Am General's Plant

Increase production efficiency by consolidation in manufacturing facilities. With a higher production volume, the new AGI might be able to negotiate for lower cost from different suppliers and manufacturers.

Henry Ford, an American industrialist proved, not only to America but to the world that a car can be affordable to the so called, “Everyday Man”. “Henry Ford did not invent the car; he produced an automobile that was within the economic reach of the average American” (Sorensen 1). Subsequently, Henry Ford’s assembly lines were used in World War II to make equipment for the army. His car company, Ford, still produces one of the most durable and most cost effective car on the planet. In fact, every big car franchise today uses Henry Ford’s one hundred year old assembly line in order to manufacture safe and efficient transportation for everyone. Seeing that, Henry Ford’s moving assembly line has grown more complex because the parts and variety of vehicles being built continue to evolve. As a matter of fact, more automakers continue to improve the assembly line with flexible tooling, virtual engineering and robotics in order to keep up with the demands of the twenty-first century with ambitions of making Henry Ford’s one hundred year old technology better. Above all, making the automobile less expensive was an achievement in the engineer world, and as Henry Ford said, “Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress’ working together is success” (“Henry”

Joe Hinrichs, a recent Harvard Business school graduate, was hired in February 1996 to run the General Motors’s the Fredericksburg Torque Converter Clutch (TCC) manufacturing plant. At 29 years old, Hinrichs was GM’s youngest plant manager. Hinrichs was inheriting a poor performing plant that continually underachieved, losing money year after year. Improvements were desperately needed to increase the efficiency of the manufacturing process and reduce operating costs. GM had considered shutting down the plant; however, when a new bonding process, using carbon fiber, for the TCC was approved in 1995, GM instead invested thirty million dollars into the Fredericksburg plant to incorporate the new process.

White says that “to produce a new vehicle it takes three to five years” (332), but he neglects to prove this information with ethos. The author later defends the automakers by stating “that doesn’t mean auto makers and their technology suppliers aren’t serious about rethinking the status quo” (333), therefore, he could confuse the reader with mixed opinions (332-333).

Opportunities: growth in the car industry especially SUV, fast growth in technology, growth in population, and many segmentation variables for consumer markets are opportunities for GM to continue producing Hummers. Good reputation for Hummers and its fast positioning gives the opportunity to GM to produce more and more vehicles and make contracts with dealership.

Ideas introduced in the article assist in understanding Ford’s current situation. Ford reported sharp falls in U.S. auto sales in May 2008. Sales of its most profitable pickups and SUVs suffered the most (“US Auto Sales Slide”). Some of the main

The economic performance of Cummins is directly influenced by the markets in which its products are sold, particularly in the construction, on-highway, and industrial markets. As the demand in these high performing markets varies with changing economic conditions,

The automotive industry designs, develops, manufactures, markets and sells motor vehicles, and is one of the world’s most important economic divisions by profits. This analysis focuses on the industry, specifically, manufacturers of automobiles. There are five competitors in the StratSim environment: Firm A, B, C, D, and E. Industry sales in the most recent year were 4.3 million units, with expected growth in the next year. Within this industry, there are seven-vehicle classes: Economy, Family, Luxury, Sports, Minivan, Truck, and Utility. There are two new classes with potential – if properly marketed.

Lean manufacturing is the production of goods using less of everything than in mass production: less human effort, less manufacturing space, less investment tools and less engineering time to develop a new product. A company becomes lean by continuously increasing its capacity to produce high-quality goods while

The manufacturing cost can be lower as the rearrangement of the production line to meet urgent order can be minimize or even eliminated.

Automotive Builders, Inc. (ABI) is a company that consistently changed its production lines and strategic goals relative to the needs of the times, starting out producing diesel engine parts for tractors in the 1940’s, switching over to the production of parts for military vehicles during World War II, and then, after the war, settling into its current placement in both the automobile and tractor industry. Due to the downturn in the economy and stiff and superior competition in both quality and price rising up from the Japanese who had recently entered into the industry, ABI is trying to find productive and innovative ways to improve sales and guarantee placement as the number one company in its

Boeing made use of lean techniques in their production system and increased its production by 50% and also reduced its floor space by 40%. Assembling a Boeing 737 is a typical job. Workers should take 367,000 parts, an same number of bolts, rivets, other equipment and 36 miles (58 kilometres) of electrical wire and then keep them all combined to make an airplane [2]. Engineers to machinists were involved in lean (reducing waste) in the factory. By creating an assembly line, aircraft will pass through the workers were they going to concentrate on assembling. Allocating all employees in the factory building and organising special teams helped a lot to solve the errors in the assembly line [2]. In the assembly line, there are eight beacon lights which reflect the production status. If everything is good it shows green colour. If an error occurs, the worker will press a button and the green light will changes to yellow and the panel board will shows the category of the problem(which category it is related to). The worker will pass on to a computer and writes about the problem in a brief manner and the problem should be assigned to special team to solve it within 30 minutes if not, the light turns to purple and the assembly line will shuts down. This moving assembly is the icon of factory’s lean strategies.

Furthermore the U.S. market is now the target for most of the globe’s auto makers since the economy is steadily improving and consumers are much more inclined to replace or buy a new vehicle with the latest estimates for auto sales in 2014 expected to reach the 16 million vehicle range. However, finished goods inventories management is still a big problem and many automotive OEM’s such as GM are now considering even more investments in added capacity.

In 1913, Henry Ford revolutionized product manufacturing by introducing the first assembly line to the automotive industry. Ford’s hallmark of achievement proved to be a key competence for the motor company as the low cost of the Model T attracted a broader, new range of prospective car-owners. However, after many decades of success, customers have become harder to find. Due to relatively new threats to the industry, increasing numbers of cars and trucks are parked in dealer lots and showrooms creating an alarming trend of stagnation and profit erosion. Foreign-based automakers, such as Toyota and Honda, have expanded operations onto domestic shores and, in turn, have wrestled

U.S demand for tractors had stagnated due to a recession in the farming industry. Because of lower demand for its big, high-performance machines, USAT has weathered the recession better than had some of its larger competitors. However, during the past year, the order backlog had been completed considering export opportunities, and Mary had been asked to