Santa Cruz Bicycles Case Study

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Santa Cruz Bicycles The key factor for the successful process redesign was the new product life cycle management software that the company was using in place of the old CAD software. The PLM system helped them analyze and model capabilities in a much more efficient manor. They were also able to use simulation capabilities to watch the impact of new designs on rough mountain terrain. The PLM systems also used software that tracks all of the variables in the design process so that the designers and engineers can quickly make adjustments to the design. This was a vast improvement from their old system because it would take seven months to develop a new design if the current model failed testing. After using the new system Santa Cruz Bicycles saw a dramatic decrease in their design to prototype process. The entire process of creating a bike from scratch used to take upwards of twenty eight months. Now this can all be completed anywhere from twelve to fourteen months. All of these improvements were the key to allowing Santa Cruz Bicycles to improve their manufacturing process. There are a few outside factors that came together so that Santa Cruz Bicycles was able to make the changes to the design process. An outside vendor was able to come up with a way to design bikes more proficiently then the CAD system Santa Cruz was currently using. This also allowed them to make modifications to the design process and improve their product. Once the product life cycle management software replaced the CAD system it allowed Santa Cruz to enhance the overall process of converting a prototype into a product ready for customer use. The PLM system was already proven technology and made the risk taken by Santa Cruz Bikes minimal. Another outside factor was getting the team to embrace the new system. Systems like the one implemented by Santa Cruz bikes
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