In a major initiative, The Procurement Forum and The SPICE User Group have been working together with the major motor vehicle manufacturers to develop an approach for assessing the software capability of their suppliers. A process assessment model, tailored from ISO/IEC 15504, the international standard for process assessment, has been developed for application within the automotive domain. Suppliers are now being asked contractually to meet target capability levels.
The Automotive SPICE™ event will be held on the 26 September 2006 at the Gothenburg Convention Centre, Gothenburg, Sweden. The first event held in Munich, Germany earlier this year and was attended by over 150 people from more than 10 countries.
The motor vehicle manufacturers will be present at the event to convey their official policy and approach towards supplier capability assessments. Today, more than 85% of the functionality in the modern motor vehicle is controlled by software. As project schedules get even shorter, the pressure on software development and target hardware costs get ever greater, and the potential recall and safety issues due to electronic systems malfunction becomes ever more calculable. Both the motor vehicle manufacturers and the suppliers have recognised the need to take action to address these issues. Suppliers have not been slow to take action. Many forward looking companies are already utilising process assessment techniques as a basis for identifying areas for improvement both to meet their business needs and the demands of their customers.
The motor vehicle manufacturers have also started to take pro-active action to address the situation in a number of ways; by focussing on software capability of the supplier in the supplier evaluation process; making provision for contractual demands with respect to software quality: and in performing supplier software capability assessments both before and during contract performance. Whilst the immediate short-term benefits are clear for the motor vehicle manufacturer, without commonality of approach, suppliers face multiple assessments from multiple manufacturers using different models and consuming resources that put additional pressure on delivery times.
The Automotive SPICE™ initiative includes the following car manufacturers : AUDI AG, BMW Group, DaimlerChrysler AG, Fiat Auto S.p.A., Ford Werke GmbH, Jaguar, Land Rover, Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Volkswagen AG and Volvo Car Corporation.
This event is organised by the SPICE User Group and The Procurement Forum on behalf of the Automotive SPICE™ initiative and supported by gasq – Global Association for Software Quality.
More information on Automotive SPICE™ can be found at www.automotivespice.com or www.gasq.org.
The Automotive SPICE™ event will be held on the 26 September 2006 at the Gothenburg Convention Centre, Gothenburg, Sweden. The first event held in Munich, Germany earlier this year and was attended by over 150 people from more than 10 countries.
The motor vehicle manufacturers will be present at the event to convey their official policy and approach towards supplier capability assessments. Today, more than 85% of the functionality in the modern motor vehicle is controlled by software. As project schedules get even shorter, the pressure on software development and target hardware costs get ever greater, and the potential recall and safety issues due to electronic systems malfunction becomes ever more calculable. Both the motor vehicle manufacturers and the suppliers have recognised the need to take action to address these issues. Suppliers have not been slow to take action. Many forward looking companies are already utilising process assessment techniques as a basis for identifying areas for improvement both to meet their business needs and the demands of their customers.
The motor vehicle manufacturers have also started to take pro-active action to address the situation in a number of ways; by focussing on software capability of the supplier in the supplier evaluation process; making provision for contractual demands with respect to software quality: and in performing supplier software capability assessments both before and during contract performance. Whilst the immediate short-term benefits are clear for the motor vehicle manufacturer, without commonality of approach, suppliers face multiple assessments from multiple manufacturers using different models and consuming resources that put additional pressure on delivery times.
The Automotive SPICE™ initiative includes the following car manufacturers : AUDI AG, BMW Group, DaimlerChrysler AG, Fiat Auto S.p.A., Ford Werke GmbH, Jaguar, Land Rover, Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Volkswagen AG and Volvo Car Corporation.
This event is organised by the SPICE User Group and The Procurement Forum on behalf of the Automotive SPICE™ initiative and supported by gasq – Global Association for Software Quality.
More information on Automotive SPICE™ can be found at www.automotivespice.com or www.gasq.org.
