I am aware that million dollar presses are used in stamping out auto parts.
I am aware that million dollar robots are utilized in assembly of autos.
I am interested in what production/project framework is utilized in automotive industry when proposing a new model or a major redesign of a model by an auto maker?
From the Wikipedia article: Product lifecycle
PLM systems help organizations in coping with the increasing complexity and engineering challenges of developing new products for the global competitive markets.
The inspiration for... PLM came from American Motors Corporation (AMC). The automaker was looking for a way to speed up its product development process to compete better against its larger competitors in 1985... Lacking the "massive budgets of General Motors, Ford, and foreign competitors … AMC began development of a new model, that later came out as the Jeep Grand Cherokee... The second part in this effort was the new communication system that allowed conflicts to be resolved faster, as well as reducing costly engineering changes because all drawings and documents were in a central database. The product data management was so effective that after AMC was purchased by Chrysler, the system was expanded throughout the enterprise connecting everyone involved in designing and building products. While an early adopter of PLM technology, Chrysler was able to become the auto industry's lowest-cost producer, recording development costs that were half of the industry average by the mid-1990s.
While there are many commercial PLM software, there are also some open source ones such as:
