A strategic approach towards integrating automotive painting for building-to-order
Abstract
Automotive painting performs a critical role in the production and delivery of new vehicles. This research investigates how paint shop performance has become a significant factor in building to order (BTO), and adopts a strategic approach that examines external drivers and internal plant factors. Shareholder value no longer dominates plant performance in an industry driven by customer demand and environmental legislation. Yet a study of ten European vehicle manufacturers reveals considerable differences in their approach to painting. This paper argues that failure to consider painting in the context of the whole delivery process results in wasteful plant practices, leading to considerable delay to upstream and downstream processes such as component delivery and outbound logistics. Five plant capabilities are proposed as key factors for integrating automotive painting.
Keywords
painting integration
paint batch size
body buffer
emissions
corporate strategy
competence-based competition
customer specification
vehicle delivery
supply chain integration
manufacturing strategy
delivery lead times
vehicle painting
strategy
build-to-order
environmental legislation
technology trajectory
automotive painting
paint shop performance