Affiliations: Daimler Benz AG, Epplestrasse 225, D-7000 Stuttgart 80, Germany
Abstract: The European and North American automotive industries are facing a strong challenge posed by the Japanese automotive industry. Recent investigations predict the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs when the import restrictions on the European automotive market are completely lifted. What is the basis for these prognoses? The success of Japanese companies on the world market and their significant growth rates over the last few years are often explained by references to Far Eastern entrepreneurialism, based on an autonomous cultural identity. In addition, new manufacturing technologies and organisational innovations such as KANBAN and JIT are said to be involved. An MIT study covering the last five years concluded that Japanese companies produce two or three times as many cars per worker as European or American factories. This also applies to so-called transplants, assembly plants in Europe or North America under Japanese management. The advantages of this high productivity have been summarized in the expression ‘lean production’, which describes an integrated approach to the manufacturing process. This comprehensive approach is based on a simultaneous engineering process which combines product and manufacturing tool design and development, material requirement planning, close ties with suppliers and not least, continuous improvements to the quality of the manufacturing process. This paper deals with three alternative reactions to this challenge. The means of combatting this challenge are presented using concrete examples. Individual stages in the supply chain will be examined in greater detail, and opportunities for improvement proposed.
Keywords: Lean production, automotive supplier operations, strategic consequences in setting up trade barriers, changed supplier's competences in the '90, potential of lean production in non-automotive industrial sectors, clean industry
