Microsoft is helping the Lotus F1 Racing Team remain competitive

F1 means teams are constantly under pressure to get the most out of their technology investment. This is where Microsoft have come to the aid of one team.

Lotus F1 Team's Venezuelan driver Pastor Maldonado.

WHEN it comes to high pressure gigs, being involved with a Formula One racing team has to be at the top of the list.

The competitive and fast paced environment means teams are constantly under pressure to get the most out of their technology investment.

However, as many fans of the sport are aware, not all teams are equal with the wealthiest teams dominating the sport.

As one of the teams in the middle of the pack, Lotus F1 Racing Team is forced to develop different methods in order to remain competitive.

“The other teams will literally throw money at resources, but we try to do it with technology,” said Lotus chief executive Matthew Carter.

“We try to be smarter in order to remain ahead of the other teams, but it only works if we are really quick.”

This constant battle means the racing team need cutting edge technology to manage their entire organisation.News_Image_File: Lotus F1 Team's Venezuelan driver Pastor Maldonado speeds through a corner during the qualifying session at the Formula One Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.

In hopes to achieve the best possible performance in the F1 World Championship, the Lotus F1 team announced a strategic partnership with Microsoft Dynamics in 2012.

“We are excited about the partnership with Lotus, and being a part of the development process using dynamic systems to manufacture the cars,” said Microsoft Dynamics Director of Product Marketing Ricky Gangsted-Rasmussen.

“The faster we can compress those timelines and get the information from the track back into development and then back onto the track, the better chance have at shaving seconds off lap times.

The partnership saw a three phase approach to improving the way the racing team functioned.

Firstly, in November 2012, the partnership aimed to improve Lotus’ financials, HR, purchasing and materials management.

The next phase in October 2013 saw Microsoft bringing the Lotus F1 aerodynamics division online.

“This helped to streamline engineering change management, testing and PLM integration,” saidNews_Image_File: Dynamics have helped make the business run smoother.

In the second half of 2014, the rest of manufacturing and production planning and scheduling teams were brought online using the ADM module.

“Throughout the factory there were multiple departments building different parts of the car,” he said.

“Having one tool that all of the manufacturing and production planning teams use greatly helps to streamline the process of the rapid manufacturing that changes on a daily basis.”

The final stage saw the team exploring the application of other Microsoft technologies to help the team succeed.

“In April 2014 the whole company went live on Microsoft Office 365,” he said.

“Their website is running on Microsoft Azure, and 140 team members are using Windows Phones.

“There are 20 Microsoft Surface devices deployed in various functions. Microsoft SQL and StreamInsight are being implemented for real-time analytics of telemetry data.”