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American Axle Manufacturing Drives PLM Cost Savings

By Emilia Maier

Revolutionizing the propulsion of future vehiclesAmerican Axle & Manufacturing (AAM) is a global leader in designing, engineering, validating and manufacturing driveline, metal forming, powertrain and casting technologies for commercial and industrial automotive markets. As one of its primary strategic objectives, AAM is committed to focusing on cost management to deliver exceptional value to customers.

This blog provides you a summary of the key takeaways on how American Axle & Manufacturing overcomes his challenges through realizing the benefits of PLM cost management. To receive a detailed view on the project you can read the success story here.

What are the main business challenges AAM must deal with?

  • Overcome increased industry complexity due to advancements in electrification and fuel efficiency
  • Design products to meet customer needs

“For us, precise cost calculations are extremely important at this early design stage, especially because at that point in time we often lack product information, such as 3D data. In other words, technical product specifications are mostly unknown or unclear. That’s why we did not consider a purely parametric-based solution, but a bottom-up costing solution.”

Surya Chiravuri, Senior Manager, Value Analysis and Value Engineering, AAM

What are the keys to success for AAM with the Cost Management solution from Siemens?

  • Uncover potential cost savings with the process- and database-based costing solution
  • Standardize globally accessible costing calculations and processes
  • Identify unprofitable variants as candidates for discontinuance
  • Visualize target cost gaps from a product/process standpoint

What are the benefits AAM achieves with the PLM Cost Management solution?

  • Reduced costs in the early stages of product development
  • Saved costs on supplier projects due to increased visibility and collaboration
  • Realized significant time savings by leveraging global collaboration
  • Achieved target costs
  • Enhanced efficiency by allowing cost engineers to focus on design and product development

“The Teamcenter solution for cost management has helped us run successful supplier workshops for years by providing a transparent view of the cost of purchased parts. This allows us to achieve the envisioned cost savings in projects with our suppliers.”

Surya Chiravuri, Senior Manager, Value Analysis and Value Engineering, AAM

Read more about AAM’s success with the Siemens solution for cost management.

Related success story

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This article first appeared on the Siemens Digital Industries Software blog at https://blogs.sw.siemens.com/teamcenter/american-axle-manufacturing-drives-cost-savings-with-siemens-plm-software-solution/