1995-12-01

Globalizing the Development of Innovative Manufacturing Processes - Needs and Benefits 952792

In a shrinking world, there is the chance to reap the benefits of globalized strategies. Going around the world to purchase, design, build and market products internationally and jointly, offers immense possibilities for carmakers and suppliers.
The two concepts of mass production with cost/price orientation and customized production with service orientation have merged to mass-customizing, affecting automakers and their suppliers worldwide alike.
The formidable demands on today's automotive industry might, indeed, be best met globally:
Increase in:
  • Product Variety
  • Data/Information
  • Production Flexibility
  • Quality
  • Transparency
  • Productivity
Decrease in:
  • Planning/Processing
  • Response Time
  • Delivery Time
  • Relative Cost
  • Product-Life-Cycle
The consequences of manufacturing on a global scale are:
Consolidate the pool of knowledge available, arrive at the desired quality level early on in the development stage, eliminate duplication of effort, share research and development, select the best problem solving methods and provide processes that achieve proven and predictable results.
The development and subsequent application of manufacturing/machining processes by one manufacturer for worldwide usage, preempts the understanding of the manufacturing environment of the individual countries. The key basically is, to design and develop manufacturing processes in a combined effort in such a way, that they can be transferred and copied at any production facility the world over, or easily be modified and adjusted, if local considerations so dictate it.
Globalizing manufacturing processes can only be done in a methodical and disciplined way.
The key ingredients are:
  • Process-oriented manufacturing.
  • Applied Concurrent Engineering.
  • Simplifying machining operations.
  • Advanced machining methods.
  • Exchange of inspirational ideas.
  • Free and automatic communication.
  • Adopting uniform quality standards.
  • Understanding of cost, quality, productivity.
  • Anticipating technological trends.
An array of examples illustrates how manufacturing companies with international organizations and ties have successfully designed and engineered processes jointly and developed technologies for worldwide usage. They give testimony to the importance of a globalized manufacturing strategy.
In a shrinking world, there is the chance to reap the benefits of globalized strategies. Going around the world to purchase, design, build and market products internationally and jointly, offers immense possibilities for carmakers and suppliers.
The two concepts of mass production with cost/price orientation, have merged to mass-customizing, affecting automakers and their suppliers worldwide alike.
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The traditional producer of mass-produced products has to be more service-oriented, the producer of customized products, conversely, has to increase the lot size and watch the cost-structure more closely. Both are the result of a market, dictated by the consumer and the automotive industry has to do even more to meet today's demands.
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On a global scale - for manufacturers with worldwide production facilities and marketing outlays - the implications dictate:
  • Consolidate the pool of knowledge available, arrive at the desired quality level early on in the development stage, eliminate duplication of effort, share research and development, select the best problem-solving methods and provide processes that achieve proven and predictable results.
  • The development and subsequent application of manufacturing/machining processes by one manufacturer for worldwide usage, preempts the understanding of the manufacturing environment of the individual countries. The key basically is, to design and develop manufacturing processes in a combined effort, in such a way, that they can be transferred and copied at any production facility the world over, or easily be modified and adjusted, if local considerations so dictate it.
It stands to reason to include suppliers for the common goals and quite often develop engineering and manufacturing jointly.
In any event, globalizing manufacturing processes needs to be done in a methodical and disciplined way. The key ingredients are:
  • Process-Oriented Manufacturing.
  • Applied Concurrent Engineering.
  • Simplifying Machining Operations, Optimizing Machining Operations.
  • Advanced Machining Systems.
  • First Part - Good Part, Zero-Defect Machining, A Realistic Approach?
  • Uniform Quality Standards - Continuous Improvement.
  • Shared Ideas Facilitating Learning, Anticipating Trends.

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