As a management consulting company, we help firms in the automotive industry translate their ideas and innovative solutions into technology on four wheels. Our speciality is electronics development and our job is to share and foster software know-how on a variety of levels. To this end, we combine our detailed understanding of technology issues with long-standing expertise in order to match workflows and the business structures of development functions to new tasks, thus preparing teams for new kinds of challenges.
As pioneers of automotive electronics, we’re always at the leading edge in managing the increasingly complexity of electronics development. We continually find answers to new challenges in areas such as process maturity, functional safety, conformability and cybersecurity. One way or another, we have been dealing with these challenges since 1994. Our broad portfolio of customers spans the entire supply chain. This allows us to look at the industry from a variety of angles and think in terms of what is expected by the customers of our customers. We then provide our customers with close support in pinpointing and implementing suitable solutions. This approach has empowered us to succeed in development functions worldwide, for vehicle manufacturers, their suppliers, software companies and semiconductor producers – in short, in all areas requiring software know-how with a bearing on connected vehicles.
The key to our success is a close understanding of our customers. We have been working with a large number of them for many years, building relationships based on strong trust. This mutual respect and reliability has allowed us to lay a foundation for learning from one another and growing together. We combine this approach with our expertise in understanding the requirements of new technology and working with customers to improve the output of their development processes.
Need support with a key project? We’re your first port of call when it comes to management consulting and improvement programmes in electronics development.
Steffen Herrmann and the sales team
We offer a combination of management consulting and professional implementation that is unique in the world of electrical/electronics development.
Our comprehensive know-how in the field of software enables you to safeguard innovation capabilities in R&D at every level of the organisation. Not only do we investigate and analyse the challenges you face, we also assess whether your business goals and objectives are actually achievable with the technologies and product architectures you envisage. We then plan and develop viable business processes and structures that empower you to fulfil these objectives.
We sustainably improve the operational processes and structures in the R&D units of your electronics development, from the team to the entire business unit. With our unique AiD blueprint, we ensure that your development is set up in a target-oriented manner and meets specifications such as functional safety, automotive security, Automotive SPICE® or systems engineering.
The offices of Kugler Maag Cie North America are located in the metropolitan region around Detroit – the Motor City. To be more specific, they’re in Troy, Michigan. Peter Abowd has been responsible for the smooth running of our subsidiary, KUGLER MAAG CIE North America Inc., since 2015. “Our task is to help development teams working in automotive electronics with the development of reliable products – profitably, within the required time,” explains Abowd.
Abowd has a wealth of management experience, having worked in the development department of a leading automotive supplier. His task there was to set up labs ahead of the game. These labs specialised in the interdisciplinary development of human-machine interfaces. He was also responsible for infotainment, driver information and passenger comfort control systems. Abowd has managed process improvement programmes involving personal software processes (PSPs). He has also worked as a lecturer at several universities and spearheaded a working group for SAE INTERNATIONAL.
The interdisciplinary experts working with Peter Abowd support OEMs and suppliers in enhancing workflows and improving their approach towards innovation goals. After conducting a thorough assessment and analysing the current situation, his electronics experts recommend functioning innovations and provide staff with fast-track training. Their support spans the full range of consulting services offered by Kugler Maag Cie, from Automotive SPICE® to FUNCTIONAL SAFETY (ISO 26262) and CYBERSECURITY in product development.
To promote the introduction of agile principles and methods, Abowd and his team have developed a concept tailored to the specific requirements of the market in North America.
We’re delighted that KUGLER MAAG CIE North America has become a leading address for vehicle manufacturers and suppliers in such a short time. Its customer base encompasses numerous tech companies and software developers working on embedded software in California, many of which are helping develop a new infrastructure for the car industry through connectivity.
The most recent subsidiary to join the Kugler Maag Cie group of companies is known as Kú Lé Mǎ. KUGLER MAAG CIE Management Consulting (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. was founded in 2019 after it became necessary to develop closer relationships with customers thanks to a sharp rise in projects in the expanding markets of East Asia. Kailai Sun is director of operations at the company in the Jiading district of the city.
The consulting services offered by Kugler Maag Cie in China also include our vertically integrated consulting portfolio, from management consulting for E/E decision-makers to successful implementation in full production. To deliver these services, we combine established methods such as Automotive SPICE® and FUNCTIONAL SAFETY with the requirements of industry, such as AUTOMOTIVE CYBERSECURITY and AGILE PRINCIPLES. Our TRAINING PROGRAMME includes regular courses in Shanghai and Beijing.
Kugler Maag Cie also offers you the opportunity to engage in INTERDISCIPLINARY PARTNERSHIPS spanning different areas of competence. These are specifically targeted at the emerging Chinese automotive industry: “Working in partnership with the systems engineering experts at Beijing Bright Homing and the R&D and production experts at EAST Consulting, we cover the entire product development process for automotive electronics,” explains Steffen Herrmann, a partner at Kugler Maag Cie.