Automobile Parts Industry Research Articles

An Empirical Study of the Implementation of an Integrated Ergo-Green-Lean Framework: A Case Study

The implementation of lean manufacturing to increase productivity often neglects the impact on the environment and the well-being of employees. This can result in negative consequences such as environmental harm and poor employee satisfaction. To address this issue, an integrated ergo-green-lean conceptual model was developed in the literature. However, no case study has been conducted to support this model. Therefore, this research aims to investigate the practical outcomes of implementing the integrated framework in an automobile parts industry. Key performance indicators (KPIs) were identified, including ergonomic risk score, job satisfaction, carbon footprint emission both from direct energy consumption and material wastage, cycle time, lead time, die setup time, and rejection rate. Various assessment techniques were employed, such as the rapid entire body assessment (REBA) with the Standard Nordic Questionnaire (SNQ), job stress survey, carbon footprint analysis (CFA), and value stream mapping (VSM) to evaluate the KPIs at the pre- and post-intervention phases. The results demonstrate significant improvements in job satisfaction (49%), improved REBA score of 10 postures with very high risk numbers by 100%, a 30.3% and 19.2% decrease in carbon emissions from energy consumption and material wastage, respectively, a 45% decrease in rejection rate at the customer end, a 32.5% decrease in in-house rejection rate, a 15.5% decrease in cycle time, a 34.9% decrease in lead time, and a 21% decrease in die setup time. A Python regression model utilizing sklearn, pandas, and numpy was created to assess the relationship between process improvement and the chosen KPIs.

Policy on the Efficient use of Robotics in the Automobile Parts Industry

Globally, automobile companies are converting labor-intensive processes to automated processes to secure competitiveness and reduce costs. In 2020, Korea was the fifth largest automobile producer; however, it faced a population decline and rising labor costs. Korean auto parts companies are in a dilemma-whether to adopt manufacturing robots and have trouble due to financial burden or suffer the lack of technology. Hence, Korean auto parts companies often receive national policy funding to adopt manufacturing robots. Therefore, for sustainable policy support, the efficiency and productivity of manufacturing robot adoption must be analyzed considering government policy support. We divided the activities of automobile parts companies into operating activity and financing activity consisting of production and sales. Moreover, we used the Dynamic Network Slacks-Based Measure (DNSBM) model. This study used KIS-VALUE data from Korea. The analysis results revealed that the overall efficiency (0.3822) was low because of the low efficiency of operating activity productivity (0.4342) and the gap between operating activity productivity and financing activity efficiency (0.7702). Moreover, the total factor productivity (0.9534) decreased because of decreases in operating activity productivity (0.9507) and financing activity productivity (0.9841). From 2016 to 2020, when the manufacturing robot adoption policy was implemented, the difference in corporate efficiency according to policy support was significant. Korea’s manufacturing robot adoption policy contributes to the improvement of corporate competitiveness. This study presents the objective evidence necessary for future policy establishment to direct resource readjustment of Korean auto parts companies and analyze past policy.

A Study of Supply Network Characteristics of the Korean Automobile Industry by Parts Function: Through Social Network Analysis

코로나(Covid19) 사태로 인해 자동차 공급사슬에서의 단절(Disruption)로 인한 문제가 더욱 부각 되었고 무엇보다 안정적인 공급체인 구성이 기업의 생존에 화두가 되고 있다. 특히 복잡한 공급사슬 구조를 가져 유기적으로 연결되어 있는 자동차 부품산업은 각 공급업체별 개별적 분석으로 전체를 이해하는데 한계점이 존재한다. 따라서 좀 더 확장된 시각에서의 폭넓은 부품 네트워크의 실증적 분석에 대한 요구가 높아지고 있다. 본 연구에서는 한국자동차산업을 사회연결망분석(SNA_Social Network Analysis)기반하여 부품 네트워크를 분석하였다. 기존 연구에서는 각 개별 기업별 중심성(연결 중심성, 매개 중심성, 근접 중심성)을 특정 부품(브레이크 등)으로 국한하여 연구가 진행되었다. 본 연구에서는 자동차에 포함되는 부품들을 기능별로 구분하여 대부분의 주요 부품을 포함시켜서 각 부품의 한국자동차산업 네트워크의 특성을 분석하였다. 한국자동차사산업의 부품기능별로 체계적인 분석을 위하여 산업현장에서 통용되고 있는 분류체계 중에서 대한무역투자진흥공사(KOTRA)에서 수출입 자동차 부품 집계용으로 분류 사용하고 있는 6대 분류체계를 본 연구에 적용하였다. 이에 따른 연구 결과로 외향연결중심성(방향성 있음/없음)과 매개 중심성(방향성 없음)에서 부품기능별 유의미한 차이점을 확인할 수 있었다. 이를 통해 한국자동차산업에서의 부품기능별 부품 네트워크 특성 이해와 더불어 한국자동차산업 정책 전반에 참조할 수 있는 시사점을 제공하고자 하는데 본 연구의 목적이 있다.Understanding the automotive supply chain structure has received greater focus due to the disruption caused by Covid-19. Above all, a sustainable supply chain is now essential for companies’ survival. Particularly, the automobile parts industry, which has a complex supply chain structure, is difficult to understand through individual supplier analysis. Therefore, to provide better understanding for the structure of the auto parts supply chain, it is necessary to analyze the broad network. We analyzed the auto parts network of the Korean automobile industry using social network analysis (SNA). Previous studies considered the centrality of each individual company (degree centrality, betweenness centrality, closeness centrality) with specific parts (brakes, etc.). This study included the auto parts, classified by function and most major parts, and analyzed the characteristics of the network of the Korean automobile industry by part We found significant differences among part groups based on function with degree centrality and betweenness centrality. This study can provide the automobile industry policy suggestions through understanding of the characteristics of the Korean automobile parts network.

원청-하청 간 거래관행이 혁신에 미치는 영향: 독일ㆍ미국의 자동차산업을 중심으로 (On the Impact of the Supplier-Buyer Relation on Innovation: Lessons from the German and the U.S. Automobile Industry)

원청-하청 간 거래관행이 혁신에 미치는 영향: 독일ㆍ미국의 자동차산업을 중심으로 (On the Impact of the Supplier-Buyer Relation on Innovation: Lessons from the German and the U.S. Automobile Industry)

When Does Auto-Parts Suppliers’ Innovation Reduce Their Dependence on the Automobile Assembler?

Purpose - This study is to investigate the determinants of suppliers’ dependence on buyers in the home country by developing a theoretical model of innovative activities. The high dependence of auto parts suppliers on a single local buyer in South Korea due to firm ownership issues and incremental innovation is examined using data from a set of organizations that supply intermediate goods to this automotive manufacturer. Furthermore, we tested the moderating effect of FDI and global knowledge sourcing on the relationship between firm ownership and suppliers’ dependence on the local buyer. Design/methodology - To test the hypotheses, we examined a sample of 101 suppliers over 10 years in the Korean automobile parts industry. In this empirical analysis, we utilized a fixed-effects generalized least squares model using panel data. Findings - In this study, domestic firms (automobile parts suppliers) were more dependent on a single local buyer (automobile assembler) than foreign-owned suppliers operating in Korea. In addition, incremental innovation was the mediating mechanism between domestic firms and dependence on the local buyer. To reduce this dependence on the buyer, we suggest two different international strategies: geographical diversification through FDI and global knowledge sourcing. Originality/value - Previous studies showed that asymmetric dependence between firms has many adverse effects. This study proved that domestic and foreign-owned suppliers have different levels of dependence on local buyers due to their heterogeneous characteristics and business strategies. We distinguish two different types of innovation - radical innovation and incremental innovation - that previous studies have often treated as equal when it comes to firm autonomy. Finally, we propose that both FDI and international knowledge sourcing as global strategies to weaken suppliers’ asymmetric dependence on a single buyer.

AHP를 이용한 조직적 측면에서의 제품혁신을 위한 의사결정 우선순위의 분석 : 대구지역 자동차 부품산업을 중심으로

AHP를 이용한 조직적 측면에서의 제품혁신을 위한 의사결정 우선순위의 분석 : 대구지역 자동차 부품산업을 중심으로

AHP를 이용한 사업환경 측면에서의 제품혁신을 위한 의사결정 우선순위의 분석: 대구지역 자동차 부품산업을 중심으로

AHP를 이용한 사업환경 측면에서의 제품혁신을 위한 의사결정 우선순위의 분석: 대구지역 자동차 부품산업을 중심으로

A robust hybrid heuristic algorithm to solve multi-plant milk-run pickup problem with uncertain demand in automobile parts industry

A robust hybrid heuristic algorithm to solve multi-plant milk-run pickup problem with uncertain demand in automobile parts industry

DEA 기법을 활용한 중국자동차 부품산업 효율성 분석에 관한 연구

DEA 기법을 활용한 중국자동차 부품산업 효율성 분석에 관한 연구

Korea’s Foreign Direct Investment in the Automotive Industry in China

This article examines the impact of foreign-invested enterprises in the development of China’s automotive industry. It particularly focuses on the case of foreign direct investment (FDI) by a Korean firm, namely, the Hyundai Motor Company, in China. The Chinese government’s policy regarding the automotive industry allowed China’s domestic manufacturers to benefit from technology transfer, as foreign firms were not allowed to invest exclusively in China without a partnership. The contribution of Korea’s investment in China’s automotive industry would comprise the creation of job opportunities, technology transfer and the development of the automobile parts industry. Korea’s investment in the automotive industry of China has policy implications for China and other developing countries trying to expand their technology-intensive industries.

대구경북지역 자동차부품산업의 지역간 산업연관효과 분석

대구경북지역 자동차부품산업의 지역간 산업연관효과 분석

A Proposed Methodology for Task Analysis in Ergonomic Evaluations

The aim of this job is to propose a procedure that helps ergonomists and engineers to develop task analysis and evaluations in workstations. In the ergonomics field, task analysis is a method to describe and analyze the task performance when users interact with complex systems, this is the first step to do an ergonomic evaluation. Most of the areas in ergonomics requires task analysis, literature contains clear descriptions for task analysis for cognitive tasks, and nevertheless there is a lack of information for biomechanics and design evaluations. In here, a procedure is proposed in order to offer tools to correctly conduct ergonomic assessments that help ergonomists to develop this evaluations and indicate the risk level of certain workstation. This research contains a proposed procedure for task analysis and two case studies applying this procedure. The proposed procedure consists in five phases: recognition, video recording, subtasks separation, video analysis, and frame classification. The proposed procedure is applied in two case studies. The first case study is in a workstation of an automobile parts industry. The second case study is in a shoe manufacturing workstation. Subtasks are identified and classified with frequencies in both jobs, indicating what subtasks are more repetitive, and thus need to be assessed. This work provides a procedure that allows to standardize the process of task analysis in biomechanics and design evaluations, this procedure allows to obtain the frequency of the subtasks that are part of the assessed workstation, and thus it is easier to identify which one of these need to be evaluated with ergonomic methods.

Reliability Analysis of the Home and Abroad CNC Equipment Used in Automobile Parts Industry

Through analyzing fault information of the home and abroad CNC equipment used in the same auto parts production, the fault data fitting were implemented in this paper. Assuming time between failure probability density function and the empirical distribution function follow the Weibull distribution, A reliability statistical model was built using the least squares method and a linear parameter distribution model regression method. The linear correlation test and the Weibull distribution fault interval obtained show the fact that both the home and abroad equipment are subject to the two parameter Weibull distribution, and after calculating the three indexes of reliability assessment, a conclusion can be made that the reliability of domestic equipment in the study is slightly lower than that of foreign equipment.

A Study on the Activation of Remanufacturing Industry According to the Korean Automobile Cultures - Focusing on the Automobile Parts Industry in korea -

재제조는 폐부품을 신품에 가깝게 혹은 신품보다 더 나은 성능을 가진 부품으로 만드는 과정으로 소비자의 측면에서는 낮은 가격으로 신품과 같은 가치를 얻을 수 있고 재제조 사업자는 신품보다는 가격이 싸지만 원재료 및 에너지는 신품보다 덜 사용해 신품 대비 더 많은 수익을 얻을 수 있다. 국내에서의 재제조 산업은 도입 초기 단계라서 선진국에 비해 재제조기술이 전무한 실정이다. 최근 정부에서 재제조 활성화를 위해 법을 마련했으나 재제조품에 대한 소비자의 불신은 여전하고 신품 제조업체들과 기존에 재생품, 재제조품을 생산해왔던 영세 사업자들과의 관계도 협력적이지 않다. 재제조 산업의 선진국인 미국이나 유럽의 사례를 살펴보고 국내의 재제조 산업의 구조적인 문제점과 해결 방법을 알아보고자 한다.

The critical factors for implementing the quality system of ISO/TS 16949 in automobile parts industry in Taiwan

Since most manufacturers promote ISO/TS16949 quality system certification process through the help of external counsellors, this study focuses upon the auditors of ISO/TS 16949 as the primary objects of the research, in contrast to previous studies targeting certified manufacturers. Collecting data through questionnaire surveys, this study first utilises Kano's model to discover the main factors identified as potential improvements by ISO/TS 16949, then uses fuzzy analytic hierarchy process to rank the importance of these factors, and finally introduces the quality function deployment (QFD) relation matrix to discuss the key factors to a successful implementation of ISO/TS 16949 certification. The results show that two remarkable improvement factors of enterprises promoting ISO/TS 16949 certification lie in identifying internal customers to meet the requirements to complete the product, and identifying production and service supply processes to meet the requirements. Results acquired from QFD further show that customer information collection, internal auditing capability, and statistical analysis capability are the necessary technical demands to achieve these essential improvements. The results can help enterprises effectively allocate resources to implement the quality system of ISO/TS 16949.

A Study of the Long-term Orientation of the Automobile Parts Industry

A Study of the Long-term Orientation of the Automobile Parts Industry

A hybrid procedure for extracting rules of production performance in the automobile parts industry

In the manufacturing section, due to limitations of specific resources (e.g., time, people, and equipment), key determinants such as process capacity, human resources supply, and equipment availability may be in uncertain or out-of-control environments, followed by decreasing production performance. Traditionally, earlier studies of related issues of production performance usually used statistical methods for handling these problems. However, these methods become more complex when relationships in the input/output dataset are nonlinear. Furthermore, statistical techniques rely on the restrictive assumption on linear separability, multivariate normality and independence of the predictive variables; unfortunately, many of the common models of production performance violate these assumptions. To remedy these existing shortcomings, the study proposes a hybrid procedure that focuses on the opinions of experts, discretization of decision attributes, and application of well-known artificial intelligent (AI) approaches, such as decision trees (DT), artificial neural networks (ANN), and DT+ANN techniques, for objectively classifying production performance to solve real-world problems that are faced by the automobile parts industry. Two practically collected datasets are employed to verify the proposed hybrid procedure. The experimental results reveal that the proposed hybrid procedure is a good alternative to classify production performance from an intelligent manufacturing perspective objectively. Moreover, the output that is created by the DT C4.5 algorithm is a set of comprehensible and meaningful rules applied readily in knowledge-based performance-evaluating systems for manufacturing managers and HR division managers. The study findings and implications are of value to academicians and practitioners.

Location Advantages, Firm Advantages, and Export Success in the Latin American Automotive Parts Industry

This paper examines the influence of location advantages and firm-level advantages on the propensity of Latin American firms to export. An empirical test based on Latin American firms in the automobile parts industry suggests that firms in more competitive Latin American country environments are more likely to export than those in less competitive country environments. Also, older and larger firms are more likely to export than are younger and smaller firms, and businesses that are subsidiary companies are more likely to export than are independent companies. Implications for managers and policy makers are presented.

Return Migration of Japanese-Brazilians to Japan: The Nikkeijin as Ethnic Minority and Political Construct

Diaspora 5:1 1996 Return Migration of JapaneseBrazilians to Japan: The Nikkeijin as Ethnic Minority and Political Construct Keiko Yamanaka University of California, Berkeley Introduction In June 1990, Japan implemented a new immigration policy. The new policy, while making it illegal to hire undocumented foreigners, grants to second generation (Nisei) and third generation (Sansei) people of Japanese ancestry (Nikkeijin) a stay of up to three years and unlimited access to the labor market. Other unskilled foreign workers, most of whom are Asians without Japanese ancestry, are “undocumented” and therefore subject to deportation. As a result of this policy change, the yearly admission of Nikkeijin, mostly from Brazil and Peru, increased four-fold, from 19,000 in 1988 to 79,000 in 1990, while the legal status and demographic profile of immigrants have diversified. Consequently the issue of foreign workers in Japan has become increasingly complex, prominent and problematic.1 A trickle of Nikkeijin had flowed into Japan earlier, but these were holders of Japanese or dual citizenship. Nisei and Sansei Nikkeijin flooded into Japan after 1990, drawn by an explosive demand for labor in manufacturing industries in jobs shunned by Japanese. Legitimized as residents and workers by the new policy, they constituted the overwhelming majority of immigrants. In 1991 the annual influx of Brazilian and Peruvian nationals reached a peak of 120,000, (96,000 and 24,000, respectively). The following year the Japanese economy plunged into a serious recession. The number of annual arrivals dropped by approximately 15% in 1992 and 1993. Nevertheless, by 1994 more than 200,000 Nikkeijin (160,000 Brazilians, 35,000 Peruvians and 6,800 other South American nationalities) remained as residents and workers in the major Japanese manufacturing towns. These figures exclude the small numbers of those Nikkeijin who entered Japan with Japanese passports. This article is based on field research, conducted in 1994, comprising interviews in Hamamatsu, a city of half a million in Shizuoka Prefecture of the Tokai region on the Pacific Coast of Central Japan. More than 7,000 Nikkeijin and their families from xxxxxxxxxx 65 Diaspora 5:1 1996 Brazil and Peru live in that city, working in the automobile parts industry which dominates its economy. My research addresses two major questions regarding this recent migration of Nikkeijin, primarily Japanese-Brazilians. I refer to this process as “return migration” because the immigrants have returned from their own homeland in Latin America, to their ancestral homeland, Japan, from which their parents or grandparents emigrated in the period between 1908 and 1973. First, I ask why Nikkeijin, among all possible groups, have been invited to complement the shrinking low-skill labor force. This question is ultimately concerned with the political (and not merely economic) decision of the Japanese government to create a special residence visa (“long-term resident visa”) for second and third generation Nikkeijin without Japanese citizenship when the revised immigration law took effect in June 1990. Second, I examine the possibility that the recent Nikkeijin immigrants to Japan may transform themselves from short-term sojourners to long-term settlers. As will be demonstrated below, by 1994 ample evidence had accrued to suggest that they are now collectively interested in permanent settlement in their ancestral country. Factors associated with this rapid transformation of Nikkeijin’s migration process are complex, originating in both sending and receiving countries. In addressing these two questions, I will employ a “migration systems” approach (Kritz, Lim and Zlotnik; Castles and Miller) that emphasizes connections between the two countries at both macro- and micro-levels. Migration Systems Theory Two dominant theories in international labor migration studies are relevant to this study. The “push-pull” theory, which originates from neoclassical economics, emphasizes changes in macro-structural , economic and demographic factors as the main causes of labor migration. According to this theory, economic inequality between a more prosperous country and a less prosperous one creates a gradient of difference that explains emigration from the latter to the former. Migration is seen as a consequence of individualistic, tacit calculations by migrants in search of better economic opportunities elsewhere (Borjas). The second major theory, “historical-structural,” has emerged from the Marxist tradition of thought as a critique of the simplistic assumptions built...

Session summary: toxicodynamic interactive mechanisms

The aim of this job is to propose a procedure that helps ergonomists and engineers to develop task analysis and evaluations in workstations. In the ergonomics field, task analysis is a method to describe and analyze the task performance when users interact with complex systems, this is the first step to do an ergonomic evaluation. Most of the areas in ergonomics requires task analysis, literature contains clear descriptions for task analysis for cognitive tasks, and nevertheless there is a lack of information for biomechanics and design evaluations. In here, a procedure is proposed in order to offer tools to correctly conduct ergonomic assessments that help ergonomists to develop this evaluations and indicate the risk level of certain workstation. This research contains a proposed procedure for task analysis and two case studies applying this procedure. The proposed procedure consists in five phases: recognition, video recording, subtasks separation, video analysis, and frame classification. The proposed procedure is applied in two case studies. The first case study is in a workstation of an automobile parts industry. The second case study is in a shoe manufacturing workstation. Subtasks are identified and classified with frequencies in both jobs, indicating what subtasks are more repetitive, and thus need to be assessed. This work provides a procedure that allows to standardize the process of task analysis in biomechanics and design evaluations, this procedure allows to obtain the frequency of the subtasks that are part of the assessed workstation, and thus it is easier to identify which one of these need to be evaluated with ergonomic methods.