Ford's Powertrain Director Speaks at AFS Detroit Chapter's 'Management Night'.The AFS A distributed file system for large, widely dispersed Unix and Windows networks from Transarc Corporation, now part of IBM. It is noted for its ease of administration and expandability and stems from Carnegie-Mellon's Andrew File System. AFS - Andrew File System Detroit Chapter's Annual "Management Night" drew many industry officials January 18. The gathering featured an address by Jim Solberg, executive director manufacturing, Powertrain Operations, Ford Motor Co. Solberg's presentation centered on Ford's view of the ever-changing future of metalcasting. Among the factors that are repositioning repositioning Laparoscopic surgery The changing of a Pt's position during a procedure to improve access or visualization of the operative field, which may be linked to complications, as it changes anatomic planes of operation. Cf Laparoscopic surgery. Ford's approach to its operations are that castings are not identifiable to the image of the product, casting plants are asset-intensive and can be underutilized, and that engine blocks/heads are complex and crucial to today's powertrain. His message was aptly summarized through a quote by Henry Ford, "Nothing fails like an old success." As he described critical changes for success, he conveyed how lean manufacturing Lean manufacturing is the production of goods using less of everything compared to mass production: less human effort, less manufacturing space, less investment in tools, and less engineering time to develop a new product. and partnerships have become vital concepts at Ford. In discussing the changing face of its powertrains, Folberg illustrated his point through trends on the castings' application/vehicles. In the early 1980s, a typical vehicle contained 605 lb of cast iron and 100 lb of cast aluminum. By 2005, iron is expected to drop to 215 lb, while aluminum grows to 375 lb/vehicle. Among the discussion of how these changes have influenced the automaker's structure, Folberg commented on last year's announcement of the expansion of the Ford-Alfa Group (Nemak, Monterrey, Mexico) joint venture, which now includes the management of the automaker's Canadian Canadian (kənā`dēən), river, 906 mi (1,458 km) long, rising in NE New Mexico. and flowing E across N Texas and central Oklahoma into the Arkansas River in E Oklahoma. aluminum foundries. "It will still be run as a joint venture, but at an arm's length arm's length adj. the description of an agreement made by two parties freely and independently of each other, and without some special relationship, such as being a relative, having another deal on the side or one party having complete control of the other. ," he said. In addition to allowing the automaker to better utilize available capital, the expanding partnership provides new opportunities for its people and strong synergies to Ford. Said Folberg: "It allows for a core casting-business focus as well as faster decision-making decision-making, n the process of coming to a conclusion or making a judgment. decision-making, evidence-based, n a type of informal decision-making that combines clinical expertise, patient concerns, and evidence gathered from and growth." He also discussed the "industry-leading technology" that the partnership has brought, as well as its increasing global presence (a new facility is underway in Europe). Folberg also addressed the challenges of the iron casting business and some of the restructuring restructuring - The transformation from one representation form to another at the same relative abstraction level, while preserving the subject system's external behaviour (functionality and semantics). that has already occurred. He maintained that a survival mechanism can be found through lean manufacturing concepts, which present benefits of waste-elimination, continuous production flow, quality at the source, process standardization standardization In industry, the development and application of standards that make it possible to manufacture a large volume of interchangeable parts. Standardization may focus on engineering standards, such as properties of materials, fits and tolerances, and drafting and continuous improvement. "When faced with slow- or zero-growth or a declining market," Folberg said, "lean manufacturing may be the only way to hold a business together and the only way to succeed." |
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