| In the book " The Machine that Changed the World ", Womack and his colleagues studied the Japanese automobile industry in the 1990s and concluded that Japanese used a secret weapon to surpass the U.S. and became the biggest automobile manufacturing country. This secret weapon is known as Lean production. From then on, Lean production has been expanding in all industries around the world.;This study first reviews the history of automobile industry in the world, where Chinese history is focused on. Four representative automobile companies are investigated in details, within which three are joint venture companies and one is a domestic company. The implement of Lean production and the application of new management and production methods are studied. It is found that different methods are applied in China, where joint venture companies usually have high executive levels and the domestic ones only use a cheap labor approach. It is also found that Modular production is well practiced in China, which is even better than the Lean production. Imitation is also an important approach during the development process, although some law and patent problems exist.;This research will allow us to understand the new development of automobile industry in China better. It will also deliver some important information for the management and production development in China, its past history, the current status and the glorious future.;Two years ago, China became the biggest automobile producer and the largest automobile market in the world. This situation stimulates a fundamental question whether it is just an economic change or there is an emergence of a new production model?... |
