Hoff Media

Founder

Daily Content & LinkedIn Insights • Founder at I.Am.U Media • Content and LinkedIn Consulting for Founders & CEOs

Mat Lehnhoff

Faurecia

My responsibilities include,
1)Find cool new tech globally in line with Forvia road map (think startups, universities).
2)See if it helps Forvia innovate.
3)Show the money! Make a business case for how it helps Forvia. (Make money or save cost)
4)Build quick tests (POCs) to prove it works (mutual collaboration).


Breaking it down even further,
1) Scouting:
--Identify and track promising new technologies from around the world.--Utilize various sources like startup databases, conferences, research institutions, and universities.
--Focus on emerging markets for potentially disruptive innovations.

2)Evaluation:
--Analyze the potential of identified technologies for Faurecia's open innovation goals.
--Assess the technology's stage of development, market fit, and intellectual property landscape.

3)Proof of Concept (POC) Development:
--Partner with startups or internal teams to develop POCs (Proof of Concepts).
--These POCs demonstrate the feasibility and potential benefits of the new technology.
--Manage the pPOC development process, ensuring efficient resource allocation and timely completion.

4)Business Case Creation:
--Translate the technology into a tangible business case.
--Quantify the potential impact of the technology on revenue, cost savings, or market share.
--Collaborate with business stakeholders to ensure alignment with strategic goals.

Global Technology Scouting Leader | Automotive comfort wellness and safety solutions 

--Lead innovation projects from ideation to commercialization

--Align and work with stakeholders such as marketing, design, SW,/HW teams, external partners, industrial design, quality to take the project to completion in a phase gate manner.

--Responsible for risk analysis, mitigation plans with ERA, FMEA along with validation plan preparation.

--Embedded projects related to thermal comfort systems such as seat heaters, pneumatic massagers, lumbar support system etc.

--Has knowledge of ASPICE with V model SDLC

--ISO 26262 functional safety knowledge, especially for risk classification ASIL from QM to A,B,C,D risk levels based on severity, exposure and controllability

Senior Technical Project Leader | Innovations | Automotive

Assistant Manager

Team Lead

Product Design Engineer

Product And Process Development Leader (PPDL)

Senior Design Engineer

Design Engineer

Cad engineer

Graduate Engineering Trainee

Automotive Project, Product and Innovation Management | Technology scouting for open innovation, startup collaboration | Digital transformation | MBA, UK | PGPM, India | B.E. India | R&D, NPD and sustainability projects

I witnessed an accident involving an autonomous vehicle in the 90s...

which led me to mechanical engineering and ultimately to the automotive industry!

------

It all started with a small dc motor.

I know what you are thinking...

What about the autonomous vehicle in the 90s?

It was an autonomous vehicle but not life size let's say...

Fine, it was a small toy car ok!

Coming back to the dc motor...

You see, as a child, I had a favourite toy car - with big wheels & flashy red colour.

and one day, while testing its off-road skills, I let it drive down the steps...

No biggie right?


Only the steps were going down 2 floors & with them my favourite red car also went down - quite literally.

I ran, suspecting a massacre and was not surprised.

There it was, still in its red glory but only in pieces now.

That was the day I first felt the pain of heartbreak.

But there is a silver lining - that was also the day I fell in love with cars, weirdly because of the dc motor!

In that mess, I found a tiny motor which was running the entire show.

I immediately ran to my dad demanding to know what it was & how it works.

"It's a dc motor buddy, it runs on these batteries & powers the car"

"Huhh?" my face was literally a big question mark.

"You see it's like your heart. So the food you eat is like batteries running your heart - the dc motor...which in turn helps you run, got it?"

"Ya kinda...so batteries are like food for these cars" I tried smelling one of the batteries.

Dad quickly grabbed it from my hand & said, "Ya but only for cars...not for humans, OK?"

I nodded. 

"Let's not tell your mom about this analogy also"

"Ana..what?" 

"This example of batteries as food for cars,  ok?"

"Ya ya, got it. But dad, this will not work now?" I pointed at the messy wires.

"Why not, here lemme show you..."

And then he joined some wires, placed the batteries in the slot & told me to switch on the small button.

I obliged and voila!

the motor started working!

and this is the story of how I fell in love with cars!

After that incident, I used the hell out of quite a few dc motors & pencil batteries.

That's part of the reason why our wall clocks were never in a working condition!

-------

Completed high school with flying colours as they say & got into mechanical engineering - duhh!

and since last decade, working in the automotive industry in R&D project management.

---

As you can tell by now, I'm passionate about automotives & in love with storytelling.

Here to combine both!

Drive safe and keep reading.

Don't do both at the same time though!

Cheers,
Raj

Rajesh GUNDETI

taplio

The Battle

Mat Lehnhoff

Rajesh GUNDETI

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