Explore the vast range of titles available.

Market liberalization in emerging-market economies and the entry of multinational firms spur significant changes to the industry/institutional environment faced by domestic firms. Prior studies have described how such changes tend to be disruptive to the relatively backward domestic firms, and negatively affect their performance and survival prospects. In this paper, we study how domestic supplier firms may adapt and continue to perform, as market liberalization progresses, through catch-up strategies aimed at integrating with the industry's global value chain. Drawing on internalization theory and the literatures on upgrading and catch-up processes, learning and relational networks, we hypothesize that, for continued performance, domestic supplier firms need to adapt their strategies from catching up initially through technology licensing/collaborations and joint ventures with multinational enterprises (MNEs) to also developing strong customer relationships with downstream firms (especially MNEs). Further, we propose that successful catch-up through these two strategies lays the foundation for a strategy of knowledge creation during the integration of domestic industry with the global value chain. Our analysis of data from the auto components industry in India during the period 1992-2002, that is, the decade since liberalization began in 1991, offers support for our hypotheses.

The modern manufacturing systems recognize the importance of adopting lean and sustainable manufacturing principles. Especially, Indian automotive component manufacturing organizations are interested in adopting the integrated lean sustainable manufacturing system. An appropriate methodology is required for enabling the organizations to identify the dominant factors. In this context, this article presents the interpretive structural modelling approach for identifying the mutual relationship among factors influencing the integrated lean sustainable manufacturing system. From the literature study and survey conducted among Indian automotive component manufacturing organizations, 25 influencing factors have been identified. Based on the study, top-management commitment in adopting integrated lean sustainable manufacturing and environmental knowledge occupy the bottom level of model which shows that it has more driving power. Efforts are being taken to implement the factors in the surveyed organizations.

The demands for automobiles increased drastically in last two and half decades in India. Many global automobile manufacturers and Tier-1 suppliers have already set up research, development and manufacturing facilities in India. The Indian automotive component industry started implementing Lean practices to fulfill the demand of these customers. United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) has taken proactive approach in association with Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA) and the Government of India to assist Indian SMEs in various clusters since 1999 to make them globally competitive. The primary objectives of this research are to study the UNIDO- ACMA Model as well as ISM Model of Lean implementation and validate the ISM Model by comparing with UNIDO-ACMA Model. It also aims at presenting a roadmap for Lean implementation in Indian automotive component industry. This paper is based on secondary data which include the research articles, web articles, doctoral thesis, survey reports and books on automotive industry in the field of Lean, JIT and ISM. ISM Model for Lean practice bundles was developed by authors in consultation with Lean practitioners. The UNIDO-ACMA Model has six stages whereas ISM Model has eight phases for Lean implementation. The ISM-based Lean implementation model is validated through high degree of similarity with UNIDO-ACMA Model. The major contribution of this paper is the proposed ISM Model for sustainable Lean implementation. The ISM-based Lean implementation framework presents greater insight of implementation process at more microlevel as compared to UNIDO- ACMA Model.

Lean manufacturing is an extended version of the Toyota Production System (TPS). It was highlighted as the best practice in the 21st century. Therefore, top and senior management in manufacturing firms are encouraged to adopt and adapt lean principles and practices in running their respective firms. The main objective of this paper is to investigate the extent of lean manufacturing perception and implementation in the Malaysian automotive component industry. A survey questionnaire was developed to collect top and senior management views with respect to their perception, judgement and opinion on twenty four lean manufacturing (LM) practices. This preliminary survey was conducted at 30 Malaysian automotive component manufacturing firms. The survey results show that a large majority of respondents have a high perception of the importance of lean manufacturing practices. However, it was found that their actual LM implementation is still on the low side. In this study, the non-parametric test was used to analyze the level of perception and implementation of the twenty four LM practices. The analysis of the survey results revealed that there are significant differences between the level of perception of the importance of LM practices and their actual implementation.

This study presents an implementation of concurrent engineering (CE) and an analytical network process to form a new rating method as part of the manufacturing process and material analysis in the product development environment. The proposed procedure is referred to as a concurrent network (CN). It is planned for CN to carry out simultaneous analysis of all aspects of product elements by using CE strategy. Furthermore, CN enables interdependence and interrelationship analysis between product elements by implementing ANP. In this study, CN is utilized for the manufacturing process and material analysis of a metal matrix composites (MMCs) automotive component which is the brake disc. The results show that by using CN, all the product parameters can be analyzed comprehensively and the importance weights of the product parameters with regard to the MMCs brake disc performance are obtained. It is concluded that in the manufacturing process cluster the primary process parameter has the highest score, while in the material cluster the ranking is dominated by mechanical properties. This means that these sub-conceptual parameters are the most important ones to consider in order to achieve the required performance of the product.

Although automotive fuel-cell catalyst development has come a long way in the past fifteen years, more research is needed for oxygen reduction electrocatalysts to be successfully commercialized. Fuel cells stuck in the slow lane In the face of dwindling oil reserves and concerns about climate change, vehicles powered by fuel cells that use hydrogen from renewable sources and emit only water seem ideal. Small test fleets of fuel-cell vehicles have shown impressive performances, but in this Review Mark Debe reminds us that significant obstacles need to be overcome before the technology becomes genuinely practical. In particular, it will not be enough to develop oxygen-reduction electrocatalysts, the crucial components at the heart of fuel cells, with high activity. As important — and more challenging — is the need to ensure that these catalysts are highly durable, fault tolerant and can be mass-produced with high yields and exceptional quality. Many of the catalyst systems currently being explored seem unlikely to meet these criteria. Fuel cells powered by hydrogen from secure and renewable sources are the ideal solution for non-polluting vehicles, and extensive research and development on all aspects of this technology over the past fifteen years has delivered prototype cars with impressive performances. But taking the step towards successful commercialization requires oxygen reduction electrocatalysts—crucial components at the heart of fuel cells—that meet exacting performance targets. In addition, these catalyst systems will need to be highly durable, fault-tolerant and amenable to high-volume production with high yields and exceptional quality. Not all the catalyst approaches currently being pursued will meet those demands.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to improve the environment and save energy, friction reduction, lower oil consumption and emissions demand that are the chief objectives of the automotive industry. The piston system is the largest frictional loss source, which accounts for about 40 per cent of the total frictional loss in engine. In this paper, the reciprocating tribometer, which is updated, was used to evaluate the friction and wear performances. Design/methodology/approach – An alternate method is introduced to investigate the effect of reciprocating speed, normal load, oil pump speed and ring sample and oil temperature on friction coefficient with the ring/liner of a typical inline diesel engine. The orthogonal experiment is designed to identify the factors that dominate wear behavior. To understand the correlations between friction coefficients and wear well, different friction coefficient results were compared and explained by oil film build-up and asperity contact theory, such as the friction coefficient over a long period and averaged the friction coefficient over one revolution. Findings – The friction coefficient changes little but fluctuates with a small amplitude in the stable stage. The sudden change of frequency, load and stroke will lead to the oil film rupture. The identification for the factors that dominates the wear loss is ranged as F (ring sample) > , E (oil sample) > , B (stroke) > , D (temperature) > , A (load) > , G (liner) > and C (frequency). Originality/value – This paper develops and verifies a methodology capable of mimicking the real engine behavior at boundary and mixed lubrication regimes which can minimize frictional losses, wear, reduce much work for the experiment and reduce the cost. The originality of the work is well qualified, as very few papers on a similar analysis have been published, such as: The friction coefficient values fluctuating in the whole stage may be caused by the vibration of the system; suddenly, boundary alternation may help the oil film to form the lubrication; and weight loss mainly comes from the contribution of the friction coefficient value fluctuation. The paper also found that the statistics can gain more information from less experiment time based on a design of experiment.

A program load spectrum compiling method for automotive components was introduced with swing arm as example. Based on pseudo-damage and statistical analyses, combined with structural coaxing property, a spectrum compiling method considering the coaxing effects is put forward. The new method overcomes the deficiency of the traditional methods, in which only the damage effect of low amplitude loads is considered. Meanwhile, referred to the equivalent damage rule between damage loads, the equivalent coaxing rule between coaxing loads is explored. By transferring the coaxing loads to the most effective level, the bench tests show that the total cycling blocks decline sharply under self-made specification. The influence of strengthening loads is proved to be taken into account by deleting the useless loads during the spectrum compiling process. Moreover, the real service condition of automotive components by simulation can be faster and more real, and it is significant to predicate the failure mode of durability tests and to estimate service life of automotive components more accurately.

New design and processing approaches for magnesium-based alloys are offering a variety of opportunities in lightweight and energy-efficient applications. The compelling need for lightweight, energy-efficient, environmentally benign engineering systems is driving the development of a wide range of structural and functional materials for energy generation, energy storage, propulsion, and transportation. These challenges motivate wider spread use of magnesium—the eighth most common element in the earth's crust and also extractable from seawater. In addition, the ease of recycling, compared with polymers, makes magnesium alloys environmentally attractive. Importantly, with a density of 1.74 g/cm 3 —about 30% less than aluminum, one-quarter that of steel, and nearly the same as many polymers—magnesium is attractive for lightweight structural systems and, most notably, automotive systems. A typical car weighing 1525 kg currently contains about 975 kg of steel, 127 kg of Al, 114 kg of polymeric materials, and 5 to 6 kg of magnesium ( 1 ). It is estimated that 22.5 kg of mass reduction would improve fuel efficiency by around 1%; thus, automotive manufacturers worldwide have goals to increase the Mg content of automobiles to between 45 and 160 kg ( 1 , 2 ).

We introduce the notion of orbit equivalence of directed graphs, following Matsumoto’s notion of continuous orbit equivalence for topological Markov shifts. We show that two graphs in which every cycle has an exit are orbit equivalent if and only if there is a diagonal-preserving isomorphism between their $C^{\\ast }$ -algebras. We show that it is necessary to assume that every cycle has an exit for the forward implication, but that the reverse implication holds for arbitrary graphs. As part of our analysis of arbitrary graphs $E$ we construct a groupoid ${\\mathcal{G}}_{(C^{\\ast }(E),{\\mathcal{D}}(E))}$ from the graph algebra $C^{\\ast }(E)$ and its diagonal subalgebra ${\\mathcal{D}}(E)$ which generalises Renault’s Weyl groupoid construction applied to $(C^{\\ast }(E),{\\mathcal{D}}(E))$ . We show that ${\\mathcal{G}}_{(C^{\\ast }(E),{\\mathcal{D}}(E))}$ recovers the graph groupoid ${\\mathcal{G}}_{E}$ without the assumption that every cycle in $E$ has an exit, which is required to apply Renault’s results to $(C^{\\ast }(E),{\\mathcal{D}}(E))$ . We finish with applications of our results to out-splittings of graphs and to amplified graphs.