This link has been bookmarked by 3 people . It was first bookmarked on 01 Jul 2009, by someone privately.
-
01 Jul 09
-
the most fundamental problem is also the hardest to overcome: The most innovative cars are no longer made in America.
-
Automakers will need to transition from a vertical, proprietary, hierarchical model to an open, modular, collaborative one, becoming central nodes in an entrepreneurial ecosystem.
-
"The only way I can see for them to win the game is to change it entirely."
-
Initially, the complex was Ford's attempt to solve a manufacturing problem; in the days before networked communication, coordinating precisely with small suppliers was impossible, which meant he couldn't ensure that all the parts for his cars would be ready at the right time and in the proper condition. Ford's answer: total control.
-
By seeking to match the likes of Toyota, Detroit has been trying to come from behind in a game where its adversaries set the rules.
-
"Every time American companies catch up to the competition," Klepper says, "the competition already has moved on and instituted new things. In that situation, it's extremely difficult to get ahead."
-
a big NIH problem
-
but the relationship has typically been one-way and often hostile; car companies specify exactly what services they need and how much they'll pay for them.
-
a narrow well of innovation
-
A growing number of firms have adopted what UC Berkeley's Chesbrough dubbed "open innovation"—accelerating change by letting ideas flow much more freely in and out of companies.
-
Unsurprisingly, open innovation is seen most clearly in firms like IBM, Alcatel-Lucent, and Millennium Pharmaceuticals, but Chesbrough argues that it has been picked up with success by companies in fields ranging from chemicals and packaged goods to lubricants and home-improvement gadgets.
-
"It hasn't learned that no one company or industry has a monopoly on useful ideas."
-
In other words, modularity encouraged multiple innovations from multiple sources and made them easy to incorporate.
-
The growing sophistication of design and simulation software makes it easier for startups to create prototypes and test new products virtually, before undergoing those expensive processes in the real world.
-
somewhat as Dell allows purchasers to click on hyperlinks to add or subtract computer features.
-
Custom-rebuilt
-
to pharmaceutical companies,
-
In other words, the US automotive industry will not introduce innovative cars unless there is a market to support them.
-
-
08 Jun 09
-
05 Jun 09
James SunderlandArticle on how Detroit could innovate through harnessing the ideas of specialist tech start ups rather than playing catch up with Japanese and European manufacturers.
design innovation automotive cars Wired detroit manufacture usa economy
Would you like to comment?
Join Diigo for a free account, or sign in if you are already a member.