Customizing The Manufacturing Process Of Automobiles example essay topic

B ISM 2601 Web Smart 50 Research Project The application of Internet technologies has been a growing trend in the business world for nearly a decade. More and more companies are realizing the benefits of using the web. Web use has morphed from information exchange only to enhancements for collaboration, customer service and customization. These applications now lead to increasing profits; cutting costs, minimizing production, and customer satisfaction in all areas of the manufacturing process.

Companies such as Mattel, BMW, and Taylor Made have adopted ways of fine-tuning their strategies to keep up with this growing trend. This was accomplished by focusing on several key aspects in each of their respective markets. f'OMattel has adapted its production process by involving a newly developed system named Platypus. Platypus is a unique combination of many different programs. It is, therefore, a perfect name for the system used by Mattel to involve people from all aspects of the toy and game production process. f'ONow by implementing Platypus, they have cut that process by nearly 20%.

Before Mattel adopted this new hybrid way of thinking, it took approximately eighteen months for the creation of new toys and products. Having the ability to produce new products faster was only part of the process. Mattel accomplished a faster approval by placing their licensing program online. Before Platypus, the company was shipping products to and from their licensees repetitively. fO By digitizing and automating the approval process, Mattel has reduced shipping to licensees from fourteen weeks to nearly five. BMW is no newcomer to the business of making and selling cars. They have been on the forefront of the automobile world since the company began focusing on production shortly after World War II.

BMW established a place in the market by carefully crafting a reputation for manufacturing quality luxury automobiles. Innovative companies like BMW have begun to move away from mass production assembly lines of the Henry Ford day. Internet technology has been merged with production to allow BMW consumers to customize their vehicles by choosing among options available to them via the World Wide Web, Customizing the manufacturing process of automobiles is the wave of the future and BMW is riding the long board all the way in. World Wide Web customization has major advantages over mass production by allowing the customer to have more control over the packages available to them. Before the web was used in this process, the customer had to choose a car from vehicles that were only available through dealers. Now with the introduction of e-commerce, it has increased the development of material handling systems.

Newly designed planning, automated staging systems and manufacturing software has made the ordering process itself easier by being sent directly to the plant where they are produced. BMW calls this process! SS customer oriented sales and production!" . Their newly developed software system provides real-time information of the entire manufacturing process. f' This means now that customers can make option changes six days before final production starts on the car. BMW also implemented an automated storage and retrieval system or stacker as they have termed it.

This system makes a delayed option change requested by the customer if possible. Being able to manage the flow of information from the ordering process to the manufacturing process has also been a huge success of the system. The ability to keep track of resources necessary for the production of a car and the wants and needs of the customer is a problem for most companies involved in product manufacturing. BMW has also allowed its resource suppliers into the production loop.

They changed their information systems both internally and to their suppliers. The data is sent from individual customer orders directly to the suppliers daily. This provides accurate information on the needs of the company, and in turn reduces the necessary amount of resources that it has to have on hand. The old adage! SSD on! |t put all your eggs into one basket!" applies to BMW systems. By having this connection with their suppliers, BMW makes sure that parts arrive only when they need them to fill a customer's order.

When time comes to start on the vehicle it takes only two days to complete, and thus valuable resources are not unnecessarily tied up in products that are not immediately viable for sales revenues. Customer relationship management is one of; if not, the most important aspect of any business. Lessening the separation between supplier and customer is one of the struggles of big businesses. With today's web application and technology markets moving forward, the line between the two is getting erased. Taylor Made and Adidas Golf are on the forefront of innovative customer relations. f 1/2 They have been among the first to use online applications for tackling this growing problem. They did this by approaching the customer relationship company Kana in 2001.

The companies were unsure how to use Kana to their advantage and decided to ask their customers what their preference would be. f 1/2 Roughly 90% said that they preferred having e-mail sent to them regarding purchasing decisions. When a sales rep receives e-mail questions, the program provided by Kana looks for key words or phrases to help organize methods of assistance. This helps the sales representative in answering difficult questions on dynamics of the club or random statistics. It then gives the question to a representative and the system recommends responses based on those key words. Sales reps can send the verified information back to the customer with precise detail. Kana also provides the company with e-mail surveys about service quality, website and product performance, etc.

When they receive a particularly negative response it goes to the top of an importance list, which enables Taylor Made to contact the customer directly by phone, and try to correct any unsatisfactory perceptions. f 1/2 This hands-on approach certainly helps keep customers loyal and willing to stay with the company. Productivity increases of 25% are evidence of Taylor Made success in maintaining a customer base (Green, 2003). Internet technology continues to evolve as companies realize the value of using the information available to their advantage. By pursuing growth over the Internet, companies have been able to keep up with changing customer demands and market shifts. Advances in information exchange and software development by forward thinking companies; have already had a huge impact on enterprises who are willing to take the steps necessary to bring their company to the online business world. These companies represent the possibilities that are available to other manufacturers in similar circumstances.

There comes a time in every business when changing the everyday practices is the only option for continued expansion in their market. Mattel, BMW and Taylor Made have set the standards high and present a challenge to every one of their competitors...

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