Automotive Industry Life Cycle Analysis: Shorter Timelines | Jabil (2024)

Automotive is changing. Cars are becoming more connected, autonomous driving is on the rise and electrified vehicles are becoming a viable alternative to gas-powered engines. But as the sophistication of software, sensor components, wireless networks and embedded intelligence has evolved at a blinding pace, how are automakers faring? An automotive industry lifecycle analysis shows that product development timelines are about to be shortened even further.

The latest automotive industry trends show that players in the market increasingly face the challenge of adapting business models, product development frameworks, supply chains and manufacturing operations in order to leverage the potential value of a fast-emerging reality. Further, we are seeing traditional industry players and technology vendors gearing up to drive transformational technology innovation in the industry.

The Automotive Industry Has New Time-to-Market Expectations

In 2017, Jabil partnered with Dimensional Research to conduct an Automotive and Transportation Product Development Cycles survey of automotive decision-makers. At the time, 68% of auto manufacturers affirmed that their automotive industry lifecycles for products were under two years. By our 2018 Managing Automotive Technology Trends study, that number grew to 71%. The biggest jump was in the 12-to-18-month range, which rose from 23% to 27%, bringing the automotive product development cycle closer to consumer electronics. Download the full survey report.

Automotive Industry Life Cycle Analysis - Product Development and Launch Cycles Have Shortened

Our automotive industry lifecycle analysis showed that 56% of respondents agree that lifecycles have been shortened in the last five years. This should come as no surprise, based on the convergence of automotive technologies and consumer electronics. With fully connected and self-driving cars on the horizon, cars will become more reliant on electronic components. This will shorten the lifecycle of automobiles.

Consumer electronics tend to have significantly shorter lifecycles than traditional automotive. With the Internet of Things, the average lifespan of today’s electronics varies from 1.5 to 13 years, with most only surviving four to five years. That has complicated obsolescence planning and forced professionals in every industry to reconsider their approach to end-of-life (EOL) forecasting, aftermarket parts, refurbishing, remarketing, recycling and EOL extension models through repair and maintenance.

But the merging of transportation and electronics isn’t the only factor in shorter go-to-market timelines. Respondents also listed the following:

  • needs to meet consumer or user demand
  • advances in technology
  • working with expert suppliers and partners
  • consolidation of vehicle platforms
  • more efficient supply chains
  • convergence of automotive and consumer electronics
  • expanded manufacturing capabilities

COVID-19 Slows Down Automotive Innovation

Of course, pre-pandemic expectations and trends have turned upside down with the supply chain impact of COVID-19 across all industries. When it comes to automotive, the pandemic will likely slow the speed of innovation. Although vehicle sales are expected to increase by 1-5% in 2021 to compensate for the drop, the dip of automotive research and development budgets will have a direct short-term effect on innovation.

In an IHS Markit study, one in four respondents indicated that they are postponing projects that are already at six months of maturity and almost 20% expect projects that have been in the works for a year to be temporarily shelved. When it comes to projects that are at an early or conceptual stage, almost a quarter of respondents expect delays by one year and a little more than 10% predict more than one year.

This doesn’t negate the importance of pre-pandemic trends, but it may slow down their progress; if we conducted a survey similar to the 2018 one today, current launch cycles may not be so aggressive, but we expect the pace to pick up again as other factors continue to push for shorter automotive timelines.

say they are postponing projects that are already at six months of maturity due to COVID-19 (Source: IHS Markit)

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New Technologies Are Changing the Pace of Innovation in the Automotive Industry

Through the convergence of electronics and automotive technology, the industry has been flooded with new entrants over the last decade. More than three-quarters of our 2018 survey participants saw their go-to-market timelines shorten because of new entrants. However, Tier 1 automotive suppliers admit to being more affected by this than automotive OEMs.

Our survey results reflect this sentiment. In 2017, 51% of respondents agreed that Tier 1 suppliers would be the ones to drive transformational technology innovation. While 39% of 2018’s respondents believe Tier 1 suppliers are still the leaders in this area, there has been a significant jump of trust in technology vendors. In the latest survey, nearly a quarter of the participants affirmed their belief that tech vendors with experience in consumer electronics and user experience will drive innovation, compared to only 7% the previous year.

Given the unfamiliarity of the territory and the opportunities at stake, it is no surprise that collaboration is becoming the byword for innovation. Beyond the limitations caused by the global pandemic, automakers are building research and development centers in Silicon Valley and partnering with technology giants from consumer markets. Many automotive OEMs are also considering the design and assembly resources of contract manufacturing partners like Jabil that specialize in combining the rapid innovation and product introductions associated with consumer electronics with the rigorous engineering, testing manufacturing and reliability demands of the automotive industry. Download the Whitepaper: Accelerating Electrified Vehicle Production Through Risk-Mitigating Partnerships.

Whether Detroit or Silicon Valley ultimately dominates the race, both will face some universal challenges along the road. The electronic components, software and networks powering tomorrow’s cars will all be held to a far higher standard than those that revolutionized the mobile phone industry. Not only must they perform reliably in the harsh automotive environment, they must perform flawlessly as far as passenger safety is concerned. Designing, testing and manufacturing new component technologies is also a product development challenge for all players – especially as the race to market is so critical to competitive success.

That isn’t the only challenge; 30% of respondents believe automotive product development cycles have been lengthened. They chose high research and development costs, government and safety regulations, longer test cycles and other factors as their reasoning.

Automotive Industry Life Cycle Analysis: Shorter Timelines | Jabil (1)

Challenges in Shortening Automotive Industry Development Cycles

Although our research points to most automotive product development cycles shortening for companies of all sizes, it also appears that some are having issues keeping up with the changes. There are challenges all companies face in compressing their product development cycles. The supply chain was one of the biggest challenges.

In a September 2020 Jabil Special Report: Supply Chain Resilience in a Post-Pandemic World, Dimensional Research surveyed 105 automotive OEM decision-makers about the impact of COVID-19 on the automotive supply chain and their company’s risk management practices. When asked about their supply chain strategy for the next two years, automotive decision-makers clearly prioritized supply chain resilience and risk management. Past disruptions – especially the pandemic – have highlighted the need for supply chain vigilance.

Automotive supply chain managers can better prepare for these inevitabilities by dual- or multi-sourcing, incorporating supply chain visibility with predictive capabilities, building a technology roadmap while managing costs and outsourcing risk. Jabil’s Vice President of Global Supply Chain for Automotive and Transportation François Monnet and I elaborate on this in our article Why Risk Management is Essential to the Automotive Supply Chain.

Although we may be a few more years away from fully autonomous vehicles, cars are becoming more sophisticated than ever before. Additionally, many major automotive players – such as GM, Ford and more – have declared their intentions to focus on the manufacturing of electric vehicles. With automakers relying on electronic components as much as traditional technology manufacturers, they will contribute to – and be negatively affected by – the ongoing component shortages. To weather these shortages, strategic relationships are key.

One of the most efficient ways to overcome supply chain challenges is to work with an external partner who can offer additional resources and expertise. In fact, likely due to the catastrophic impact COVID-19 and ongoing shortages, 57% of supply chain respondents stated that they are now more likely to work with partners who can absorb risk more effectively and have more flexibility.

A manufacturing partner can identify parts or components that should be avoided, either because of the product lifecycle or lack of geo-redundancy. This partner can provide extensive visibility into the supply chain ecosystem, support product demand forecasting and adjust production lines. But most importantly, it can reduce risks while delivering tremendous efficiencies, allowing the OEM to focus on its core competencies.

If automotive industry trends from the last five years are any indication, product development cycles are expected to shorten even further. In fact, two out of three automotive manufacturers believe their product life cycles will get faster in the next five years. This means automotive manufacturers must be proactive to solve the challenges they are facing in compressing their go-to-market timelines.

The automotive industry is at a crossroads, which is always rife with both risks and opportunities. It will be interesting to see how the next decade unfolds for the automotive industry. Big changes – and shorter automotive industry lifecycles – are ahead.

Download the Managing Automotive Technology Trends Survey Report

Insights from 126 automotive OE decision-makers on technology adoption, opportunities and challenges.

Automotive Industry Life Cycle Analysis: Shorter Timelines | Jabil (2024)

FAQs

What is the life cycle stage of automotive industry? ›

It has four main stages: introduction, growth, maturity and decline.

What are the stages of the design life cycle explain with examples in automotive industry? ›

Product development and sales planning are both fundamentally linked to the stages of the product life cycle: introduction, growth, maturity, and decline.

What are the 10 stages of the product life cycle of the automotive industry? ›

There are 10 stages of Product Life Cycle in Automobile Industry,
  • Concept Sketching.
  • Styling Class-A.
  • Feasibility check.
  • Concept Validation.
  • New Product Design.
  • Development Stage.
  • Prototype Build.
  • Design Validation.
Jul 31, 2022

What is life cycle assessment of automobile? ›

Vehicles use energy and make emissions throughout their whole life from the manufacturing of raw materials to the vehicle scrapyard. The total of these is called its carbon footprint, so to really know how green a vehicle is, you have to look at its entire life cycle. That's called life cycle assessment or LCA.

What are the 5 lifecycle stages? ›

The 5 stages of the product life cycle
  • The product life cycle is the progression of a product through 5 distinct stages—development, introduction, growth, maturity, and decline. ...
  • Market research plays an integral role in each stage of the product life cycle. ...
  • The first stage in the product life cycle is development.

What are the stages of industry life cycle analysis? ›

There are four stages in an industry life cycle: expansion, peak, contraction, trough. An analyst will determine where a company sits in the cycle and use this information to project future financial performance and estimate forward valuations (e.g., forward price-earnings ratios).

What are the main five 5 core processes in the SDLC? ›

The SDLC has five phases: inception, design, implementation, maintenance, and audit or disposal, which includes an assessment of the risk management plan.

What are the 4 common stages of life cycles? ›

The Four Stages of Life

Life consists of infancy, youth, the middle years and old age. Each stage is an important and beautiful time of growth, learning, caring and sharing in a special and unique way.

What is product life cycle answer? ›

What is a product life cycle? A product life cycle is a management tool that evaluates a product's journey from development to withdrawal from the market. As mentioned earlier, it includes four stages- introduction, growth, maturity, and decline.

What are the stages of automotive product development? ›

Concept development and validation. Mass production development. Mass production preparation. Mass production run-up.

What are the 4 components of the product lifecycle? ›

The product life cycle involves the stages through which a product goes from the time it is introduced in the market till it leaves the market. A product life cycle consists of four stages: introduction, growth, maturity, and decline.

How long does it take to do a life cycle assessment? ›

A properly rigorous LCA can take six months or more to do, but an estimated LCA can take hours. As above, remember rough analyses can have huge uncertainties (such as 30%, 50%, often 100% or more, per datapoint).

What is life cycle assessment with examples? ›

Life cycle assessment is a cradle-to-grave or cradle-to-cradle analysis technique to assess environmental impacts associated with all the stages of a product's life, which is from raw material extraction through materials processing, manufacture, distribution, and use.

How is life cycle analysis measured? ›

An LCA measures the environmental impacts of each distinct part involved in creating and using products and services, such as energy used in production, fuel used in transport, and end-of-life ecological costs.

What is life cycle for Class 5 in Short answer? ›

A life cycle is a series of stages a living thing goes through during its life. All plants and animals go through life cycles. It is helpful to use diagrams to show the stages, which often include starting as a seed, egg, or live birth, then growing up and reproducing.

What is the life cycle of process? ›

The stages that a physical process or a management system goes through as it proceeds from birth to death. These stages include conception, design, deployment, acquisition, operation, maintenance, decommissioning, and disposal.

What is life cycle planning? ›

Life-cycle planning is a key asset management concept that takes into account the whole-of-life implications of acquiring, operating, maintaining and disposing of a building asset. It should be used when making decisions at both strategic and operational levels of capital works investment and building management.

What is the duration of the industry life cycle? ›

An industry life cycle typically consists of five stages — startup, growth, shakeout, maturity, and decline. These stages can last for different amounts of time – some can be months, some can be years.

What are the three major elements of industry analysis? ›

An industry analysis consists of three major elements: the underlying forces at work in the industry; the overall attractiveness of the industry; and the critical factors that determine a company's success within the industry.

What are the key elements in industry analysis? ›

At the macro level, there are five factors – technological, social, macroeconomic, demographic, and governmental. When it comes to the competitiveness of the business environment, we can employ Porter's five forces, along with life cycle and business cycle analyses, and the industry's position on the experience curve.

What are the 4 main activities of systems analysis phase? ›

These activities, or phases, usually include planning, analysis, design, implementation, and maintenance/support.

How do you explain SDLC in an interview? ›

The SDLC develops and describes a detailed plan that includes stages, or phases, each with its own process and deliverables. It describes the entire development process, including all tasks involved in planning, developing, testing, and distributing a software product.

What are the 6 system development life cycle phases? ›

There are usually six stages in this cycle: requirement analysis, design, development and testing, implementation, documentation, and evaluation.

What is an example of a life cycle? ›

In general, plants and animals go through three basic stages in their life cycles, starting as a fertilized egg or seed, developing into an immature juvenile, and then finally transforming into an adult. During the adult stage, an organism will reproduce, giving rise to the next generation.

What are the three types of life cycles? ›

There are three types of life cycles: Haplontic life cycle, Diplontic life cycle and Haplodiplontic life cycle.

Which life cycle is the simplest Why? ›

The haploid life cycle is the simplest life cycle. It is found in many single-celled eukaryotic organisms. Organisms with a haploid life cycle spend the majority of their lives as haploid gametes. When the haploid gametes fuse, they form a diploid zygote.

What are the 8 stages of a system life cycle? ›

Systems development life cycle phases include planning, system analysis, system design, development, implementation, integration and testing, and operations and maintenance.

What is the most important step of the system development life cycle Why? ›

The testing phase of the SDLC is one of the most important. It is impossible to deliver quality software without testing. There is a wide variety of testing necessary to measure quality: Code quality.

What are the steps in system analysis? ›

7 Steps of Agile System Analysis Process
  1. Identify System Users. This is the most important question. ...
  2. Define Main Users Goals. ...
  3. Define System Usage Patterns. ...
  4. Invent Functional Solution to Meet Users Goals and Usage Patterns. ...
  5. Define Main Navigation Paths. ...
  6. Create UI Mockups. ...
  7. Polish UI Elements.

What are the examples of shorter product life cycle? ›

Some examples of the industries which produce short life-cycle products include fashion apparel (Mehrjoo & Pasek 2014), agricultural products and fresh foods, software and electronic devices (Zhao et al. 2014), cellular phones, electronic goods, personal computers, toys and LCD TVs (Partha Sarathi et al.

What are the factors affecting product life cycle? ›

There are four main factors that help you determine the stage of your product: sales, investment costs, profit and competition. Your product will develop through the five stages which will determine your business strategy.

What is the importance of industry life cycle? ›

The industry life cycle depicts the duration of a company in its field from beginning to end. It shows how the business emerged on the market and experienced growth and the peak of its success and the decline or divestment.

What are 2 primary segments of automotive industry? ›

Companies in the automotive industry fall into two categories that are car manufacturers and car parts manufacturers.

What are the 5 stages in the new product development process? ›

Product development process: The 6 stages (with examples)
  • Idea generation (Ideation)
  • Product definition.
  • Prototyping.
  • Initial design.
  • Validation and testing.
  • Commercialization.
Nov 1, 2022

What are 3 ways to manage the product life cycle? ›

Some of the PLM strategies used in this phase include: Identifying product requirements. Coordinating production. Testing the product in different markets.

What are the main elements of the model lifecycle? ›

What is a Model Lifecycle?
  • 01 Model proposal: The first line of defence needs to understand what are the business requirements to implement. ...
  • 02 Model development: ...
  • 03 Pre-validation: ...
  • 04 Independent review: ...
  • 05 Approval: ...
  • 06 Implementation: ...
  • 07 Validation & Reporting:
Oct 8, 2020

What is the most important thing you must determine before doing a life cycle analysis? ›

The best way to do this is to carefully define the goal and scope of the LCA study. The goal and scope describe the most important choices, which are often subjective. For instance, the reason for executing the LCA, a precise definition of the product and its life cycle and a description of the system boundaries.

What are the limitations of life cycle assessment? ›

Life Cycle Assessments Do Have Limitations
  • LCAs May Rely on Generalized Data Sets. ...
  • Energy Metrics May Not Be Relevant to Your Process or Product. ...
  • Comparative LCAs May Not Provide Good Comparisons. ...
  • How Exponent Can Help.
Jan 6, 2022

What are the problems with life cycle assessments? ›

However, a number of challenges limit the use of LCA more extensively. These include high adoption cost, complexities surrounding data collection, and the difficulty of communicating results to the stakeholders.

What is the main purpose of life cycle assessment? ›

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) aims to quantify the environmental impacts that arise from material inputs and outputs, such as energy use or air emissions, over a product's entire life cycle to assist consumers in making decisions that will benefit the environment.

What are the goals of life cycle analysis? ›

The basic objective of LCA is to guide decision makers, whether consumers, industrialists, or government policy makers, in devising or selecting actions that will minimize environmental impacts while furthering other objectives.

What is the product life cycle of automotive product? ›

When a vehicle is launched, it goes through four stages: introduction, growth, maturity and decline. Each of these stages corresponds with a different amount of sales. Manufacturers try to maximize its returns in all stages the sales pitch is different through out the life cycle of the vehicle.

Is the automotive industry in the maturity stage? ›

Currently automobile industry is in maturity stage (Dicken, 2007). In 1960 Detroit started to worry about overseas competition, which changed the trends (Roberts, 2006). The every higher technology was adopted by car producers. Manufacturers started focus on marketing and customers.

What are the 7 stages of product life cycle? ›

Product management life cycle in seven main stages: Idea generation and management, research and analytics, planning, prototyping, validation, delivery, and finally, launch.

What are the 4 stages of product life cycle with examples? ›

A product life cycle is a management tool that evaluates a product's journey from development to withdrawal from the market. As mentioned earlier, it includes four stages- introduction, growth, maturity, and decline.

What is Product Life Cycle Management Short answer? ›

Product lifecycle management (PLM) is the process of managing a product's lifecycle from inception, through design and manufacturing, to sales, service, and eventually retirement. As a technology, PLM software helps organizations to develop new products and bring them to market.

What are the 3 main factors for a product's life cycle? ›

What is Product Life Cycle – 6 Important Factors Affecting PLC: Rate of Technical Changes, Rate of Market Acceptance, Ease of Competitive Entry and a Few Others
  • Rate of Technical Changes: ...
  • Rate of Market Acceptance: ...
  • Ease of Competitive Entry: ...
  • Risk Bearing Capacity: ...
  • Economic and Managerial Forces: ...
  • Protection by Patent:

What is the average product life cycle for a car? ›

The average car will have 3 – 6 owners during its lifetime and will last 165,000 – 200,000 miles. At the end of its useful life, it will be sent to a scrapyard for recycling.

How fast is the automotive industry growing? ›

U.S. sales were 15.1 million in 2021 and 14.6 million in 2020. S&P Global Mobility expects new vehicle sales globally to reach nearly 83.6 million units in 2023, a 5.6% increase from the previous year. In the U.S., the data and consulting firm expects sales will be up by 7%, to about 14.8 million units in 2023.

What is the current status of automobile industry? ›

Export of automobiles registers a growth of 35.9% from 2020-21 to 2021-22... The export of the total number of automobiles increased from 41,34,047 in 2020-21 to 56,17,246 in 2021-22, registering a positive growth of 35.9%.

Is the automotive industry growing or declining? ›

The current global market for Automotive Manufacturing was valued at $2.9 trillion in 2022, and it is currently growing at a CAGR of 3.1% following several years of decline where the market dropped by 0.6% between 2017 and 2022.

What is the life cycle of industry? ›

The four phases of the industry life cycle are the introduction, growth, maturity, and decline phases. The industry life cycle ends with the decline phase, a period when the industry or business is unable to sustain growth.

What are the 8 stages of the product life cycle? ›

The product life cycle is the length of time from when a product is introduced to the consumer market up until it declines or is no longer being sold. This cycle can be broken up into different stages, including—development, introduction, growth, maturity, saturation, and decline.

What is product life cycle summary? ›

The product life cycle is the process a product goes through from when it is first introduced into the market until it declines or is removed from the market. The life cycle has four stages—introduction, growth, maturity, and decline.

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