Common processes, platforms fix common automotive problems
By Staff -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 4/1/2006 12:00:00 AM
Laurie Harbour-Felax, an automotive industry consultant, says downsizing and layoffs aren't the best way to fix what's wrong with the U.S. domestic auto industry. Speaking at the Activplant user conference held recently in Orlando, Harbour-Felax says what's needed are "common processes, architectures, and platforms."
Manufacturing intelligence platforms are turning up more often in the automotive industry. Activplant, which offers the Activplant Performance Management System (APMS), counts TRW Automotive, Ford, and Toyota among its users.
Besides the possibility of APMS acting as a common platform within each company, a manufacturing intelligence system also can be the means for more common processes across plants. Aimed at high-volume, highly automated facilities, APMS aggregates plant-floor data into real-time and historical information for focus on issues that drive quality and performance. Implicit is the ability to compare performance, based on key parameters, across plants.
TRW recently licensed APMS for its production facilities in Marshall, Ill., following deployment in a Canadian facility. Ford recently penned a deal to use Activplant software across its North American Powertrain plants.
Parker Shannon, manager of manufacturing administration for Toyota Motor, Georgetown, Ky., sees no contradiction between use of an IT solution like APMS and the tenets of the Toyota Production System.
"One of the principles of the Toyota Production System is simplicity, and a performance management system could be seen as adding a layer of complexity to the manufacturing system," says Shannon. "But it's the same type of information we always tracked, only now it's in real time, and we can drill down to identify where to begin a problem investigation or 'go and see.' The performance system embodies principles of the Toyota system, just as the employees personify its culture of continuous improvement."
Toyota has been using APMS since 2004 at its Georgetown plant, and is set to start implementation in a Texas plant for use in production control, body paint, and assembly operations.
