TRW Automotive (now ZF)

Project: Turnaround and safety certification for a critical airbag control unit

Customer: TRW automotive
Period: March 2012 – September 2012
Role: Functional Safety & QM Specialist

I was specifically commissioned to take over and realign a time-critical and safety-relevant project for a BMW airbag control unit. The responsibility, which had previously been divided between two external service providers, was placed in my hands for reasons of efficiency.

My core responsibilities and results:

• Project takeover and realignment: I took over full responsibility for functional safety in this critical project. My first task was to consolidate the existing work and draw up a clear, targeted plan to achieve the project goals.
• End-to-end safety engineering: I reviewed the functional and technical safety concept from the ground up and performed all necessary safety analyses (FMEA, FMEDA, FTA). I also coordinated the calculation and verified the hardware metrics (SPFM/LFFM) to demonstrate quantitative fault tolerance.
• Coordination with OEM and suppliers: As the central point of contact for functional safety, I managed the technical coordination with the end customer BMW and     the suppliers involved to ensure a consistent and robust safety concept across all system boundaries.

Project completion:
The project was abruptly terminated due to a comprehensive reorganization of the entire site following the dismissal of the site manager. At the time of this change, all technical safety concepts and analyses had been completed and delivered by me. Only the final, formal consolidation in the safety case was still pending.

Project impact:
In a challenging project situation, I got the development of a vital safety system back on track. In a short period of time, I compiled all the technical safety evidence, thereby laying the foundation for meeting the stringent requirements of a premium OEM such as BMW.