner who wishes to share their
newfound benefits to the market.

Figure 8V-3P Extends Product and Process Knowledge

5.2 Support Additional Business

Initiatives and Lifecycle Phases
Nissan plans to extend the now-proven V-3P approach and
its enabling technologies to additional lifecycle phases,
such as the Idea Phase that focuses on early vehicle
concept development. Furthermore, they plan to focus on
areas related to cost management. Nissan is quick to clarify
that this does not only mean the implementation of a quick
to execute process that supports cost management, but that
they will need to define and implement an innovative

Page 10

Currently, Nissan plans to migrate its

corporate CAD system to NX in late
2008, building on an advanced pilot
program that has already been
started. Nissan expects to complete
this roll-out in both the body and
powertrain areas by the end of 2010.
With this announcement, Nissan
made it known that they will use
Teamcenter as their CAD data
management solution for NX. They
also announced that they will provide
availability of lightweight JTformatted design data for viewing
purposes, and that they will use and
make available other tools such as
Data Quality Check with NX to the
suppler community.

6. Conclusion
CIMdata believes that Nissans V-3P program has proved
to be a very successful PLM implementation based on a
solid foundation and business strategy, and as result we
believe that many companies can learn from what Nissan
has accomplished.
Todays global market is filled with companies that have
made, or are in the process of undertaking significant
efforts to use and/or implement PLM, and as a result,
expect to receive sizeable benefits. As described at the

Nissan Motors PLMA CIMdata Case Study

beginning of this study, PLM is a strategic business

approach and not just a set of technologies, regardless the
size of the implementation or investment. To be successful
in a manner similar to that at Nissan, a company must
define and follow a very clear vision; starting from the
companys executive office. In turn, this vision must be
supported and shared with the rest of the enterprise
continuously (e.g., on a monthly basis the V-3P steering
committee meets and shares visible progress). The
company also needs to understand the defined goals and
communicate and support them with the appropriate level
of motivation so that PLM is properly pursued at a program
and project level.
From the beginning, Nissan had a clear goal in mindto
quickly and efficiently deliver an attractive car to the
market that met or exceeded market demands in a shorter
amount of time than previously required. Once this goal
was set, Nissans R&D group within the CFT construct
defined a new methodology to design and manufacture
vehicles in an innovative manner. The vehicle development
processes now in place at Nissan have resulted in
measurable benefits and are validated through the
development and delivery of four new vehicles to the
market. In addition, Nissan has enabled a rich 3D solid
model-based design environment that includes leveraging
the products 3D models for the definition of dies and other
manufacturing specific definition information (including
the definition of the manufacturing process) and the use of
extensive simulation for validating the entire body and its
associated components. Facilitated by the implementation
of V-3P, Nissan has shown its ability to define and deliver
quicker than ever, more accurate and complete vehicle and
manufacturing process designs, as well as complete product
information that can be used by the next
action or process throughout the
organization and reused as corporate
knowledge.
Nissan has implemented their new product
lifecycle management environment by
integrating industry-proven best practices
with a set of technologies, including
commercially-available software (e.g., 3D
CAD tools and PDM software from
Siemens PLM Software). These elements
are at the core of Nissans ability to utilize
best practices in support of the design and
manufacture of vehicles, and to enable an
environment and associated processes that
differentiate Nissan and provide a
competitive advantage. Focus now should
be centered on refining and fine-tuning the

Nissan Motors PLMA CIMdata Case Study

processes now in place, and maximizing the use of the

technologies they are using.
It is worth noting that Nissan expended effort on not only
process and technology enablement, but also on people
issues that are always associated with the implementation
of new work practices. This reinforces CIMdatas PLM
triangle (see Figure 9) that describes the three most
important elements of any organizational change initiative,
namely People, Process, and Technologychanges require
continuous improvement of all elements in a closed loop
manner. Without doing so, companies that implement PLM
generally never reach the level of benefits possible.

People

QuickTime
LvO
sN`Kv- B

Product

&Process

Technology

Innovation

Process

Figure 9Three Essential Elements for

Successful Innovation with PLM

The environment that Nissan has implemented can be

simply defined as a collaborative PLM environment as
illustrated in Figure 10. This might appear to be a very
simple description, but it is a very innovative environment
as proven by the benefits already realized by Nissan. At the

Figure 10The V-3P Approach Enables a PLM-Based

Collaborative Working Model

Page 11

center or hub of this simple figure is PDM; a key enabler

that plays an important role in support of very complex
product definition information and processes used by
multiple groups for defining and delivering the right
information, to the right people, at the right time.
Finally, it should noted that Nissan has very clearly
demonstrated to the market that the vehicles designed and
produced digitally in their V-3P PLM environment are of a
higher quality than vehicles it has built previously. Nissan
has demonstrated a solid approach to implementing both
process and technology improvements and has achieved its
planned objectives. Nissans decision to migrate its entire
vehicle development environment to the V-3P approach by
2010 demonstrates the value that they believe is provided
by PLM.

About CIMdata
CIMdata, an independent worldwide firm, provides
strategic consulting to maximize an enterprises ability to

Page 12

design and deliver innovative products and services

through the application of Product Lifecycle Management
(PLM) solutions. CIMdata offers world-class knowledge,
expertise, and best-practice methods on PLM solutions.
These solutions incorporate both business processes and a
wide-ranging set of PLM enabling technologies.
In addition to consulting, CIMdata conducts research,
provides PLM-focused subscription services, and produces
several commercial publications. The company also
provides industry education through international
conferences in the US, Europe, and Japan that focus on
PLM. CIMdata serves clients worldwide from locations in
North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific. To learn more
about CIMdatas services, visit our website at
www.CIMdata.com or contact CIMdata at: 3909 Research
Park Drive, Ann Arbor, MI 48108, USA. Tel: +1 (734)
668-9922. Fax: +1 (734) 668-1957. In Europe: Siriusdreef
17-27, 2132 WT Hoofddorp, The Netherlands. Tel: +31
(0)23 568-9385. Fax: +31 (0)23 568-9111.

Nissan Motors PLMA CIMdata Case Study