Marc Wouters

2014

Since the publication of “The Machine That Changed the World” and “The Harbour Report,” automobile manufacturers put a lot of attention to the productivity measure of “Hours per Vehicle” (HPV). However, this measure is influenced by a lot of indefinable parameters that are difficult to compare. To reduce HPV, car manufacturers found that a significant productivity improvement was possible through “design for manufacturing” (DFM). Although a lot is known and published about the methodology of DFM, there is little to be found in the literature about the implementation and measurement of DFM in the automotive industry. This paper is describing how HPV can be a key indicator that is measuring DFM: how it integrated in a company and in which way it influences the improvement of productivity. Furthermore the interdependencies of the DFM-process and other measures in production are investigated. The research is based on a case study, using the example of a big German car manufacturer.