Special Vehicle Operations: An Activity-Based Plan for Improving the Automotive Vehicle Development Process

摘要

This brief paper considers the New Product Development (NPD)strategies and practices recently employed by the Ford Motor Company asa base for a substantial, near-term improvement in automotive vehicledevelopment performance. The recognition of current industry "bestpractices" in lean design and manufacturing coupled with consumerdesires for niche vehicles provides an opportunity to significantly reducethe time-to-market for new vehicle designs. This paper proposes that aSpecial Vehicle Operations plant be established as an ongoing facility todevelop and manufacture technology demonstration vehicles for corporateresearch use and public sale. Such a facility, a manufacturing "provingground" akin to vehicle test facilities, would support the more rapidintroduction of advanced vehicle technologies by routinizing designexperiments in a quasi-mass production setting. The expected resultwould be a steadier and more continuous introduction of advancedprocesses into mainstream products. The scheduling, technical, financial,and quality risks inherent to such introductions would be lessened as well.The research foundation of this paper is an International Motor VehicleProgram-sponsored report supervised by Professor Michael Cusumano ofMIT on the NPD practices under implementation by the Ford MotorCompany. Other primary source materials include articles on advancedproduct development initiatives taking place in the automobile industry.