The automotive industry is among the world’s most complex and competitive. Despite this, too many suppliers continue to put their trust in dispersed spreadsheets, in-house programs, and e-mail to manage and coordinate tasks, milestones, and other critical program data. To address these issues, Campfire Interactive, Inc. (Campfire), provider of the leading solution for portfolio profitability management, has announced enhancements to the Program, Project, and Issues Management (PPM) module within its industry-leading Campfire software suite.
Created especially for automotive industry suppliers, Campfire PPM mitigates risks and effectively manages tasks, open issues, financials, and part documentation from contract award through production. This newest release makes a powerful statement by redefining the user experience while emphasizing interoperability across the Campfire software suite. The result is even greater functionality, a more seamless transition into program management, and an opportunity to further maximize program efficiency and profitability.
Campfire Co-Founder, Sarvajit Sinha explains that the user experience remains the focus of this newest release.
“The volume and depth of data that automotive industry suppliers must deal with has increased significantly. To make the management of this data more intuitive, seamless, and effective, Campfire has revamped the user interface and underlying technology of our PPM module. The customized PPM dashboard allows users to quickly search and access information, with custom filtering and advanced navigation. Users can now search for documents, for example, based on content while ensuring tight company network security. This added automation and enhanced functionality are especially important for those moving away from Excel or legacy project management tools not designed for today’s digital manufacturing environment. Campfire’s PPM module ensures that Quality Audits are approved painlessly and all program information from the BOM to Routing to PFMEAs to Tool supplier tasks are just a few clicks from the Program cover page.”
In addition to usability, interoperability throughout the Campfire software suite has been expanded. One example is the value that an integrated Quote Management and PPM provides for developing quotes and subsequent management as changes are introduced. Tasks are automatically created and instantly available in PPM when the components and tools are edited. This provides a single point of truth and saves time while ensuring accuracy, accountability, and consistency.
Program Management: A Growing Concern
Increasingly complex and largely digital product development processes are straining traditional automotive industry program management tools. And studies confirm program management efficiency as a rising priority among Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers.
Campfire President, Dan Meyer says that the OEM and supplier landscape is changing dramatically, and Campfire is investing to advance its leading program management technology.
“Automotive programs are growing exponentially in terms of volume and complexity,” said Meyer. “Combine these factors with outdated program management practices and its clear why program management is a rising priority as suppliers seek to be more in control, automated, insightful, and efficient. At Campfire our focus remains on automotive suppliers and their challenges. We’re taking our PPM module to a new level while continuing to offer a complete suite of robust tools to manage the entire opportunity life cycle.”
Automotive suppliers agree that disperse systems and inconsistent data are among their most serious obstacles. And a growing number of these companies are finding the integrated Campfire environment to be the answer.
An example is Axiom Group, a Canada-based Tier 1 supplier of automotive Class A exterior, interior, and functional/structural components. Beginning in late 2022, Campfire’s complete software suite was implemented, and according to the company’s VP, Sales and Marketing, Richard Ishii, Campfire has lived up to its reputation as the leading player in the Program Profitability space.
“Campfire supports the entire life cycle of an opportunity as it moves from target to quote, award, and production. On-demand program reviews, cross-functional collaboration, and maintaining a digital thread of program data are essential to hitting production, quality, and financial targets. The benefits of Campfire are immediate and beyond measurable in terms of both time and cost savings.”
