Japon

Même si ceci ne manquera pas de susciter quelqu’énervement chez PSA, les lumières qui nous ont été fournies cette semaine sur la forme que va prendre "l’alliance stratégique mondiale" GM-PSA font d’abord penser – comme Florence Lagarde l’a souligné déjà la semaine dernière - à Renault-Nissan. Le fait que les deux piliers de la coopération mise en avant soient le partage des plateformes d’un côté et la création d’une structure commune d’achat de l’autre, que la gouvernance de l’Alliance soit assurée par un "steering committee" composé de 4 top managers des deux entreprises, que l’identité des marques soit préservée et gérée hors de l’Alliance tout comme les outils industriels qui continueront d’être dédiés sont autant d’éléments qui rendent comparables les deux manières de procéder.

Cette démarche intermédiaire entre la fusion et la coopération ponctuelle s’explique dans les deux cas par la nécessité politique de respecter l’identité et la "nationalité" des parties d’une part et par la prudence stratégique et organisationnelle que les entreprises ont tiré de leurs expériences passées et de celles qu’ils ont vu d’autres faire d’autre part. read more

Bungsche, Holger (2012).  Crisis without end or crisis as a chance.. Gerpisa colloquium. Holger Bungsche Professor at the School for International Studies Kwansei Gakuin University, Nishinomiya Japan Preliminary title of the paper: Crises without End – Crisis as a Chance Japan’s Automobile Industry and Automobile Market after the Financial, the 3/11 Tsunami and the Thailand Flood Crises Outline of the paper: Since 2008 Japan’s automobile industry is continuously confronted with crises. After the financial crisis of 2008/09, which in fact was a huge sales crisis hitting especially car exports from Japan and local production in Japan’s second home market the USA, the industry had to deal with the effects of the Tsunami disaster in March 2011. On the one hand, supply chains that proved to be very vulnerable to natural disasters had to be reorganized, and on the other hand factories throughout Japan had to rearrange production schedules in order to evade electricity shortages. Finally, the flood disaster in Thailand, which especially affected the supply chain of foreign production sites of Japanese manufacturers also showed shortcomings of the internationalization strategies of Japanese companies, especially Toyota and Honda. In addition to that, Japanese car producers have to deal with an adverse exchange rate of the Yen that appreciating for instance by about 60% against the Euro since 2009. Against the above outlined background, my paper will concentrate on two issues. The first issue is the impact the crises have or had on the Japanese domestic car market. In this part my paper will discuss the ongoing changes in the Japanese car market as well as the increasing political pressure to boost ecological friendly cars. Although fundamental reforms of the car and gasoline taxation system, which should have been implemented in April 2012, could not yet be achieved, the tax exemption regulations and incentive schemes for purchasing low emission and energy efficient cars, which was initially planed to expire in March 2012, will very likely be extended for another 3 years, applying much stricter efficiency standards then in the initial stage. The second issue will concern the reactions of the car manufacturers towards the crises, particular with respect to reorganizing the supply chains after the earthquake and tsunami in North-Eastern Japan as well as after the flood in Thailand. This part of the paper will also ask whether there are efforts to decentralize or relocate production as well as whether there are intensified attempts made to increase production efficiency further in order to save energy, which could also be seen as a step towards sustainable development in manufacturing. Extending the scope of my presentation beyond the developments in the Japanese car market after the financial crisis, which was the central aspect of my presentation last year, this year’s paper intents to shed light on the organizational challenges and changes that are resulting from the various crises. Relevance and Links to the GERPISA Program and the 2012 Conference: The paper has relevance to the overall theme of the GERPISA conference ‘Structuring new Automotive Industries, Structuring old Automotive Industries, and the New Global Geopolitics of the Automotive Sector. It especially relates to the themes (6) Restructuring processes affecting the European, American and Japanese automotive industries, but also partially to theme (1) New kinds of mobility, new markets, new public policies as well as theme (4) Manufacturer trajectories and strategies

Thème: Processus de restructuration des industries automobiles européennes, américaines et japonaises

Thème: Restructuring processes affecting the European, American and Japanese automotive industries

Le Gerpisa accueillait vendredi dans le cadre de ses journées mensuelles de travail (voir http://gerpisa.org/node/1538) Tommaso Pardi, sociologue et directeur adjoint du Gerpisa qui a, fin novembre, soutenu sa thèse portant sur les implantations japonaises en Europe et les difficultés qu’elles ont rencontrées. Intitulée "La révolution qui n'a pas eu lieu: les constructeurs japonais en Europe (1970-2010)", cette thèse importante propose, entre autres apports majeurs, une "histoire du lean" comme idéologie managériale qui s’impose dans les années 90 et reste depuis au cœur des discours mobilisateurs par lesquels passe la quête de l’amélioration des performances. C’est sur cette question spécifique qu’est intervenu T. Pardi ce vendredi en s’arrêtant longuement sur la genèse et l’accueil de l’ouvrage fondateur de nos collègues américains Womack, Jones et Roos qui publièrent en 1990 "The Machine that Changed the World" qui, avec le soutien de Raymond H. Lévy, alors patron de Renault qui le préfaça, fût traduit en France dès 1992 sous le titre "Le système qui va changer le monde". read more

Passé un peu inaperçu dans l’actualité automobile de l’été, l’épisode très conflictuel de la vie de la jeune alliance Suzuki-VW était au centre des commentaires au Japon en juillet. Il a continué d’être assez largement scruté en août.

Rappelons que VW et Suzuki s’étaient rapprochés fin 2009. On avait alors vu VW prendre 19,9 % du capital de Suzuki pour 1,7 milliard d’euros. En retour, Suzuki devait à son tour rentrer au capital du groupe de Wolfsburg. Etant données les complémentarités technologiques et géographiques entre les deux entreprises, les analystes n’avaient guère eu de mal à trouver les arguments justifiant l’opération. Ils avaient toutefois eu tendance à regarder très volontiers le dossier à partir des intérêts de Volkswagen et à faire comme si il s’agissait là d’une flèche supplémentaire – indienne - ajoutée dans le carquois, déjà convaincant, des équipes de Piech. read more

Belzowski, Bruce, & Walter McManus (2011).  Alternative powertrain strategies and fleet turnover in the 21st century. Gerpisa colloquium. The changes taking place in the global automotive industry related to alternative powertrains and fuels are affecting each country or region differently. Each country or region has its own policies in place to monitor and manage vehicle fuel consumption and emissions. Countries or regions also have different numbers of new vehicles sold annually and the total numbers of vehicles in their fleets. This analysis looks at the current and future direction of alternative powertrains/fuels across four developed economies (United States, Western Europe, Japan, and South Korea) and four developing economies (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) in order to measure the impact of increasing the number of alternative powertrains/fuels in their fleets. In particular, the analysis looks at how much of each country’s fleet will turn over to vehicles based only on alternative powertrains/fuels by 2050 by introducing three different alternative powertrain/fuel models (less aggressive, moderately aggressive, and very aggressive). A less aggressive approach will yield fleet turnover rates of 60 percent or more for most countries, a moderately aggressive approach will yield fleet turnover rates of over 80 percent for most countries, and a very aggressive approach will yield fleet turnover rates of nearly 90 percent or more for most countries.

Thème: Transformations technologiques, transformations systémiques

Thème: Technological transformations, systemic transformations

Contestée depuis longtemps par les écologistes, la solution que représente le VE aux yeux de ses promoteurs l’est aussi par les tenants du rêve automobile et de la liberté que la voiture confère à son propriétaire d’aller vite et loin en bénéficiant de tous les gadgets et de tout le confort auquel son statut et ses revenus lui donnent droit. La catastrophe japonaise conduit ainsi à la formation d’une coalition assez hétéroclite, mariage d’une carpe écologiste radicale et d’un lapin autophile et conservateur. Vous trouverez ainsi une mise à mort rhétorique du VE sous la plume de Marcel Robert sur le site très violemment "anti-bagnole" Carfree.free.fr et une charge du même tonneau sous celle de Jean-Michel Cravy sur son blog on ne peut plus autophile autopanorama.over-blog.com. Dans un style beaucoup plus soft, A.-G. Verdevoye dans La Tribune, N. Bourassi sur EasyBourse.com ou B. read more

Staeblein, Thomas, Katsuki Aoki, & Takahiro Tomino (2011).  External product variety in the automotive industry: An empirical analysis of German and Japanese OEM operations. Gerpisa colloquium.

Today, consumers’ needs and wants are rapidly changing. In the automotive industry, increasing product variety has been reported resulting from such factors as changes in energy prices, and regional differences in safety and environmental regulations, in addition to the growing sophistication of consumers. For example, consumers in several countries expect to configure their own individual vehicles. The range of customization to meet such consumer requests, however, is greatly different. Some OEMs rely on providing only a low level of external variety, while others offer variety to an extent that the number of theoretical variants is higher than the number of actual sold units. Furthermore, the approach to response to customer orders from the point of sale to the delivery (i.e. the order fulfilment process) differs as well. Recent empirical research into product variety in the automotive industry has been mainly limited to OEMs from one region only. In this paper we present a comparison between German and Japanese cases. Our aim is to evaluate the consequences of different variety strategies.

Numerous aspects linked to product variety have been discussed by an interdisciplinary body of literature. The discussion in operations was driven by the results of MIT’s first International Automobile Assembly Plant Study conducted 1985-90 and extended by the debate on mass customization; through which product variety can be delivered to end customers at lower costs. In practice, for the past fifteen years, almost all OEMs have achieved operational excellence by the adaption of Japanese-based lean production principles. Competition, however, takes place in multiple dimensions simultaneously: firms need to develop appealing products, build attractive brands, and excel in operations. Thus, a central theme remains the decision on the ‘optimum’ or ‘appropriate’ level of variety: on the one hand, offering variety can provide differentiation in the marketplace, increasing revenues; on the other hand, it increases cost and lowers productivity.

The comparison of decisions by German and Japanese automotive OEMs shows differences concerning the level of external variety. We focus our analysis on customization based on so called ‘options’. Options are widely used in the automotive industry to provide product variety; e.g. customization of certain car models in terms of sun roof, air conditioning, four-wheel drive or navigation system. We study two levels of product variety by options: (1) customization that influences the manufacturing process by adding options that are integral to the product structure; and (2) customization that is added by options within the distribution system and that is independent of other elements of the product structure. An important indicator at the first level is the option content and variability that is being installed at the factory. Although this indicator is only a proxy for the complexity in the manufacturing process, it clearly shows differences within the variety being provided by a factory. Delaying the product differentiation (also called postponement or late-configuration) is common way to add customization at a later stage of the order fulfilment process. At the second level certain product and process design approaches such as standardization and modular product structure are typically necessary.

In our cross-case comparison, first, we collected data on product varieties, production and sales volumes, and factory conditions from five German and five Japanese major OEMs in order to understand the general differences. Then, we collected more detailed data on order fulfilment processes and mass customization techniques from each one German and Japanese case. As part of our data collection, we have conducted more than 30 interviews at these OEMs from 2008-10. The interviews are conducted not only in the manufacturing departments, but also in further relevant organizational units, such as sales, marketing, and planning. Our analysis has been extended by factory observation of five factories over the same time-horizon.

The main focus is the link of order-fulfilment inside the factory. We investigate the implication of product variety by options; compare the assembly line set-up, and the complexity in manufacturing. How both OEMs apply mass customization strategies to mitigate negative effects of product variety is further studied. Particularly, the analysis of distribution-based mass customization techniques, namely postponement/late-configuration and option bundling is an additional focus.

The findings show a great difference in the extent of external variety between German and Japanese OEMs. Regarding the two OEMs in our study, we find that in Japan several different car models are assembled on one line. For each model only a low variety based on the option content is added. Very similar tasks for the assembly worker are being performed even for different models based on a standardised production system. In Germany, fewer models are assembled on a certain line, but the models have a greater variety by the number of factory installed options and their variability. Similar tasks for the assembly worker are given by the limitation on a fewer model-mix per assembly line. In Germany, the average number of factory installed options is six times higher. The use of distribution-based mass customization techniques is in greater use in Japan, as customization is also done in the distribution-system by dealers using postponement/late-configuration. Such techniques tend to be in use only for accessories in Germany. Further mass customization is done in Japan by a greater extent of option bundling, while the German OEM offers single options and also their combination in bundles.

In conclusion, our study provides empirical evidence on the extent of external variety in Japan and Germany, which order fulfillment processes are currently in use, and how two companies from Japan and Germany apply mass customization techniques to reduce negative impacts of variety in the factory.

Thème: Transformations de la demande

Thème: Transformations in demand

Date: 

11/10/2010

Intervenant/s: 

Bernard Jullien, GIS-Gerpisa, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Cachan

Tommaso Pardi, GIS-Gerpisa, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Cachan

Emission: 

Question d'époque par Louise Tourret, Florian Delorme

"L’industrie automobile"

Bungsche, Holger (2010).  Ambitious Plans and Hard Realities: the Chinese Automobile Supply Parts Industry in a Challenging Competitive Environment. The Prospects and Limits to the Development of the Automotive Periphery. 42, 55-70.

The focus will be mainly on two aspects: The first aspect is the quickly proceeding integration of China in the automotive value chains in East and South-East Asia and the dynamic relationship between established and emerging markets in this region resulting from it. In this respect, the Japanese supply parts industry and the evolving Japanese- Chinese relationships in the production of supply parts will be of especial interest.
 
The second aspect the paper wishes to discuss, concerns the competitiveness of the Chinese supply parts manufacturers and the growing difficulties China is facing in establishing a strong national supply parts industry. In this respect, the structure of the Chinese supply parts industry, the problems of restructuring and concentrating the industry as well as the shortcomings of the development policy in the past will be addressed.

The paper will be divided into three parts. The first part will briefly give an overview over the size and structure of the Chinese supply parts industry as well as the development of the Chinese market for auto parts in recent years. In the second part we will discuss the topic of China as a production location for supply parts for the world car industry.
The third and largest part will then address the development of the Chinese national supply parts manufacturers and the question whether they are to become powerful competitors on a global level in the near future. Especially in this second and third part, in addition to the Chinese materials many data with respect to Japanese supply parts manufacturers in China will presented in order to illustrate both, the deep integration of China in the value chains in Asia on the one hand, and the
difficulties Chinese companies are facing to upgrade their position in these production networks. The paper will end with a critical assessment of the current situation and a short outlook on the future tasks and prospects of the Chinese auto supply part industry.

 

Biblio: The Prospects and Limits to the Development of the Automotive Periphery

ernard Jullien participe à une émission spéciale du magazine télé ABE (Suisse) sur les rappels automobiles. Au sommaire: analyse du cas Toyota (avec visite à Toyota City), l'épidémie actuelle de rappels qui touchent toutes les marques, rôle des sous-traitants, un passage chez PSA Sochaux pour traiter la question des plateformes, puis chez l'équipementier allemand ZFS, et pour finir la qualité de la marque DACIA... http://www.tsr.ch/emissions/abe/1756005-rappel-de-voitures-une-epidemie-...

Pardi, Tommaso (2010).  Putting Toyota in perspective : the causes, the consequences and the meaning of the present crisis. Gerpisa colloquium.

 

Thème: Car makers strategies in the crisis

Thème: Les stratégies des constructeurs dans la crise

Orihashi, Shinya, Daniel Arturo Heller, & Hidetada Higashi (2010).  Mitsubishi Motor Corporation: Leaving its deep crisis for an electric future?. Gerpisa colloquium.

Thème: Les stratégies des constructeurs dans la crise

Thème: Car makers strategies in the crisis