ABI: The Stanhope Project Case Analysis Essay

Toyota is currently the biggest car maker in the world. Toyota’s production model has been for long the envy of Detroit’s big three and the benchmark for the auto industry. The auto market in the US has showed signs of improvement, a sign of encouragement for the company (Toyota History: Corporate and Automotive, 2011). Toyota has invested billions of dollars to develop manufacturing capabilities and supplier networks to supply those markets. Toyota has many comparative advantages over it peers: a strong operational model that generates high margins; a strong global brand synonymous for quality and a

The automotive industry has continued to evolve alongside changes in lifestyle, and the demand for ease of transportation has allowed the industry to far surpass its competitors.

By the turn of the century hundred of small companies were producing automobiles both in Europe and in America. By 2004, the industry was in different stages of its life cycle in different parts of the world. The US industry entered a period of rapid growth during 1910-28, and reached its peak of production in 1965. In the two decades up to 2004, car production was on a downward trend, but if trucks were included, output was broadly stable (see table 4.2). In Europe and Japan too, total production was showing a declining trend The problem of market saturation was exacerbated by the tendency for cars to last longer(see table 4.3). [Tables 4.2 and 4.3 about here] As a result, the automobile producers have looked increasingly to the newly industrializing countries for market opportunities. During the 1980s and 1990s countries such as Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Brazil, and Argentina offered the best growth prospects. As these markets became increasingly saturated, so China, India, and the former Soviet Union were seen as the ““next wave”” of attractive markets. With the opening of many of these countries to trade and direct investment, the world production of cars and trucks s continued to grow (see table 4.4 ). [Table 4.4 about here]

The automotive industry designs, develops, manufactures, markets and sells motor vehicles, and is one of the world’s most important economic divisions by profits. This analysis focuses on the industry, specifically, manufacturers of automobiles. There are five competitors in the StratSim environment: Firm A, B, C, D, and E. Industry sales in the most recent year were 4.3 million units, with expected growth in the next year. Within this industry, there are seven-vehicle classes: Economy, Family, Luxury, Sports, Minivan, Truck, and Utility. There are two new classes with potential – if properly marketed.

The automotive component & Fabrication Plant, ACF, was the original plant site for Bridgeton Industries, a major supplier of components for the domestic automotive industry. All of the ACF’s production was sold to the Big-Three domestic automobile manufactures. Its main competitors were local suppliers and other Bridgeton plants. This company did very well but recently it became less effective when foreign competition and scarce, expensive gasoline caused domestic loss of market share. For boost its selling, it made four criteria, quality, customer service, technical capability, and competitive cost position to evaluate three classifications of products.

The success of the automotive parts manufacturing industry is, at its core, derived from the health of the automotive industry as a whole. Conveniently, the

Autozone, the top retailer in the United States has always based its strategy on DIY customers with cars over seven years old (Parnell, 2014). As technology has evolved, cars have become more difficult to work on, hence, a new target market of do-it-for-me is continuing to grow. Sales of 2.3 billion were reported for the second quarter of 2017, and the company cited higher supply chain and shrink costs (Landis, 2017).

The last several years were also tumultuous for the U.S. auto industry. After dominating the market for decades, American automakers had grown complacent about product development. At the same time, rising gas prices and uncertainty about the economy caused consumer preferences to shift from SUVs to more fuel efficient vehicles. Foreign competitors entered the U.S. market offering more reliable, higher quality and more fuel efficient vehicles at a lower price and began to steal market share away from American automakers. In order to remain competitive, U.S. automakers need to focus on increasing production efficiencies and developing innovative product offerings. Firm Analysis

I was also, surprised when we created the first cost with no any supporting documents of the how we got to that figure. Based on my personal life experience and after working for a long time, I understand by experience that I can come up with a closer budget to any similar project that I had already executed in the past. It is also true that we use some techniques through which we can calculate the resources for the similar projects. Unfortunately, in our current environment, it is not the case. Do you remember when we are executing the job and repeating for several times? It is normal we come up to the point that we can manage the next similar project effortlessly.

This would not only provide opportunities to Pininfarina (a niche manufacturer) for further modernizing the production facilities but will also provide learning in productivity improvement, increased quality, better inventory control and space utilization, reduce waste – and all in Japanese way (considered to be the best and meticulous in automobile industry).

In 2002 for AM General's Hummer H2, a sport utility version of the 4-wheel drive vehicle popular with the U.S. Armed Forces—was so strong, the company was struggling to keep pace. It was a good problem to have, but a problem nonetheless. The company needed to boost production by 25 percent, but its factory, built in a joint venture with General Motors, was designed to operate more efficiently than conventional auto plants. That meant less inventory was on hand (Wasserman, 2004, p. 1).

In 1913, Henry Ford revolutionized product manufacturing by introducing the first assembly line to the automotive industry. Ford’s hallmark of achievement proved to be a key competence for the motor company as the low cost of the Model T attracted a broader, new range of prospective car-owners. However, after many decades of success, customers have become harder to find. Due to relatively new threats to the industry, increasing numbers of cars and trucks are parked in dealer lots and showrooms creating an alarming trend of stagnation and profit erosion. Foreign-based automakers, such as Toyota and Honda, have expanded operations onto domestic shores and, in turn, have wrestled

As a result of the increased demand of cars, the competition among car companies is becoming intense. Although the market of car is the biggest growing market in the world, there are still some companies who make cars failing year after year. However, there are some outstanding car companies such as The BMW Group performing distinctly.

The company understands the risks for working with U.S. auto industry especially during the recession in 2008, so they venture out to produce four new business units to minimize it by looking into investing on early-stage opportunities.

This case study presents how BMW, a German automobile, motorcycle and engine manufacturing company, is trying