Making a car involves several major decisions about the design of the car, how it will be built, and how it will be sold. Managers must also coordinate factory production, purchase materials, and train workers—all within a budget. Marketing teams must then sell the car and project returns on shareholder investments. New models are introduced yearly, but a single car design can take several years to get from the drawing board to the showroom floor. A typical company will therefore have several new designs in various stages of development at any given time.
The group within an automobile company that makes the main decisions about new cars often includes the chairman of the board and board members, the president, the marketing director, the sales director, the finance director, and the head of product development. These leaders must budget money, recruit a workforce, and set realistic deadlines. Rather than sending ideas from step to step as they are completed, leaders collaborate from the start with designers and engineers in a process known as simultaneous engineering to increase the speed and efficiency of car production. Engineering, manufacturing, sales, and other specialized departments in turn support the leadership decisions. Most of these positions require college degrees and extensive training. Companies also rely on the administrative services of clerks, typists, telephone operators, and others to support the process of automaking.
Research, Design, and Development:
Before a new car is built, it must be researched, designed, and developed into a workable product. Researchers analyze market trends, consumer surveys, and buying patterns to determine what consumers want, and then suggest what kinds of cars to make. Designers work to shape these new ideas into tangible parts or products. Engineers adapt existing parts for the new model and draw up new plans for the prototype. A prototype is a custom-built working example of a new design. Manufacturers begin by building a few prototypes before they set up a factory to build the new car. Product planners monitor the process along the way and make sure that an approved new car program finishes on time and within budget.
As technology advances, new cars continually feature new systems and innovations. Change and innovation in the auto industry take time to implement and must allow for, but not be overwhelmed by, consumer whims or government regulations. New systems are usually introduced one at a time, or new technologies applied to one area at a time. A new component system (such as a new braking system) in a fully developed prototype can take as long as four years to incorporate into a new model. Part of this time is needed to design, build, and install production tools to make the new model. Testing the new system on rough mock-ups (called test beds) and in preproduction vehicles to see what happens to overall performance takes additional time.
Meanwhile, members of the marketing and sales staffs select a name for the new product, conduct surveys to determine what share of the market the new model can anticipate, and troubleshoot potential problems. Initial production targets are set according to available market research results.
Once the board approves the model and name, the first working prototype emerges from experimental workshops. Board members try out the working prototype, then experts take it through extensive tests, including wind tunnel, dust tunnel, factory track, water-proofing bays, desert heat, arctic cold, and crash tests.
Manufacturing and Assembly:
Before a new model can be built, the factory must first be retooled. Retooling a factory involves changing the machines on the factory floor to produce a different style of automobile. Skilled tool makers, pattern makers, and die makers look at the specifications for the new car parts and cooperate with the tool design office to craft the tools and modify, or tool up, the machines.
The purchasing department assures that needed supplies for production are available on time and within budget. Qualified buyers have knowledge of both engineering and accounting, and they are responsible for ordering the raw materials to make the parts in-house or for ordering finished components from a parts supplier.
After raw materials are received and inspected, they are cast, forged, stamped, or molded into different body shapes. Press shop workers operate the machines that stamp steel into body panels. Fiberglass molders and cutters help mold large plastic body parts and cut the rough edges. Paint shop workers and spray gun operators put the final touches on the plastic or steel shell. Since many of these body-making jobs have been or are being automated, there is an increasing need for computer analysts, programmers, and technicians. These computer-oriented positions usually require college degrees or post-high-school training.
Machine operators, who work in all parts of the factory, are particularly important in engine building. They take the rough castings and forgings of the engine parts and machine them to the required tolerances and accuracy. Machine operators need to be skilled, with experience on numerically controlled and computerized machinery. Engine builders put the engine parts together by hand, a job for car mechanics who can quickly understand changes in engine design.
Manufacturing personnel work on the assembly lines and operate numerous machines, computers, robots, and other equipment to produce the items needed for each car. Heat treatment tempers and strengthens the forged and cast parts, which are then shaped into components that are assembled into subassemblies (gearboxes, axles, engines, doors, dashboards). The chassis (the underlying frame of the automobile) and body are joined and painted. Electricians, many of whom are first hired as apprentices or trained in company training programs, make sure that electrical parts are correctly fitted and connected in the car.
Components and subassemblies are gradually combined along the assembly line at different points to construct the car. Line operators generally are less skilled workers who carry out one or two simple assembly line operations. The manufacturer gives these workers limited training. At almost every stage of the assembly process, skilled inspectors assure the quality of the work.
This pattern of production, which emerged from 1900 to 1920, changed little in the first 80 years of the century. Beginning in the late 1970s and early 1980s, manufacturers began buying completed subassemblies instead of their components—completed dashboards, for instance, rather than individual instruments—and began building the auto body around these subassemblies. These and other production strategies have enabled companies to address the fast-changing market more rapidly and effectively. Companies can now change production lines faster and make more specialized cars more economically.
Sales and Service:
Market researchers contribute to the original design process and continue their studies throughout the manufacture and sale of a car. Market researchers compile newspaper, industry, and public reaction from polls and product surveys. They use these findings to help plan sales campaigns. For example, if surveys show consumers like the energy-saving features of a car, then those features might be the focus of advertising. The advertising department uses results from polls and focus groups (small groups of potential consumers) to shape advertising tools for dealers as well as national advertising campaigns aimed directly at the public.
The corporate sales staff works with the car dealers throughout the country to prepare them to sell the new product. Toward the end of the 20th century, the number of dealerships declined, but their size and the number of total cars sold increased. In 1950 about 47,000 dealers sold 7.2 million vehicles. By 1985 half as many dealers sold twice as many cars. High-volume dealers, called megadealers, with multiple locations and multiple franchises (agreements with several companies to sell their cars) compete most favorably. Car supermarkets (establishments that sell used cars at a fixed price, often with a 30-day return policy) and dealerships with separate repair and sales departments are two current trends that are likely to continue. Many car dealerships in the United States also devote a portion of their sales staff to Internet sales. Internet sales associates help potential buyers research and purchase cars online.
Dealership mechanics must learn how to maintain and repair new models. More than 80 percent of the functions of the average automobile are controlled by electronics. This has created a large need for educated mechanics who can also operate computerized diagnostic equipment. The National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) was established in 1972 to help consumers select competent service professionals. ASE Certification of mechanics increased from 8,567 in 1972 to more than 400,000 in 2002. Trade and technical schools continue to be the major source of training for service professionals, who work in car dealerships, service stations, tire shops, and elsewhere.
Customer Feedback:
Consumers have increasingly become part of the team that shapes the products that are designed and built—especially since the 1960s and 1970s. The company maintains a press fleet so automotive correspondents can test drive new models and review them. In some companies, top executives also test drive new cars and give their feedback. Focus groups of consumers are organized to test recent innovations to see if they would be suitable to apply across a product line. For example, focus groups of consumers who like off-road operation provided the initial market test of four-wheel drive passenger cars. Other consumer groups have road tested innovations such as fuel injection, turbocharging, and trip computers. After these focus groups give their feedback, designers refine the innovations and introduce them into other vehicles.
