Most manufacturers strive for excellence no matter what industry they specialize in.
When it comes to Formula 1, the epitome of world-class motorsport, manufacturers need to be more than excellent – they need to be the best.
Which is why fans were surprised to hear that one of the ten teams has been relying on a single excel spreadsheet to manage factory operations. Excel has its diehard fans too, but the software is proving insufficient for manufacturing needs, and the effects are being felt on the Formula 1 circuit.
Manufacturing Standards Within F1 Racing
Fans of Formula 1 enjoy the thrill of a grand prix, but few casual watchers are aware that the race begins far before any flags are waved – it begins on the shop floor.
Every year a new car is designed to meet strict specifications regarding quality, cost, and driveability.
First, engineers draft designs using computer-aided design (CAD) equipment. From there, aerodynamics are tested via computational fluid dynamics (CFD). After any tweaks are made, the car goes through wind tunnel testing and further optimizations. Most of the model parts in these stages are made with rapid prototyping and 3D printing technologies, since the majority of components are made from composite parts and carbon fibre.
Once the design is approved, the manufacturing of the actual car begins:
“Materials are put under the microscope (literally) and every part on the car will have undergone non-destructive testing (NDT) with x-ray or ultrasound techniques to evaluate joint bonding and laminate condition, firmness checks, visual checks and a thorough cleaning.
“Every part is given a mileage or time-based ‘life’ after which it must be removed and replaced, and components, particularly safety critical ones, are often tested to three or four times the life they are required to last, just to be sure.”
Did You Know? How much does an F1 car cost? Engines are the most expensive part, costing around $12 million USD per year – it is estimated that to build one unit alone is around $3.5 million. The chassis reportedly costs around $1 million, with the gearbox $750,000 and front wings at $150,000 each. Even the electronic steering wheel comes in at an estimated $50,000.
Needless to say, the manufacturing process of such an elite vehicle requires ultimate precision and traceability. If a measurement is off by even a millimeter, the car could potentially sputter to a stop on the track. The team would be out of luck for that race including any championship points.
This is already a tall job order for the factory, but the job isn’t done once the car finishes pre-season manufacturing; cars are continually optimized for performance throughout the duration of the season.
The rules allow for different parts to be swapped out and setups to be reconfigured. There’s also the chance that a car hits a track wall or skids into some debris, which means extra parts need to be kept on-site in case the car sustains any damage.
How can one excel sheet do all that? More so, how can every team lead and departmental head access a static application with just-in-time precision for immediate results?
Grand Prix Disappointment: How Software Impacted the Race
Williams hasn’t been a championship frontrunner since the early 1990s, despite being one of the legacy teams founded in the early days of the sport. James Vowles, the new team principal of Williams Racing as of 2023 (after his move from Mercedes Petronas), has a big challenge on his hands in fully digitally transforming the Williams factory.
He inherited Williams’ master excel list, which was being used to track around 20,000 different parts and components. Not only was this spreadsheet bulky and difficult to use, it didn’t include data fields for essential metrics like component costs, inventory levels, and lead times.
“The Excel list was a joke,” said Vowles. “Impossible to navigate and impossible to update.”
The writing was on the wall: Vowles needed to shift the factory into a higher gear to bring the famous team back to its glory days.
Vowles explained, “You need to go into the system, and [parts] need to be ordered. Is a front wing more important than a front wishbone in that circumstance? When do they go through? When is the inspection? When you start tracking hundreds of thousands of components [moving around] through your organisation, an Excel spreadsheet is useless.
“You need to know where each one of those independent components are, how long it will take before it's complete, how long it will take before it goes to inspection, if there's been any problems with inspections, [and] whether it has to go back again.”
The organizational beginnings of Williams’ digital transformation are taking some time, which is understandably why the team hit a snag during the 2024 Australian Grand Prix.
One of the two team drivers crashed during a pre-race practice lap, damaging the chassis. Usually, teams are prepared for this kind of setback, with alternate chassis on deck.
Unfortunately, the factory’s state of disarray meant that a second chassis could not be made in time. Williams ended up benching one of their two drivers, severely harming their chances of earning a few championship points.
“We are hugely disappointed that the damage sustained to the chassis has meant we need to withdraw it from the weekend,” said Vowles. “It's unacceptable in modern day Formula 1 not to have a spare chassis, but it is a reflection of how behind we were in the winter period and an illustration of why we need to go through significant change in order to get ourselves in a better position for the future.”
Vowles also emphasized the importance of up-to-date procedures and processes beyond software. Staff skill sets and expertise have lagged behind expectations due to a lack of administrative upkeep, and manufacturing performance has suffered as a result.
For example, emails regularly bounce around between managers as workers try to collect missing information. Shop floor workers have been heard admitting they have no idea where components are stored as they wander the factory looking for their necessary parts.
Says Vowles, "If you took a group of people and hid them away, and another group of people hid them away, they evolve to different stages. And that's what's happened, the view of what excellence is is completely different to what it really is today, and you have to move things forward.”
Despite the competitive setback Williams has been experiencing this year, both fans and critics are applauding Vowles’ no-nonsense approach to straightening out factory best practices for long-term improvements.
Vowles’ approach to Williams’ digital transformation is sound because it targets both technical and operational aspects of manufacturing:
- The software–needed for traceability, timeliness, accuracy
- The systems–needed to aid shop floor workers and team leaders
Now, you may not have the weight of a potential world championship in your hands, but Vowles’ expert roadmap for improvement holds valuable insight for the average manufacturer.
First, take care of the granular details through software that utilizes visual work instructions, data collection, and traceability and incident report metrics. You can’t train people until they have the necessary tools to work with and reports that they can rely upon as they learn new skills and habits.
Second, encourage knowledge sharing and collaboration among silos within your facility so that teams can coordinate tasks. Your software will help with communication, since now everything is accessible in a central database and authentications for different levels of responsibility are secured across the workforce.
And like in Formula 1, continue to think of optimizations that can improve procedures during production, since there’s always something to improve, no matter how small.
Last but not least, time to delete that excel file.
