Concurrent engineering and the automotive supplier industry in South Africa

Abstract

The prevalence and primary characteristics of concurrent engineering between clients and suppliers in the South African automotive component manufacturing industry was investigated. The global trend towards Follow Source and Follow Design has had a detrimental effect on locally owned automotive supplier companies in developing countries such as South Africa. It was proposed that the effective use of concurrent engineering would facilitate the integration of locally owned automotive component suppliers in developing countries into the global supply chain. A literature survey into the automotive component supplier industry in both developed and developing countries showed that an understanding of the requirements and challenges facing the industry was essential for the successful implementation of concurrent engineering. A research questionnaire was developed and targeted at automotive component suppliers in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The questionnaire was focused on the key areas determined in the literature survey. These were; people and structure, tools for implementing concurrent engineering and the relationship between OEMs and suppliers. The research indicated that there was an association or tendency towards an association between: ldr Company size and the prevalence of e-procurement within organisations. This was assumed to be due to the fact that larger companies formed part of bigger supply chains. ldr Company size and companies which actively participated in R&D.