According to incomplete statistics, a car is composed of about 6.5438+0 million non-detachable parts, and each part needs to be designed and manufactured by someone. Organizing this huge and complicated work is the biggest challenge facing the automobile main engine factory. Ford in America tried to finish all the work in the company. Although the company has absolute control over technology, at the same time, a series of new problems have emerged: it is difficult for hundreds of factories and thousands of technical department employees to coordinate management; Due to the lack of market competition, factories specializing in producing their own products are not competitive; When the market demand changes or the economy deteriorates, these huge internal departments will become a heavy burden, and so on.
At present, the automobile main engine factory outsources most parts to parts suppliers. Such as tires, seats, brakes, meters, etc. , are purchased from the supply of parts in different fields. At the same time, market trends and product update speed change very quickly. In order to shorten the product development cycle and speed up the product development, some design and experiments are outsourced, and social resources are fully utilized to develop new models simultaneously.
This model means that the OEM actually doesn't know much about some parts and systems, at least not as good as suppliers. Usually, the technologies of these parts and systems are mastered by many competitors, and there will be no situation that the main engine factory cannot operate or stop cooperation because of the quality problems of a supplier.
Think carefully, the electronic systems include Bosch, Denso and Delphi; Built-in parts include Johnson, Lear, Visteon and Faurecia; The transmission system is Borgwarner, Schaeffler, Wanxiang and Tianfu; Chassis has Trina, Continental and Tenneco; The tires are Michelin, Bridgestone and Goodyear; The transmissions all have Aisin, ZF, Getrak and Gatco; Even the engine known as the heart of the car, most of its parts (piston, connecting rod, electronic control system) are provided by Federal-Mogul, Magna, Mitsubishi, etc ... So what can be regarded as the core technology of the automobile factory?
In my opinion, as a OEM, in the upstream of the industrial chain, the most important task is to integrate resources, and its core technology should include the following four aspects:
1. System matching and vehicle matching capabilities, including chassis adjustment, engine adjustment, NVH performance and safety performance. For example, suppliers can produce various specifications of springs, various damping shock absorbers and swing arms with various strengths, but only the main engine factory can rely on these parts to match the suspension system suitable for new models; For another example, the matching suspension system has good performance and the steering system is also very good. The two systems installed on the whole vehicle can each perform well without motion interference, which can reflect the core technology level of the main engine factory.
At present, most domestic OEMs do not have the matching ability of key subsystems such as chassis and engine, so these places dare not move when developing models, and basically follow mature foreign technologies. In my personal opinion, this situation is mainly caused by insufficient research on matching theory, but I don't know why. If we simply consider the installation and assembly factors (geometric scaling size) without comprehensive consideration from the aspects of motion interference, force analysis, environmental factors and vibration theory, it is likely to lead to abnormal sound, broken shaft and shimmy.
2. Improve the comprehensive evaluation standard and system, including the evaluation of suppliers, parts performance and vehicle performance. As a main engine factory, you can not understand the materials of parts, or the processing technology of parts, but you can't help but understand the performance requirements of parts. Similarly, when manufacturing a prototype or a prototype, it is necessary to evaluate its performance, whether it is NG or OK, which tests whether a main engine factory has enough technology accumulation and whether it can formulate a complete and comprehensive evaluation system and standard. Once the standard is set low, the product quality will not pass, and product problems may occur; Standards have been set high, costs have risen sharply, and products have lost their price competitiveness.
As an upstream brand directly facing consumers, the automobile factory enjoys the glory brought by the excellent quality provided by the supplier to the whole vehicle, but also needs to bear the responsibility when the supplier makes mistakes. Generally, OEMs will not switch suppliers easily, because a series of experiments are needed to evaluate and confirm the parts of new suppliers. For example, Volkswagen's previous DSG problem, many people speculated that it was because Volkswagen changed the gearbox clutch supplier Borgwarner to LUK.
3. Ability to control costs. Many consumers will resent the words such as cost control and cost reduction. The first reaction is to cut corners and steal the column. But in fact, many cost control technologies are regarded as masterpieces, including the introduction of Ford's assembly line production technology, platform technology, parts technology, simulation technology and so on. In the market of technology convergence and fierce price competition, mastering cost control technology obviously has core competitiveness.
In addition to reducing the cost through a series of value engineering activities, the more important task of the main engine factory is to allocate the cost to various systems and parts reasonably. Let the cost be used where consumers really care and pay attention, that is, spend all the money on the cutting edge, in order to be recognized by the market and consumers.
4. innovative ability. Look at how Nokia, the dominant mobile phone company, was brought down, and you will know that even if the reliability of the product is very good, it will be eliminated sooner or later if it fails to keep up with the development of science and technology and the trend of society, which shows the importance of innovation. Of course, innovation is more than just having a good idea. The key is to put the good idea into practice.