Škoda Auto is a mass-market vehicle manufacturer known for producing cars that meet high customer expectations for quality and reliability. Traditionally, Škoda has relied on the expertise and craftsmanship of its machinists, technicians, and engineers. However, the company recognized the need to adapt to changing industry dynamics, including increased automation and the rise of new competitors.
Digitalizing Quality Management in Car Production: Škoda Auto's Transformation
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Škoda
Digitalizing Quality Management in Car Production: Škoda Auto's Transformation
Škoda Auto, a leading car manufacturer, sought to modernize its quality management processes by integrating data and automation.
PROFILE
SITUATION
Škoda faced several challenges in maintaining high-quality standards while scaling production. These included:
- Collection of data, information and knowledge within teams.
- Identification of data’s business value.
- Approach to leverage data for Quality management.
- Difficulty in translating human expertise into automated processes.
- Increasing cost pressures and competition from new market entrants.
SOLUTION
To address these challenges, Škoda partnered with an Colours of Data and implemented a three-phase approach:
- Unearthing the potential: Conducting a data audit to understand the existing digital landscape and identify valuable data streams.
- Defining the end-game: Crafting a digitalization and automation strategy with clear goals, principles, and a roadmap.
- Delivering early victories: Implementing quick wins, such as interactive data dashboards, to demonstrate the power of digitalization.
Specific initiatives included:
- Data Audit: Mapping information systems, assessing data quality, and identifying opportunities for automation.
- Digitalisation & Automation Strategy: Defining key goals such as enhancing objectivity, real-time quality control, and developing intellectual property.
- Interactive Data Dashboards: Creating intuitive visualizations to provide insights and eliminate manual reporting.
RESULTS
The collaboration led to significant improvements:
- A clearer roadmap for digital transformation and a better understanding of its implications.
- Improved data accessibility and quality.
- Reduction of manual, time-consuming data preparation work.
- Increased support for digitalization initiatives from managers and employees.
- Identification of key change agents within the organization.
- Establishment of a centralized quality reporting system.
WHAT THEY SAID
Colours of data have been instrumental in digital practices becoming part of daily lives in Škoda's quality management. They helped us to formulate a digitalisation strategy at the beginning. They provided inspiration and analytics and data science experts we lacked to build important digital assets. And they keep helping our organisation to grow our internal expertise and take over gradually the digitalised environment and leverage the benefits.
