Category Archives: Manufacturing

Things China Makes

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AUGUST 7, 2013

Even though economists expected that the Chinese manufacturing sector would contract in July 2013, it did exactly the opposite. China’s economy is heavily dependent on manufacturing and exports; its citizens consume only a fraction of all the goods made in the country, and the rest are exported to the U.S., Europe and other markets. In fact, China makes so much stuff that if it suddenly decided to stop, most of the rest of the world would experience impossibly high demand for many “essentials” of modern life — things like air conditioners, cell phones and personal computers.

This post provided courtesy of Jay and Barry’s OM Blog at www.heizerrenderom.wordpress.com. Professors Jay Heizer and Barry Render are authors of Operations Management , the world’s top selling textbook in its field, published by Pearson.

The Challenge of Fixing a Boeing 787

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AUGUST 6, 2013

ethiopian airDesigning a new product such as the Boeing 787 is a huge undertaking. The thin plastic skin on the 787 Dreamliner, writes The New York Times (July 30, 2013),  ”is an engineering marvel, a mix of carbon fibers and epoxy molded into large barrel-shaped sections that are then baked at up to 350 degrees in giant ovens.” But while airlines love how this lightweight concoction saves fuel, the recent fire on a Ethiopian Air 787 in London provides the first test of how much more difficult and costly it will be to repair serious damage than on older aluminum planes.  Each day a jet remains grounded costs an airline tens of thousands of dollars.

The cause of the fire, a pinched wire on an emergency transmitter, was fairly mundane. But the high temperatures weakened the supports in a 10-foot stretch at the top of the rear fuselage and seared the paint on the top of the skin, causing the most extensive damage yet to one of the new 787s. Boeing will have to cut out the damaged areas and bolt a large patch, made of overlapping panels of composite materials, onto the plane. It will also need to install new composite supports and shore up the structural integrity of the plane. If the damage were more extreme, Boeing could remove the entire 23-foot-long barrel containing most of the jet’s rear fuselage and snap in another one.

The use of composite materials on planes has grown steadily over the last 4 decades. Only 1% of the weight of Boeing’s 747 jumbo jet came from composite parts when it was introduced in 1969. That increased to 11% by 1995 on the 777, which has an all-composite tail section. Composites now account for half of the 787’s weight, which, together with more efficient engines, cut fuel consumption by 20%.

This post provided courtesy of Jay and Barry’s OM Blog at www.heizerrenderom.wordpress.com. Professors Jay Heizer and Barry Render are authors of Operations Management , the world’s top selling textbook in its field, published by Pearson.

When Detroit Was a Cluster

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AUGUST 4, 2013

VW's plant in Chattanooga TN

VW’s plant in Chattanooga TN

Clustering is an interesting topic. In Orlando, over 70,000 people are employed in the theme park cluster that includes Disney, Universal, Legoland, Sea World, Gatorland, and more. This week, Universal Studios announced record profits after sinking a quarter billion dollars into the Harry Potter exhibit–and is adding yet another 1,800 room hotel to its site.The Wall Street Journal (July 31, 2013) adds to the discussion with an article titled “Detroit Was a Cluster”.

“Clusters,” writes The Journal, ”offer powerful advantages such as labor market pooling. But these potent synergies can be lost when special technological competence becomes outmoded.” With lean manufacturing, clustering has become more important in the auto industry, with suppliers required to be between one hour and one day’s drive of factories. A new cluster has formed, known as the “auto corridor” between I-75 and I-65, which still includes the upper Midwest but has pulled the industry’s center of gravity steadily south.

The reason is well known: The Japanese, Germans and Koreans located their plants in the South to avoid the United Auto Workers. Honda was the bellwether when in 1980 it picked Marysville, Ohio for its first plant. Honda was expected to be required to employ the UAW, but picked a site in rural Ohio with little union presence. The firm soon concluded that its production system would be impossible with union workers, and that a UAW workforce could be avoided without undue political consequence.

Even a decade ago, more than half of all auto production jobs were still in Ohio, Indiana and Michigan. Now it’s below 44%. Kentucky alone today claims 440 auto manufacturing-related businesses! The transplants made little secret of their motivation in passing up the substantial benefits of the then-cluster around Detroit. Every Toyota factory in the U.S. is non-union and all but one is in the South. Ditto Nissan, Mercedes, Hyundai, BMW and Kia.

This post provided courtesy of Jay and Barry’s OM Blog at www.heizerrenderom.wordpress.com. Professors Jay Heizer and Barry Render are authors of Operations Management , the world’s top selling textbook in its field, published by Pearson.