“The soonest time I could find for everyone to get together is in three weeks. I’ll set up a meeting…” Does this sound familiar? It certainly happens to me, here at Microsoft Dynamics, and maybe it transpires at your company. It can’t happen to an F1 Team. The product cycle can be less than two weeks. Each Monday, after the Sunday race, as many as 10,000 data points are addressed by the team. Maybe 0.004% of those can make it onto the car in time for the next race. By when, you say? A mere 10 days later, everything must be signed, tested, fabricated, and shipped to locations as far away as Germany, Korea, and Brazil. The planning, logistics, and juggling of resources and decisions is epic. As Nick Chester, the team’s Technical Director says, “It’s all about priorities. It’s about juggling the big things—the things that are most important first—and then trying to catch the other plates, hopefully before they hit the floor.”
F1 teams don’t have the luxury of time. All of the effort from the 500-strong Lotus F1 Team has to come together to achieve the impossible. Who are these people? The Computational Fluid Dynamics design team, who architect the surfaces of the car. The model makers, who put 60% scale 3D-printed designs into the wind tunnel. The machinists, who use hammers to shape exotic folds and bends in metals that will reach searing temperatures in exhausts and radiators.
And that’s just at the factory. Someone has to figure out how to get the car and parts to races around the globe. You think packing for vacation is tough? Try deciding on the right mix of spares for a car that is driving hundreds of miles at 180 mph. What sounds daunting to us is just another day at the office for Lotus F1 Team. The right Enterprise Resource Planning solution helps make it all happen.
At Microsoft Dynamics, we are proud to partner with the Lotus F1 Team to help them achieve their “mission impossible,” as Patrick Louis prior CEO and Board Member of the team puts it.
Get a glimpse behind the scenes in this 5-minute documentary about how the Lotus F1 team uses technology—including ERP software—to help them win races and vie for championships. Find the documentary and full story at lotusf1team.dynamics.com.
Go behind the scenes with us in this micro-documentary to find out what it takes for the Lotus F1 Team to get the car to the track. The story continues at lotusf1team.dynamics.com Find out more about companies like the Lotus F1 Team and how you two can transform your business by registering for our Virtual Event taking place on April 10, 2014. For more info go to www.microsoft.com/Dynamics/AX