The complexity of modern manufacturing products is skyrocketing. It is hard to imagine a product without electronic and software components. But if you think, industry reached the top of imaginable complexity, think again. It gets even more complicated.
The future of “connected cars” is coming fast. Modern automobile is already very complex device with lot of electronic and software. But, it is getting even more complex. Forbes article U.S. And European Automakers Will Need To Be More Aware Of The Chips They Put In Their Cars speaks about complexity of car electronics and its connection to security related issues. I found the following passage interesting:
With the modernization and electrification of vehicles, electronics as a percentage of the BOM (bill of materials) of the car has skyrocketed, and we haven’t seen anything yet. This will only become a higher percentage as piloted and self-driving vehicles start to become more commonplace. Up until this point, silicon brand and security hasn’t really mattered all that much as long as the functionality was there, and as a result, vendors simply implemented whatever met the utility, was more cost effective and passed regulatory rules.
As the percentage of the BOM that is electronic components increases and features are added that could increase potential security risk, I believe that this will change, and branding and security will become more important.
The complexity of BOM management is well know thing in PLM industry. My earlier blog post – Multiple dimensions of BOM complexity. The need to trace manufacturers of electronic components in a car bill of material will only increase the complexity of data. Most of PLM products today are managing multiple views of engineering and as-built BOM. The requirement for additional traceability and regulation in this space can potentially break the level of complexity PLM products are capable to handle.
In addition to branding, security or at least perceived security, will become an even more important factor in automobiles. Previously, people simply worried about people breaking into their cars with crowbars or wires, but now high-tech carjackers are breaking into cars remotely. Just think of all of the safety and security concerns with a vehicle that is fully in control of the driving experience at 65 Mph or more. Few really thinking that one through, yet.
A potential security concern and government regulation will create a demand to expose more information about vehicle electronics. To make some of the information available will be another challenge for PLM systems in automotive domain. Bill of materials data is siloed between multiple systems often not available from a single place.
What is my conclusion? The complexity of automobiles and specifically car electronics will increase the demand for sophisticated data solutions to manage bill of materials (BOM) and related product data. Some of existing PLM vendors might be unprepared for such change and for some systems it can be beyond what can be managed. This is an alarm call for PLM architects and technologists. Just my thoughts…
Best, Oleg
Images courtesy of Mashable article, Doug Chezem, Flickr, colinbrown
