Group items tagged

Lo scorso mese è stato presentato il Product Plan di Fiat. Alcune interessanti informazioni che si possono ricavare dalle slides della presentazione sono le seguenti: - nel corso degli ultimi anni il tempo di sviluppo di una nuova vettura è notevolmente diminuito, passando dai 26 mesi della Stilo (2003), ai 18 mesi della Grande Punto (2005) ai soli 15 mesi delle recenti Mito e Giulietta, grazie ai risparmi temporali nelle fasi di "Tecnological Development" e "Pre-series". - il tempo di sviluppo è notevolmente sceso anche nel campo della movimentazione terra (trattori in primis), passando dai 24 ai 18 mesi - il tempo di sviluppo nel campo dello sviluppo di nuovi motori si attesta in 30 mesi, in grande calo. - il numero di modelli è aumentato, pur basandosi su un sempre minor numero di architetture, passate da 19 (2006) ai soli 5 ipotizzati per il 2014. - il numero di modelli basati su un'architettura cresce da 1,7 ai futuri 7,6. - il volume di vendite di vetture basate su un'architettura aumenta da 150.000 a 800.000. - le sinergie sono diventate sempre più rilevanti, tra vetture del gruppo FGA, sia tra vetture con la stessa architettura, sia tra automobili con differente architettura. - si tende ad un aumento considerevole della standadizzazione dei componenti, in modo da ottenere significativi risparmi di scala. - le vetture sono diventate sempre più leggere, passando da una generazione all'altra.

Riguardo il Product Plan Fiat è interessante notare anche: - la modularità delle architetture di prodotto utilizzate, che comprendono parti in comune (parte del pianale, vano motore), parti intercambiabili (sospensioni, pianale) e parti modulari (sospensioni). In tal modo è possibile ottenere rilevanti risparmi; - FTA ha deciso di sviluppare 3 sole architetture di prodotto, realizzate, entro il 2014, in oltre 1 milione di pezzi ciascuna; - riguardo i sistemi telematici c'è stato lo stesso approccio, attraverso il quale si è giunti all'utilizzo di medesimi sistemi per vetture di stesso e/o simile segmento di appartenenza; - l'elevata standardizzazione, la diminuizione di architetture e famiglie di componenti ha permesso elevati risparmi, con una riduzione di costi variabili, costi di investimenti e costi di R&D; - la standardizzazione delle architetture ha comportato chiaramente una riduzione di costi, ma spesso anche del peso dei componenti, e conseguentemente delle vetture, raggiungendo una dimuzione di consumi ed emissioni; - le sinergie con il Gruppo Chrysler permetterà di scambiare know-how ed aumentare le vendite per le architetture, permettendo un'ulteriore risparmio.

The Tata Nano was thought to be a groundbreaking product, able to revolutionize carmaking both in the developing and in the developed world. Pity that nothing of the sort happened. Customer choice still remains difficult to foresee and - in this case - the product simply was not attractive to any customer segment

Mr. Joshi (the head of Hewlett-Packard's $24 billion printing empire) has spent years disputing the notion that people will print less as they do more on their hand-held devices. This week, he will see his ideas put into action as H.P. introduces a fleet of printers with Web access, their own e-mail addresses and touch screens. These products should open up new ways for people to print from Web services like Google Docs, and from smartphones and devices like the iPad from Apple. Mr. Joshi is going back to his roots as an engineer - as a young H.P. researcher, he figured out a way to make ink cartridges fire 45 million drops - and relying on new technologies, not slick marketing. But still, he will have to prove that customers will change their behavior and print more if given the right tools. That, Mr. Reitzes said, is crucial to how investors will evaluate the long-term prospects of H.P. "Investors are worried about printing," he said. "It's really important that they get this right." As the world's largest technology company, H.P. sells a wide variety of products but got much of its profit from printers and their pricey ink. More recently, H.P. has built up a large technology services arm as well, which has helped round out its business. But the printing division accounts for about a fifth of its revenue and a third of its profits. The new printers - which build on a limited experiment last year - will range in price from $99 to about $400. Every one will come with what H.P. executives billed as a breakthrough feature - its very own e-mail address. H.P.'s engineers hit on the e-mail address as an easy, familiar way for people to send print jobs to the Web-ready printers. You can, for example, take a photo with a phone, e-mail it to your printer's address and have the printout waiting for you at home. Or, you can share the printer's e-mail address with family and friends. This means that someone can buy Grandma a Web-ready printe

In a statement, RIM President and co-CEO Mike Lazaridis said: "RIM is excited about the planned acquisition of QNX Software Systems and we look forward to ongoing collaboration between Harman, QNX and RIM to further integrate and enhance the user experience between smartphones and in-vehicle audio and infotainment systems. In addition to our interests in expanding the opportunities for QNX in the automotive sector and other markets, we believe the planned acquisition of QNX will also bring other value to RIM in terms of supporting certain unannounced product plans for intelligent peripherals, adding valuable intellectual property to RIM's portfolio and providing long-term synergies for the companies based on the significant and complementary OS expertise that exists within the RIM and QNX teams today."

Daimler and BYD (China) plan to establish a development center to combine the German automaker's expertise in automotive engineering with BYD's battery and low-cost production know-how. The companies aim to create a new brand for the vehicle that will be positioned between BYD and Mercedes models. Development time may take about three years. Daimler said last month it will focus on cleaner technologies to take global market share from rivals BMW and Audi.

Details are unfortunately light on this one, but Intel has closed out the week with one interesting tidbit of news -- it's apparently planning to bring its wireless display technology (a.k.a. WiDi) to netbooks, tablets and other mobile devices. That word comes straight from Intel wireless display product manager Kerry Forrell, who says that "we fully expect to take the technology there," but that he can't yet provide a specific time frame. Those plans are further backed up by Intel CEO Paul Otellini himself, who told investors this week that "what we'll be doing over the next few years is take the Wi-Di capability that's in the laptop today and extend that into all the Intel platforms." Intel doesn't even seem to be stopping there, however, with Forrell further adding that the company even sees the technology being built into to TVs "over time."

The so-called BlackPad RIM tablet is being pushed out to early next year. The move marks the third time in two weeks that a would-be tablet maker has shelved product preparations aimed at challenging the Apple iPad. Last week, Hewlett-Packard pulled the plug on its Slate tablet and Microsoft reportedly withdrew plans for the Courier device.

The burgeoning legal challenges to Apple over its rapid advances in mobile computing mounted on Friday when Finland's Nokia launched a patent infringement suit over the iPad. Nokia accused Apple in a US federal court in Wisconsin of infringing five patents in the iPad, which has sold 1m units since its US debut in March. Nokia's suit cites technology used to enhance speech and data transmission and antenna innovations that allow for more compact devices. "These patented innovations are important to Nokia's success as they allow improved product performance and design," the Finnish company said in a statement. Apple had no immediate response. The Finnish company, the world's biggest mobile phone maker, is already in dispute with Apple over alleged patent infringement in the iPhone. IDC said on Friday that Nokia's smartphone market share in the first quarter was flat at 39 per cent, while Apple saw its share of the shipments jump to 16 per cent from 11 per cent a year ago, closing in on Canada's Research in Motion, the maker of the BlackBerry, which occupies second spot. Overall, smartphone sales rose 57 per cent in the quarter. The iPad is Apple's bid to leverage its smartphone success into a new category of mobile computing, with fingertip control instead of a mouse and an interface designed for consuming digital content. Apple announced on Friday that the device would go on sale outside the US at the end of the month in nine other countries. The US technology group is planning to charge more for the iPad in other countries than it does in the US, with UK prices starting at £429 ($632) for tablet devices, which currently only offers a WiFi connection to the internet. Prices in continental Europe will begin at €499 ($630). This compares with $499 in the US. The latest patent dispute, as well as the earlier cases, will aim to establish whether the intellectual property that powers Apple's mobile devices owes more to the world of mobile