program selection system

Nobuaki Katayama, Chief Engineer of Lexus/SC and IS, talked to software engineers about process, principles, and practices of new car development in Toyota, at Developer’s Summit 2008 in Tokyo on Feb. 13, 2008. In this session, I’ll give his presentation, translated into English in place of him. It starts with CE Katayama’s introduction, explains management principles and practices of a huge car development project, and concludes with people side of the development. I add some episodes about Agile and engineering found during our pannel session of the conference.

1. Introduction of Mr. Nobuaki Katayama
   18 years of design of manual transmission
   4 years in motor sport
   Chief Engineer of Supra, LEXUS/SC, and LEXUS/IS
2. Three Phases of New Car Development
   (1)Planning and concept development
   Concept, Style, Market research, pre-development, Cost and profit target
   (2)Real car development
   Designing, Prototyping, Evaluation
   (3)Production and sales
   
3. Managing the development project
   Dedicated leadership
   Clear mile stones
   Mechanics to avoid “too late”
   Reliable backup
   
4. Resource Management
   People … 500,000 - 1,000,000 person hours
   Money … 200-300 million dollar
   
5. Cost Management
   
6. Bench Marking
   
7. Attitude of Leader
   
8. Message from ex-Chief Engineer
   “Do it until it is done” vs. “Do it until the time”
   “Notebook” vs. “Proposal Paper”
   “Go to war” vs. “Watching a war movie”
   “Refresh and health”