To find details of your
nearest dealer,enter your postcode, town or county.
Alternatively, enter the Dealer name for contact details.
Click
here
Quantum leap in flexible response
to customisation requests
The BMW Group's new build-to-order
system - the customer-oriented distribution and production process
(KOVP) - delivers promptly, punctually and precisely
To keep customers satisfied, businesses try to be as flexible
as possible in accommodating each customer's individual wishes
and requirements. But whereas it's easy to exchange one pair
of shoes for another pair in a larger size, things become more
complicated when it's a matter of changing the details of an
order for a car. The BMW Group has made a quantum leap forward
in the flexibility of its response to customer demands through
the introduction of an innovative "customer-oriented distribution
and production process" (KOVP). For instance, the cycle
time for the new 7 Series BMW has been reduced to just 12 workdays
- half as long as before. Now that the system has been introduced
for the new 7 Series BMW and the BMW Z4, the programme is being
successively applied to each new model as it goes into production
in the current launch season.
When ordering a new vehicle
buyers of premium-brand cars place the highest priority on a
simple ordering procedure. Also at the top of their wish list:
an immediate and instantly confirmed quotation of a delivery
date and a flexible response to requests for optional extras.
These are demands that the BMW Group takes seriously, having
declared their fulfilment as one of its corporate objectives.
A solution is being implemented in the form of a programme entitled
"customer-oriented distribution and production process"
(KOVP or "kundenorientierter Vertriebs- und Produktionsprozess").
The company's logistics department was given the responsibility
of designing this innovative build-to-order system, featuring
short process and delivery times. Their task was to re-engineer
all process steps, from distribution planning, production logistics,
purchasing logistics through to distribution logistics.
The design team's work
on the KOVP project, started in 1998, is now paying off: Through
the introduction of the customer-oriented distribution and production
process, the BMW Group has made a quantum leap forward in the
flexibility of its response to customer requests. The most visible
results of this new system are simple online ordering processes
at the dealer's showroom, immediate quotation and confirmation
of a fixed delivery date, a flexible approach to requests for
optional extras, an order-status tracking and information service,
and fast, on-time delivery. There is no doubt about the success
of the re-engineering project - the KOVP sets a new benchmark
for systems of this type.
