Delivering greater safety at lower cost

TRW Occupant Safety Systems' top engineer discusses product development challenges as safety systems suppliers race to out-innovate and out-integrate their competitors while they outpace future legislation and constantly reduce cost.

Doug Campbell was looking remarkably fresh for someone who had started the day more than 20 hours earlier in Tokyo. It was mid-afternoon at TRW's Occupant Safety Systems headquarters north of Detroit, and Campbell, the Vice President of Engineering, still had hours of meetings ahead of him before quitting time.

“I'm used to the constant travel,” said Campbell. “It goes along with demand for our products from global customers. What we as safety-systems suppliers-and by ‘we’ I mean the industry as a whole-have achieved in the last 20 years has been unbelievable.”