Lean Production, Globalisation and Modular Production : the Scientific Virtue of Being Doubtful

An example of this was GERPISAís Emergence of New Industrial Models programme, which consistently highlighted the fact that an ostensibly operative concept such as  lean production  (as presented in the benchmarking activities that had followed the IMVPís surveys in this field) is not an analysis that warrants being described as " scientific ". Moreover, inasmuch as it does not offer any truly strategic guidelines, and actually generates a great deal of confusion, it is in reality a conceptual dead-end. When we try to take a closer look at the operating modes that Honda, Toyota and Nissan have pursued, it becomes clear that that which certain observers have called the " Japanese model of management " in fact covers some fairly major variations. The lean production ideology has been masking the underlying factors that are involved in the problems which a number of Japanese carmakers have been having to face for several years now ­ difficulties that have lead to a loss of autonomy for them.

GERPISAís second programme raised a question mark over certain observersí affirmation of a general trend towards globalisation in the automobile industry. For a while, Ford Motor Company had preached the gospel of the global car - yet at the recent Paris Car Show, during its introduction of its new Mondeo II model, Ford announced that it was abandoning this very same idea. This is a clear indication of the problems that companies experience with the globalisation process ­ and of the potential usefulness of an approach that revolves around the notion of regionalisation.

Today, the issue of modular production lies at the very heart of the thought processes and discussions that are currently occupying business leaders and engineers (as well as the social sciences research community). This topic deserves to be analysed in greater detail - something that GERPISA is trying to achieve with its new programme, Coordinating Competencies and Knowledge in Regional Automotive Systems. The contributions that were made at the IMVPís recent conference in Boston reveal  researchersí diverging sensitivities in this area.

However, recent events have provided us with several examples of the way in which certain actors resist this notion of modularity. For example, over the past few months, new model launches have been almost systematically delayed. This translates the challenges that carmakers have been facing at the moment of truth, i.e. during the final phase of product development. Above and beyond the virtual simulations and tentative local adaptations that have been tried, the decisions that actors make concerning the way in which the different automobile subsystems are combined raises a number of new questions concerning the coherency between a vehicleís various elements. After all, automobiles are product-systems.

Tyres provide an interesting example of this phenomenon. First of all, this would seem to be the one component that maintains a certain autonomy with respect to the rest of the vehicle. Tyres are designed and manufactured by one of the four or five multinationals that take part in the worldwide oligopoly which characterises this sector, and consumers can get the new tyres that they desire either in major retail outlets or else in special stores. Nevertheless, tyre interchangeability is not a riskfree proposition, given the essential role this product plays in a vehicleís road stability. The major setbacks that Ford has had in the US with its Explorer light trucks, equipped with Firestone tyres, is a clear remainder of the major influence that this component has on a vehicleís functioning. It is therefore a matter of some urgency that we calculate how this risk can be best managed ; and how responsibilities should be split between car makers and their component suppliers.

In Europe, the Smart car and the Mercedes A Class have come under a barrage of criticism from the specialist press because of these carsí failure, whenever they were equipped with a certain type of tyres, at road tests ­ whereas they had passed the same tests when equipped with a different brand. This meant that their launch was actually postponed so that modifications reinforcing the roadworthiness of these small cars could be introduced. More recently, Peugeot fell into the same trap, when it equipped its 607 model with tyres that were too soft for the driving tests that journalists had organised for it. Avis, the car rental company, refused for several months to offer the Smart car in Germany, due to the problems in driving it on snowy roads whenever it was equipped with a specific type of tyre.

Tyre manufacturers are now trying to extend their area of involvement through their application of modular production. Their aim is to design and produce increasingly complex subsystems that integrate the vehicleís suspension, and even its braking system(s). Mastering these types of know-how and developing new competencies means that companies will have to conclude strategic alliances, such as the tie that links Michelin with Woco (a German company specialised in the reduction of vibrations) and the Vallourec Group ; or else, Continental and its acquisition of ITT Automotiveís braking and chassis activities. The integration of such modules in a vehicle creates problems of an entirely different nature than those that are caused by the tyres alone.

We should not fall prisoner to an inflexible mindset, and condemn modular production before it even gets up and running. However, it would be irresponsible to fall under the spell of those who believe that they have discovered a new organisational " one best way " in the " new economy " (Dell-ism) ; and who preach that this is the only approach that the sectorís actors should be following. The issue deserves to be analysed in greater depth. This requires the mobilisation of all of GERPISAís resources in the field of social sciences. Our goal will be the creation of an overall perspective, that is, an all-encompassing approach that will incorporate all of the various dimensions of the automobile system.