December 10, 2007

Continental Automotive Systems and ZF Sachs AG have opted for the SupplyOn collaboration solution for the joint development of hybrid drives, currently one of the biggest trends in the automotive industry. The challenging work of developing hybrid drives requires a wide-ranging set of technological abilities. Continental and ZF Sachs are working together to develop futuristic hybrid technologies and sharing their knowledge via SupplyOn’s Collaboration Folders.

“We were looking for a solution that we could get up and running quickly. All the alternatives to the SupplyOn solution, especially installing a separate collaboration server at the premises of one of the partners, would have taken more time and effort to implement,” says Mathias Link, who is responsible for hybrid drive system design at Continental. The SupplyOn solution currently provides access to data for around 120 developers from both companies.

“We had to respond quickly to our customers’ requirements and get on with development work so we didn’t invest in complex customizing. Our key requirements were fully satisfied by the standard solution,” adds Bernd Peinemann, project manager in the Electrical Drives department at ZF Sachs.

At present, the virtual project room is mainly being utilized to store and process data used by both partners. But Peinemann believes that other and more complex projects could be handled with Collaboration Folders in the future.

The web-based solution SupplyOn Collaboration Folders allows development projects involving several teams from different companies or locations to be implemented with great efficiency. All project data can be managed and shared efficiently between companies in virtual project spaces. Around 700 users already utilize SupplyOn Collaboration Folders for the purposes of collaborative product development.

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