Ford / Honda in Recent

Ford / Honda

In recent months a great deal of attention has been paid to American automobile manufacturing companies that are struggling to sell their products. In particular, Ford has been under great pressure because of a decrease in sales. On the other hand, foreign owned car companies such as Honda have been flourishing in America over the past few years. The purpose of this discussion is to investigate the production processes of Ford and Honda to examine how they differ and how these differences have contributed to the decline of Ford and the success of Honda

Ford Vs. Honda

Ford is a world-renowned company and its production process has long been the benchmark for other automobile manufacturers. Currently Ford uses a variability reduction strategy in the production process. According to Kurtus 2002, this strategy endeavors to "reduce the waste produced in the manufacturing process." In addition this strategy is aimed at decreasing high failure rates and parts that don't fit (Kurtus). The author explains that this strategy was developed in part by Genichi Taguchi. The strategy focuses on a specific target and does not allot for a margin of error (Kurtus). In other words this method seeks perfection as opposed to tolerating some imperfections.

According to the article Ford begin using variability reduction when it brought interests in Mazda (a Japanese company). Ford noticed that Mazda engines were not as prone to needing repairs even though it was the same engine used in Ford's (Kurtus). The company discovered that Mazda used variability reduction at its plants and thus begin the implement this same strategy at Ford plants (Kurtus).

Although Ford believed this strategy to be effective in reducing repairs, it would also be costly, especially when car sales decrease dramatically (Kurtus). According to many analysts Ford's manufacturing strategy is partly to blame for such dramatic decreases in sales. This is because the manufacturing process cost so much that once the vehicle is produced it may be more expensive than competitors' vehicles.

The current manufacturing status of Ford Plants was devised in the 1980's and although the changes that took place were needed they did not save Ford from the current state of affairs that it finds itself in. According to and case study entitled "Ford's Competitive Advantage Based on Time Driven Change" the current financial state of Ford is due to a rapid attempt to change the production process of the company and the problems that the company has faced with the recall of several of its top selling vehicles due to problems that occurred during the production phases.

A huge difference in production processes can be seen in the way that Ford and Honda produce SUV's and Trucks. According to an article entitled " New Manufacturing System Gives Honda Flexibility" The flexible manufacturing process created by Honda gives the company an advantage over competitors. The article explains that close cooperation between Honda's production and R&D departments allowed the company to create the first ever production line in North America upon which SUV's and Trucks could be produced together. On this production line Honda's popular minivan the Odyssey and its luxury SUV the Acura MDX are produced. The article asserts that using what the automaker has dubbed its "New Manufacturing System...will increase speed by reducing the time needed to bring a new model to mass production or add an existing model to a different plant. It also will increase efficiency by cutting much of the investment normally needed for retooling (Wright).

In addition the author explains that Honda's manufacturing system utilizes new general welding equipment. This equipment allows for the use of "reteaching instead of retooling (Wright)." This technology uses fewer gigs, which means the factory needs less maturation to create a new model. Therefore the general weld allows the production line to convert to one vehicle to another with ease (Wright).

The ease at which the company can switch to other vehicles on the same production line is a prime example of why it has been able to expand production while other companies have been forced to decrease production. Honda also produces quality products that have high resale values and good gas mileage. In the midst of rising gas prices consumers are looking to buy vehicles that will be reliable and not adversely impact their gas budgets.