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Time of India
05-07-2025
- Automotive
- Time of India
BMW's Thomas Dose urges purpose driven smart manufacturing in India
India's rise as a manufacturing hub is no longer a distant ambition. It is a present-day opportunity. But to realise its full potential, the country's industrial sector must rewire the way it approaches production. Speaking at a recent industry summit, Thomas Dose , MD, BMW Group Plant Chennai , and a long-time advocate of manufacturing transformation, argued that flexibility will define the winners of the next industrial age. He was speaking at ET Manufacturing's Smart Factory Summit organised in Chennai. 'The future is not about being smart for the sake of it. It's about staying relevant in a volatile world,' said Thomas, addressing a hall full of manufacturing professionals and technologists. He added, 'We've moved from machines driving factories to factories needing to think like products, lean, purposeful, and focused on the customer,' reflecting on his own journey from working at ZF in Germany to embracing the Toyota Production System in Japan. He noted how early manufacturing was organised around technology silos such as turning, milling and heat treatment, efficient in isolation, but disconnected from the final product. Throughput times stretched into weeks. The shift to lean manufacturing in the 1990s brought product-centric cells that drastically improved output and quality by aligning every activity with cost, quality, and delivery. This evolution continued through mass production and global outsourcing, but introduced new vulnerabilities. Complex global supply chains, long lead times, and distance from end-users created fragility, challenges that became painfully visible in recent years. Rigid systems are obsolete in a volatile world 'The way we've made money in the past won't work in the future. The model must change,' Thomas declared, urging the audience to reconsider long-held assumptions around asset utilisation and cost predictability. He recounted a visit to a BMW supplier in India, where the entire plant was configured to serve one client. 'The machinery was perfect but it was locked into one product line. That kind of rigidity isn't sustainable anymore,' he explained. In a market defined by shorter product lifecycles, unstable volumes, and unpredictable foreign exchange rates, manufacturers must move toward multi-use, easily reconfigurable assets. This shift, he argued, calls for a new class of factory, autonomous, workforce-independent, and capable of running 24/7 with minimal intervention. Order management, logistics, production planning, and quality inspection must all function within a real-time, AI-enabled infrastructure. Smart must serve a purpose 'Smart must have purpose. Possible doesn't always mean practical or wise,' Thomas cautioned, as he challenged manufacturers to avoid technology for technology's sake. Using the evolution of mobile phones as an analogy, he described how tools originally designed for communication morphed into powerful data harvesting machines. While the global mobile phone market is valued at over $500 billion, the market for trading the data extracted from users exceeds $900 billion. 'We must ask ourselves, are we building smart factories, or just data factories?' he said. The takeaway was clear: smart manufacturing should not be reduced to buzzwords or blanket digitisation. Instead, it should be a tool for enabling business resilience, responsiveness, and sustainability. Process first, then digital 'If you digitise a caterpillar, it doesn't become a butterfly, it just crawls faster,' Thomas said, earning knowing smiles from the audience. He urged manufacturers to look inwards before going digital. Recounting his team's early steps in digital transformation, he said their first action was to shut down all computers. Without dashboards and KPIs to defend, morning meetings turned into proactive conversations about preventing future problems, rather than post-mortems of past ones. This reset, he explained, created space for genuine collaboration and process ownership. 'Technology can accelerate your mindset, but only if the mindset is right to begin with,' he said. Thomas called this philosophy the 'Ilia principle,' based on Indian wisdom and lean thinking. His upcoming book, set in Chennai and centred on a young woman who transforms a factory using lessons from her grandmother, aims to share this approach more broadly. India's moment on the global stage 'India is the next big thing. But we must be ready. Not just with machines and manpower, but with mindset and purpose,' said Thomas, concluding his address. He noted the increasing interest from global manufacturers in India as a sourcing base and industrial partner. But he also cautioned that India's long-term competitiveness would depend on quality consistency, agile processes, and preparedness for uncertainty. The message to Indian industry was clear: now is the time to invest in flexibility, rethink digital priorities, and align every action with a larger purpose. 'Make it simple. Make it smart. Make it purposeful,' he said. 'That's how India will lead, not follow in the future of manufacturing.'
Yahoo
30-06-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Ford's head of manufacturing transforming culture one bus tour at a time
Bryce Currie estimates he's spent at least 48 weeks of his life on his signature bus tours of the assembly and powertrain plants he oversees around the U.S. But Currie, who's been Ford Motor Co.'s top manufacturing executive since 2023, says a recent stop on a four-day swing through the automaker's Ohio plants plants shocked him. Currie said most of the roughly 50 passengers on the bus — including plant managers, hourly workers, finance analysts and human resources staffers — knew nothing about the 3D printing techniques workers at the Sharonville Transmission Plant had implemented to save the automaker some $3.3 million. 'The neat thing was, I knew I was doing 3D printing at multiple other plants, but they weren't a connected community,' said Currie, who came to Ford from Johnson Controls. 'Part of the bus tours are to create this community and see from different lenses,' he told Automotive News. 'It's what I call 'Big Ford acting like Big Ford.' I have 56,000 people in the U.S. — more in Mexico and Canada. If I can get their ideas and share that and listen to them, I can create a competitive advantage that maybe I haven't been using well enough.' The bus tours — which essentially function as team-building exercises to share best practices among sites — are one way Currie is working to transform Ford's manufacturing operations in his third year as the company's vice president of manufacturing. It's a tall task. The automaker has struggled mightily with quality issues for years, and CEO Jim Farley has at times voiced frustration at how difficult it's been to improve the company's operational fitness, including in manufacturing. Ford this year hopes to shave about $1 billion off its manufacturing costs in its quest to become more efficient. That's where Currie's internal improvements, and the ideas picked up on his bus tours and instituted more broadly, come into play. 'Some people call it rounding errors; it's a million here, 2 million there,' Currie said. 'But what it's doing is it creates momentum. When you do a jigsaw puzzle, I know when I finally get a corner and I put a couple pieces together, I feel like I made an accomplishment. Even though I can't see the full picture, it's getting there.' Future Product Find our what powertrains, redesigns and freshenings are planned for the next four years. View the list Brand future product timelines Before leading manufacturing at Johnson Controls, Currie spent six years at GE Aviation and 14 years in manufacturing at TRW Automotive, which is now part of ZF Group. He studied lean manufacturing practices under Chihiro Nakao, a protege of Taiichi Ohno, who invented the famed Toyota Production System. 'He's a true testimony of servant leadership,' said Rima Jasser, Ford's global director for lean, six sigma and workforce development. 'He's able to articulate his vision and teach others. The consistency of his messaging has been phenomenal; it doesn't change day to day.' When Currie came to Ford, his idea for a manufacturing overhaul involved three key elements. The first was developing 'strategic action plans' on how to get each part of the industrial system to become best in class. The second was revamping the Ford Production System into what he calls FPS 2.0. It involved whittling a checklist for standardizing operations from about 360 questions to 50. The third step, which includes the bus tours, measures the progress from the first two steps. That evaluation is important, he said, even for teams at Ford that have significant experience. 'The knowledge of our processes stuff is great, but sometimes there's blind spots,' Currie said. 'And the blind spots are, if you've been here that long, you may not know what some of the others are doing in the industry or outside of the industry.' Sign up for the quarterly Automotive News U.S. Sales report to get data and news sent to your inbox as soon as it's compiled. The bus tours can be enlightening but grueling. Many days start at 5:30 a.m. and don't finish until 10 at night, Currie said. Once the team arrives at a particular plant, they spend most of the day walking the floor, meeting with leadership, providing feedback to problems and learning about successful efforts such as the 3D printing solution at Sharonville. 'It's good for the plant to get feedback from an outside perspective we don't normally get,' said John Mullins, plant manager at Ohio Assembly. 'We kind of become a little bit insular where we just see what we see within our walls. We get input from people with different perspectives; it's really good.' Beyond the actual work, Currie tries to incorporate a number of team-building initiatives. That involves a dinner, organized and hosted by plant officials, to introduce the rest of the group to the community. Currie also orders personalized lapel pins for each bus tour, which are typically organized by state. Participants hand out pins to employees in the plants they visit as a token of recognition for the jobs they're doing. 'I've had multiple people cry and say in their 25 years or whatever that they've never been given something like that before,' Currie said. 'Part of this is activating the minds of everybody on the floor and also learning how to listen.' Sandy Ilievski, plant manager at Rawsonville Components, southwest of Detroit, attended Currie's first bus tour in 2023 and realized the benefits soon after. She was new to her role then, but on the tour she got cellphone numbers for all of her counterparts in the area. Weeks later, when her facility needed a particular tool, she picked up her phone and received responses from the other managers nearly instantly. 'It was very eye-opening for someone like me who had never been part of that organization and didn't know a name or a contact,' she said. 'It could have taken the entire day for me to get help or know where to turn and it happened in minutes.' Currie has described the groups on each bus tour as a graduating class 'where we establish relationships for years to come.' Organizing the outings comes naturally to Currie, who played point guard in basketball growing up. 'My job was to deliver the ball to everybody and make sure we all work as one team, you know, that everybody's getting a chance to touch the ball,' Currie said. 'It's the same thing to me in operations or in running businesses; get the ideas from everybody and get them involved.' Beyond the bus tours, Currie has instituted a series of workshops focused on kaizen — a Japanese term popularized by Toyota meaning continuous improvement. The workshops last a week and involve as many as 70 people from across the organization focused on solving a handful of projects. Recent examples include improving tooling and inventory at Windsor Engine and reducing dock-to-line distance at Ohio Assembly. 'It's really about listening to the operators, understanding their pain points and fixing their issues,' Jasser said. 'It's really helping us improve overall performance.' The workshops involve another key lean manufacturing principle with gemba walks, invoking a Japanese term that means going to the place where the issue is. It's a principle espoused by Farley, who himself has made a habit of going to plants and embarking on nationwide dealer visits to hear directly from retailers. 'Fresh eyes give you a different look,' Currie said. 'That's what the bus tours and the kaizens and gembas are doing.' Cleanliness is one of Currie's focal points. When he walks the assembly line and finds a spare bolt on the ground, he pockets it to keep as a reminder of how much work remains. 'If everything's not in its place and is not clean, then you can't see when something abnormal occurs,' Currie said. 'Some other cultures around the world are better at that than us.' Early in his tenure, Currie challenged each plant to be so clean that he could eat off the floor — literally. Some have risen to that challenge. In May, Currie, Jasser and two other officials sat in the paint shop at Kentucky Truck and ate cookies directly off the floor. It was the first U.S. site to pass the test, in addition to two in Mexico. 'It's a visual and symbolic action,' he said. 'But it's to get people to see that we're serious about this.' While Ford's Van Dyke Electric Powertrain Center isn't quite dining table-worthy just yet, Currie said the facility, in Sterling Heights, Mich., has made significant progress. Its leadership installed clear tubes to fill with all the dropped parts they found on a monthly basis. The visual cue inspired workers to be better, and Currie said the tubes have gotten progressively emptier as each month passes. 'It's a fun way to get people to really focus,' he said. Currie tried to further motivate his team in April when he went with over a dozen U.S.-based officials for a weeklong trip to Japan. It included a visit to a temple for meditation, during which a priest walked among them and gently tapped with a stick as part of a practice aimed at maintaining focus. Mullins, who attended the trip, said the group learned a 'humbling' yet 'incredibly powerful' lesson from a 93-year-old monk at the temple about the importance of taking responsibility as leaders. 'Say we have a quality issue, or we have some sort of efficiency issue; management needs to take responsibility themselves before blaming an operator or blaming somebody else in the organization,' he said. 'Find out what's wrong with the process. What am I doing wrong as a plant manager that would lead to an employee making a mistake with completing an electrical connection or installing a door latch or whatever the issue might be.' The trip validated the work they're doing in the U.S., attendees said. 'The last two and a half years have probably been the most exhilarating time of my career,' said Jasser, who joined Ford in 1993. Currie said he's seeing improvements on everything from in-plant safety metrics to initial quality scores. He also pointed to the $1 billion in net cost reductions Ford expects to deliver in 2025, excluding the impacts of import tariffs. 'To be successful, you have to show quarter-over-quarter results, but you also have to show that you're leaving the place in better shape for the next generation, and you're building the future,' Currie said. 'Ford's been around 120-plus years, so the good thing is they already had a really good core. I call it building off the shoulders of giants. There are people who have previously put things in place, and now we take it to the next level.' Have an opinion about this story? Tell us about it and we may publish it in print. Click here to submit a letter to the editor. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
The Star
13-06-2025
- Automotive
- The Star
From shophouse to global hub: Malaysia's automotive journey
Asia's very first automotive assembly activities date back almost one hundred years. The pioneers in local assembly used to be Ford, when in 1926 was incorporated in Singapore as Ford Motor Company of Malaya Ltd. Operating from a small shophouse garage, it began with wheel-fitting and touching up early Model-T kits sourced from Ford England and Canada. A far cry from the state-of-the-art assembly plants that can push out thousands of units a month today. The first fully-fledged automobile assembly plant was set up in Singapore by Ford, with production facilities of completely knocked-down (CKD) vehicles. During the Japanese occupation, the plant was used to produce military trucks. In the post-war years, as newly independent nations began charting their economic futures, industrialisation – and with it, automotive manufacturing – became a natural focus. The Asean blueprint for development post-independence has been largely industrialisation-focused and began to look at reducing their reliance on imported vehicles. Over time, the most critical starting point is to upskill the talent, implement government policies and incentives, and build local infrastructure to support it. The automotive supply chain has grown tremendously, a spark that has ignited investments, skills development, and technology transfers – powering hundreds of thousands of livelihoods. As the supply chain became more embedded, global brands began to eye countries like Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia as suitable hubs for regional expansion. Initially manufacturing for the domestic market, post-war economies were flourishing, and mobility was an essential part of this growth. The following decades saw the automotive industry evolve organically, gradually increasing the local content component in alignment with national policies, attracting interest and investment from European and Japanese brands, who saw Asean as an attractive hub for regional expansion. The era of complex automotive supply chains Digitalisation, trading blocs, and supply chain-related technologies gave the world a massive boost when it came to regional integration. Cars were now being built with content from multiple countries, with each component being optimally sourced at the best quality and price from vendors across the region. This allowed for increasingly resilient supply structures, with better flexibility and scalability. Toyota, with its Toyota Production System, pioneered manufacturing and logistical processes that are emulated globally, optimising complex supply chains to clockwork precision. Today, your car could be designed in Japan, made in Malaysia, with tyres from Thailand, brakes made in Indonesia and seats from Vietnam – a truly Asian testament to integration – and Malaysia played the role of quiet architect. Working fantastically together, with each component coming together at the right time and in the right specification on the final assembly line. Domestic or export? Why not both? Export-oriented hubs that also serve the local economy are a great move forward. Jobs created, skills enhanced, technology infusion, and the local market gains access to more advanced cars – the economic benefits multiply. Whilst the world's leading car brands do not originate from Asean, the region remains a strong manufacturing base and a key source of growth, ensuring their significant and enduring presence here. The rise of xEV and China In more recent times, the rapid growth of electrification has shifted the technological focus, attracting big leaps in investment, technology, and upskilling. One cannot talk about electrification without mentioning China. China is integral to electrification. Supported by a thriving local economy, the country has been able to grow the local infrastructure exponentially in developing batteries, their component technologies, and raw material extraction and refinement, and is now the linchpin of critical technologies in the pursuit of a green future. It is a space that is rapidly evolving, too, as governments increasingly view energy transition as a matter of national security and critical industries. New iterations of batteries and platforms continue to leapfrog previously cutting-edge technologies. Can Asean keep up with this pace of evolution? While no one region can match China's scale overnight, Asean's opportunity lies not in direct competition – but in complementing the ecosystem. In a world of shifting alliances, agility and trust matter more than sheer volume. Supply chain interdependencies and geopolitical conditions will make alliances and partnerships a critical, if not essential, pathway to joint prosperity in the region. Asean member countries make up 670 million people, making it the fifth most populous region. Collectively, they produce around 4.5 million cars annually, making it the fifth largest sub-regional market. Global brands recognise the potential, catapulting Asean as a hub for manufacturing, exports, and component supply. Asean's generally trade-friendly policies also make it favourable for manufacturers looking to access markets they otherwise cannot. This cushions the impact of geopolitical tensions, like the tariff wars. Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand are well-positioned to capitalise. In the process of building these support networks for car brands, we continue to grow and flourish. Our talent pool, technology and training skills, research and development, and production capabilities continue to expand. From a humble shophouse to regional relevance, Malaysia's journey reflects the power of steady progress. And our future – built on talent, trust, and tenacity – is going strong.
Time of India
15-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
From Kata to Kaizen: 7 game changing Japanese management terms for success
It's no coincidence that so many foundational terms in quality management are Japanese. Much of modern process improvement and Lean manufacturing has its roots in post-war Japan, especially in the (TPS). Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The Japanese obsession with quality, order, and efficiency gave rise to management philosophies that have transformed industries across the globe. These management philosophies have a deeper implication on life as they form the basis for critical thinking, which eventually leads to success. These terms go beyond buzzwords, they're practical tools for reducing waste, solving problems, and improving processes. Here's a closer look at seven powerful Japanese terms that continue to drive success in organizations worldwide. Kaizen Kaizen translates roughly to 'change for the better' or 'continuous improvement.' It's a mindset more than a method, one that emphasizes ongoing, incremental changes involving every employee, from management to floor workers. A common application is the 'Kaizen Blitz,' a short-term, team-driven event to improve a specific process and reduce waste. By consistently analyzing and refining work, Kaizen fosters innovation, efficiency, and employee ownership over results. Muda Muda means 'waste' or 'non-value-added activity.' In Lean manufacturing, identifying and eliminating Muda is a central focus. The Toyota Production System defines seven types of waste: transportation, inventory, motion, waiting, overproduction, over-processing, and defects. Muda is often the most visible inefficiency in a process, but it can only be properly reduced once its deeper causes are addressed, namely (overburden) and (inconsistency), which we'll explore next. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Muri Muri refers to unreasonable workloads, whether placed on employees or machinery. It creates stress, fatigue, and breakdowns, ultimately slowing down the production process. Muri often arises from poor planning, unrealistic expectations, or ignoring capacity limits. Reducing Muri is typically the first step in Lean transformation, because an overburdened system is bound to produce errors and waste. Lean leaders aim to design processes that are balanced and sustainable. Mura Mura means 'unevenness' or 'inconsistency,' especially in workflows or demand. Variation in production leads to imbalance: sometimes the system is overloaded (leading to Muri), and sometimes it's underused (creating Muda). A common cause of Mura is unpredictable customer demand. Businesses can counter it by using historical data to level out production schedules and smoothen operations. Reducing Mura stabilizes quality and prevents chaos from creeping into workflows. Poka-Yoke Developed as part of the Toyota Production System, Poka-Yoke is a mechanism that prevents human error before it happens. The term means 'to avoid inadvertent mistakes.' Think of everyday examples like a microwave that won't start unless the door is closed, or a USB plug that fits only one way. In manufacturing, Poka-Yoke systems may include sensors or alarms that stop production if something is off. The goal is to make mistakes impossible or at least immediately obvious. Kata Kata refers to structured, repeatable routines aimed at mastering skills and improving processes. Borrowed from martial arts, the idea is that repeated practice builds excellence and discipline. In business, 'Improvement Kata' teaches teams to approach challenges through four steps: understanding the direction, grasping the current condition, setting the next target, and experimenting toward it. Kata encourages problem-solving and innovation through thoughtful practice, not rushed reactions. Gemba Gemba means 'the actual place' where the work happens. In manufacturing, this is the factory floor; in service, it's where customer interaction occurs. A Gemba Walk is a management practice where leaders observe operations firsthand to understand issues in real time. The goal is not to micromanage or blame, but to learn from the source. Gemba promotes respect, collaboration, and authentic problem-solving. like Kaizen, Muda, and Gemba go far beyond their linguistic roots. They represent a culture of thoughtful, efficient, and people-centered process management. By understanding and applying these principles, teams can reduce inefficiencies, improve product quality, and create more resilient systems. Whether you're on the plant floor or in a corporate office, these timeless concepts are the building blocks of sustainable success.
