The impact of implementation of a modular platform strategy in automobile manufacturing networks

Jesús Lampón, Pablo Cabanelas and Javier González-Benito

No 1502, Working Papers. Collection B: Regional and sectoral economics from Universidade de Vigo, GEN - Governance and Economics research Network

Abstract: This paper explores the impact of the implementation of modular platforms, to replace the standard platforms used to date, on the strategic outputs of automobile manufacturing networks. Analysis of the production network of manufacturers in Europe shows that the use of modular architecture improves the coordination of manufacturing networks by increasing manufacturing mobility and thriftiness ability. The changes resulting from this new modular strategy also allow for reorganisation of manufacturing capacity and the partial elimination of current overcapacity. From the point of view of production systems, the adaptation of processes and facilities in manufacturing plants to this new architecture should aim to increase flexibility by integrating production around a single platform, allowing for different dimensions and a large number of models in a single plant.

Keywords: Modular platforms; manufacturing networks; operational flexibility; economies of scale; economies of scope; automobile sector. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L23 L25 L62 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 18 pages
Date: 2015-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-cse and nep-net
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://infogen.webs.uvigo.es/WPB/WP1502.pdf First version, 2015 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gov:wpregi:1502

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers. Collection B: Regional and sectoral economics from Universidade de Vigo, GEN - Governance and Economics research Network Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Patricio Sanchez-Fernandez ().