The benchmark of manufacturing—the automotive industry.

2018-12-24

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Industry benchmark

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The importance of manufacturing to a nation’s economic development goes without saying. But which industry serves as the benchmark for manufacturing? Some might say aerospace and defense, others medical devices, and still others electronic information—but in my opinion, it’s the automotive industry.

Automobiles are among the most complex mass-produced consumer products. An automobile comprises tens of thousands of parts, and its designed lifespan often exceeds ten years—during which time it endures exposure to wind, frost, rain, and snow, as well as scorching summer heat and bitter winter cold. It demands maintenance that is as simple as possible and reliability that is as high as possible. Meanwhile, the nature of consumer products also requires costs to be kept as low as possible. It is precisely because the automotive industry possesses This kind of Due to these characteristics, it became necessary to adopt a higher-level approach to management, ultimately resulting in its management level being the highest in the manufacturing industry.

Aerospace, military industry, and medical device industry

Aerospace and defense technologies are highly technologically advanced, while the medical device industry has stringent safety requirements and tolerates very little in terms of quality defects. ， Why can’t we become a benchmark in manufacturing? Technological leadership leads to a natural disadvantage: technology overshadows everything. This leads to high costs in the aerospace and defense industries. Therefore, although the aerospace and defense industries are paragons of science and technology, they are also capital-intensive sectors that rely heavily on national strategic planning—rather than serving as models for conventional business practices, production methods, or cost control. Although the medical device industry... High safety requirements, low tolerance for quality defects, yet undergoing development and change. 、 The medical device supply chain is straightforward. Many medical products undergo only one major change every decade. With a simple supply chain, the requirements for supply chain management and information communication are also relatively low. Medical device industry It’s a model for quality management, but not a model for project management or supply chain management.

Electronic Information Industry

No industry simultaneously possesses the characteristics of the electronics industry. High-tech, rapidly evolving, and large-scale production. Just look at how the mobile phone—a consumer electronic device—has evolved from merely making simple calls to being able to access the internet—all within just a few short years. However, the mobile phone industry... Low security requirements and high tolerance for quality defects. 。 In the worst-case scenario, a mobile phone might explode—but this doesn't necessarily pose a threat to life. Other minor and major issues, such as freezing, failure to power on, or overheating, are commonplace. At most, these problems may lead to returns, but they won't put lives at risk. Since electronic information poses relatively little risk to personal safety, quality-control requirements for it are comparatively less stringent.

Speaking of the automotive industry...

1 Technical content

Although the automotive industry has a high technological content... Although it doesn't quite match the aerospace, defense, and electronic information industries in terms of technological sophistication, its overall technological content remains quite high. As a consumer product, automobiles also need technological innovation as a selling point—for example, hybrid power systems and autonomous driving features.

2 Business Management

The automotive industry for Supply Chain Management 、 Production Management Quality management, equipment management, etc. Has very high requirements. 。 A car has tens of thousands of components, and no automaker produces all of them in-house—most components are... Outsourced processing There are hundreds of suppliers involved. ， Any issue in any of these stages could lead to the OEM being unable to achieve mass production or to producing defective products. Therefore, the automotive industry must... In supply chain management, production management, and quality management Warehouse management, equipment management, and more On this front, there is a highly mature and systematic approach to mitigating these risks and ensuring stable output.

3 Safety performance requirements

From Security To say Because it involves personal safety, laws and regulations impose relatively strict requirements on the automotive industry. Therefore, safety compliance must be considered during the design and development phase—the automotive industry... Product Development ， A rigorous process called APQP (Advanced Product Quality Planning) is employed to ensure the quality of the development process. Simply put, product design involves design review, design verification, and design confirmation, while manufacturing process development includes process review, process verification, and process confirmation. From the perspective of quality management, for other industries... 99% yield It’s pretty good, but for the automotive industry, With a 1% defect rate, there’s always a risk that some defects will slip through inspection and end up being shipped—so the fundamental solution is to eliminate defective products altogether. In the automotive industry, not only is 100% conformance required, but process stability is also critical. For example, if a product’s tolerance is ±0.5 mm, it’s acceptable as long as 100% of the parts fall within this tolerance range—but having most parts close to the upper or lower limit is still unacceptable. Instead, the parts must be clustered around the midpoint of the tolerance range, and the variation should be minimized as much as possible. That’s why the automotive industry uses a parameter called Cpk (Process Capability Index) to measure both the stability of dimensions and how far they deviate from the target value. While other industries are still focusing on yield rates, the automotive industry has already adopted Cpk to analyze the stability of production processes. Only when the Cpk exceeds a certain threshold can mass production be approved. Perhaps the most iconic tool in the automotive industry is FMEA (Failure Mode and Effects Analysis)—a proactive approach that involves anticipating potential problems that could arise during design or manufacturing and taking preventive measures in advance. This is a key feature that distinguishes automotive quality management from that of other consumer goods industries. 。

4 Equipment automation

From Standardized production To say The automotive industry is the most eager to invest in advanced, high-cost production equipment and technologies to enhance efficiency. The automotive industry boasts the highest rate of automated production; even in China, the proportion of automated fixtures or machinery used in the automotive sector far exceeds that of other industries. Poka-yoke in the manufacturing process ， I believe that people will always make mistakes, so we should try our best to rely on machinery and equipment to minimize human error. Once machinery and equipment are properly set up, they’ll follow the established procedures without deviation, significantly reducing the likelihood of errors. In other industries, what I hear most often is “strengthening staff training” as a way to prevent mistakes.

5 Excellent experience

The automotive industry has integrated the management strengths of Germany, Japan, and the United States—the world’s leading industrial nations. Germans excel at avoiding mistakes by adhering closely to processes and rules. Japanese, facing scarce domestic resources, are adept at minimizing waste; they frequently reflect on what is unnecessary yet remain obsessively attentive to details—hence the emergence of lean production. Americans, on the other hand, are masters of innovation, unbound by rigid constraints, highly flexible in their approach, and wholeheartedly committed to thinking outside the box. Given that the automotive industry operates on a global division of labor, with different countries procuring components from one another, these three major industrial nations—with their distinct management practices—find it exceedingly challenging to communicate effectively. To harmonize these diverse management approaches and standards, in 1996 the world’s leading automakers—primarily from Germany, Japan, and the United States—established the International Automotive Task Force (IATF). In 1999, the IATF issued the international standard ISO/TS 16949 (the latest version has since been renamed IATF16949:2016), creating a globally accepted set of guidelines that essentially integrates the best management practices from these three industrial powerhouses. Beyond this, no other industry has managed to incorporate the strengths of all three of these industrial nations as comprehensively as the automotive sector has.

Relevant Information

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