Challenge to Manufacturing A Proposal for a National Forum. (1988) / Chapter Skim
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A Nation at Risk: Our Eroding Skill Base in Manufacturing Systems
A Nation at Risk: Our Eroding Skill Base in Manufacturing Systems
Pages 42-51
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From page 42... ...
TABLE 1 Some U.S. Industries That Have Lost Market Dominance Bicycles Binoculars Cameras Castings Clocks/watches Machine tools Motorcycles Radios Robots Semiconductors Sewing machines Ships Shoes Steel Tape recorders Telescopes Televisions Textiles 42 M17.E AND BEAUMARIAGE
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From page 43... ...
The United States will never again enjoy the unchallenged position of economic dominance that it occupied for some 30 years following World War II. The solution, or answer, we are seeking, therefore, is not how to regain dominance but how to avoid falling from the ranks of the leading economic powers.
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From page 44... ...
WE DO NOT NEED ANOTHER CRASH PROGRAM Too many of the "solutions" being proposed to the United States competitiveness problem are simply additional products of our collective national mentality favoring crash programs, or quick fixes. Crash programs are necessary to respond to events such as wars, natural disasters, and disease epidemics.
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TABLE 2 Issues Affecting Global Competitiveness of U.S. Finns Issues Internal to Individual Firms Issues External to Individual Firms Commitment to excellence Responsiveness to market dynamics Product development/design Climate lor Innovation Process development/design Capital investment Strategic management Operational management Personnel developmenftraining Reward problem preventers Return on assets, long-run Quality of education in work force Production vs.
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From page 46... ...
• Better product design More functional Higher quality More reliable (fewer parts) Less expensive Designed for manufacturabiliry • Automated handling/transport • Automated loading/unloading • Automated inspection test • Automated packaging More modular, for alternative configurations More use of design retrieval Requires aggressive, sustained effort in product R&D • More responsive to market Faster to market • New products • Upgraded products Design for international markets Service after the sale Obsession with customer satisfaction • Better process design (entirely new conceptual paradigms for performing process design/redesign)
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• Basic sciences Ability to capitalize on and influence emerging conceptual developments • Information management processes • Statistical treatment of data for controlling/managing processes, departments, functions, vendors, and people • Organizational dynamics • Motivational concepts • Individual/group behavior • Knowledge-based processes • Object-oriented programming and modeling Ability to conceptualize and continuously reinterpret long-term transition paths for their entire corporations (corporate warrooms) Ability to comprehend entire corporation as a dynamic system, with many interacting functional components, the total performance of which must be optimized over the long term Better Operational Management Linking strategic planning to operational action Ensuring consistency and congruence between strategic business goals and operational programs.
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From page 48... ...
• Need for a new paradigm for manufacturing system analysis, design and operation Systems engineering approach • Inputs • Transfer functions • Outputs • Feedback control loops Designing system for accommodating external and internal perturbations • Responsiveness • Flexibility • Fault tolerance • Robustness • Need for new, improved methodologies for analyzing, designing, and operating advanced manufacturing systems Better methodologies for functional analysis Better methodologies for analyzing, and characterizing current system • Identifying cost drivers • Measures of performance • Comprehensive, integrated, forwardlooking total cost models Better methodologies for designing new, improved manufacturing systems • Need design principles and guidelines • Need computer-aided tools for aiding manufacturing system design engineers in conceptualizing new designs, performing "finite element analysis" equivalent, and even animating the factory design Better methodologies for operating manufacturing systems • On-line, real-time simulation model to facilitate "what-if" decision making • Knowledge-based decision support tools • Need for a science base for manufacturing system design on which to construct the new, improved methodologies Manufacturing system theory Theory of integrated systems Theory of system rationalization • Need for a greatly increased capability in U.S. universities to produce engineers prepared to contribute to companies' efforts to improve their manufacturing capabilities • Need for much better mechanisms to network the capabilities of manufacturing specialists, so that large multiplying effects can be realized for rapid dissemination and implementation of emerging concepts in advanced manufacturing systems • Need for much broader understanding among U.S.
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From page 49... ...
Applied research related to the development of improved manufacturing system design methodologies also needs to be greatly expanded and accelerated. The applicability of systems engineering tools such as feedback control theory needs to be explored through a focused, well-orchestrated research initiative.
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Some of the existing industry-education-government initiatives are: • Engineering research center programs at the National Science Foundation • Industry/university cooperative research center program at NSF • Energy analysis and diagnostic center, Department of Energy • Cooperative initiatives among federal laboratories, universities, and industry An initiative that is just being launched originated in the National Bureau of Standards and is intended to encourage technology transfer to manufacturing firms. It is recommended that consideration be given to a carefully conceived initiative to develop a better understanding of how "America, Incorporated" acts as a system in the context of a complex world economy.
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From page 51... ...
Computer Integrated Design Manufacturing and Automation Center, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana. Thurow, Lester C
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