The deployment of corporate production systems in auto industry companies: an approach to drive process improvements towards operational excellence

Abstract

Compelled to accomplish Operational Excellence (OE), the manufacturers in the auto industry have strived to nurture the company-wide implementation of world-class manufacturing practices. This implies the revamp of the production processes in organisational units where traditional paradigms are still firmly embedded, what is specially challenging for larger companies that suffer from adversities such as the lack of agility, cultural diversity and higher complexity to coordinate multiple sites. This paper brings to light how leading companies have coped with these issues by building a proper Corporate Production System (CPS) and embarked on its systematised deployment throughout their production operations. The contents, structure and implementation pattern of exemplary CPSs are analysed.