Polarion customer Recaro: people love to hate their products
When Polarion folks from around the world gathered in Prague ahead of our version 2014 launch, they heard a presentation about how Polarion customer Recaro handles the complexities of managing requirements for one division’s products. Products that it seems everyone loves to hate: passenger aircraft seating! Recently, Recaro CEO Mark Hiller was interviewed by the German publication manager-magazin.de, where he spoke about the product design and manufacturing challenges Recaro’s aircraft seating division faces every day… and why he, the CEO of a large company, often flies in economy class.
During the presentation at Polarion’s “kickoff” meetings, we learned from our account manager for Recaro just how difficult it is to manage requirements for a product like aircraft seating. The sheer scope is daunting. Not only are there the design and manufacturing requirements of the company itself, but also different requirements from different airlines, to say nothing of the myriad requirements for compliance with industry standards and regulations of authorities in different jurisdictions.
A single aircraft seat model can have well over10,000 individual requirements, and there can be several variants of the same model. We also heard how teams within the Recaro aircraft seating division successfully began managing complex requirements projects with Polarion REQUIREMENTS, and are finding it well suited to their demanding needs.
Of course I’m always interested when I come across a Polarion customer in the news. After hearing that presentation, it was especially interesting when I found the manager-magazin interview with Recaro’s CEO Mark Hiller. One of the most interesting points he makes is that the interests of the airline and the interests of passengers actually converge on one point: making air travel as inexpensive as possible. Does that mean people have to be crammed like tinned sardines?
Hiller says it is possible to improve a great deal, even with the limited amount of space in economy class (in which he regularlytravels himself to learn first-hand how his company’s products are actually used, and to experience competitors’ products). He sees the potential disconnect of the airlines’ need to transport as many passengers as possible, and passengers’ desire for as much comfort as possible, as drivers of innovation for his company.
Here are a couple of links in case you would like to read the interview yourself:
- Original interview in German
- Google translation to English (not perfect, but I think you can get the main ideas)
We certainly wish Recaro every success with innovations in aircraft seating that can help airlines deliver the best possible level of comfort on board for all of us. And if Polarion’s requirements management solutions can contribute to that innovation, we at Polarion will certainly fly happy.
READ ABOUT ANOTHER POLARION CUSTOMER INVOLVED WITH AIR TRAVEL
Customer Success Story: U.S. Federal Aviation Administration
[SFP]
