Generalized automotive parts with a sharp double-edged sword
December 19, 2022
The generalization of auto parts has always been an important means for international auto giants to control production costs. At present, there are common parts and components cooperation between domestic joint venture auto companies, while auto brands and auto parts companies have common parts. There is very little cooperation in the chemical field.
Experts said that the universalization of auto parts has many advantages such as reducing the cost of the company, and domestic related companies should pay attention to it. However, in the event of quality problems or design flaws in general automotive parts, the disaster will be geometric. How to reduce costs and control risks to the lowest level is a hurdle in the development of auto parts and components.
"The generalization of parts and components will help improve the R&D efficiency of the vehicle, shorten the development cycle, and reduce the cost of procurement and manufacturing of the entire vehicle." According to Jia Xinguang, a renowned car commentator, the generalization of components facilitates new technologies and processes. The application can concentrate more funds for product development and facilitate the rapid increase of product technology content. Among them, the easiest to achieve generalization is the mid-to-low-end model, after the generalization of parts and components in large quantities, the effect is significant.
Cui Dongshu also believes that the generalization of parts and components will reduce the number of necessary processing equipment for each model, which will help reduce development time and reduce equipment investment. At the same time, it can also increase the order quantity of the same parts and help parts manufacturers reduce costs, which helps the entire vehicle company to reduce the procurement costs of parts.
However, Ning Xiaoyang, chief engineer of China Automotive Parts Industry Corporation, believes that in the early stages of component universalization, companies need a lot of market trial verification, design, and repeated testing. Once there is a problem with common components, it is easy to trigger a chain recall incident.
It is understood that from 2009 to 2010, Toyota continuously announced a recall, and the total number of recalls exceeded its output in 2009. This storm has caused Toyota to suffer heavy losses in global reputation and economy. The main reason for the recall was due to the quality of the parts supplied by the supplier. Due to the large number of models involved, a large-scale recall was caused.
In April 2009, Shanghai General Motors Co., Ltd., Chongqing Changan Ford Mazda Automobile Co., Ltd., and FAW Car Co., Ltd. jointly recalled six models of 13549 cars in China. The reason is that the three auto companies used the same There are quality problems in general parts and components produced by parts manufacturing companies.
“A car consists of tens of thousands of components. If there is a quality problem or a design defect in one component, it will cause safety hazards for the car. Once a problem occurs with a common component, a large-scale recall is inevitable. "Jia Xinguang believes that the universalization of parts and components must go through a lot of test verification, design, and repeated testing to eliminate potential quality problems." At the same time, we must also strengthen market surveillance and find that quality issues must respond quickly in order to reduce the scope of impact and reduce losses.
Accelerate the development challenges <br> <br> According to Jia Xinguang, at present there is a major domestic universal aspects of cooperation between some parts joint venture auto companies, and independent brand automobile companies, parts of companies to cooperate in the common areas almost none. Taking into account the advantages and potential of component universalization, domestic enterprises should pay attention to it.
It is understood that at present, some domestic brands of auto companies often have more than one brand. Due to the lack of a platform strategy, there is no corresponding integration. Different brands have their own different product standards, which makes it difficult to achieve component universalization.
The domestic vehicle designers do not always have the common sense of parts and components and cannot coordinate with parts suppliers. They often choose product dimensions and tolerances based on experience, and ignore the parts and components design and development capabilities of professional parts manufacturing companies. . The lack of communication between the supply and demand sides in product design has caused different vehicle companies to have different standards and tolerances for the same component, which is not conducive to the popularization of parts and components.
“The multinational auto companies have implemented the platform strategy very early. The reason why domestic companies are more concerned now is that the overall platform development strategy of multinational auto companies has changed, and its global market focus has shifted to China.” Ning Xiaoyang admitted that the platform Turning is just one of the many challenges that local component companies need to face. At present, multinational parts and components companies have turned to technology and market monopoly, and the development of China's auto parts companies will be even more difficult.
Jia Xinguang said that the development of China's auto parts generalization should begin with the cooperation and development of the vehicle platform. Starting from the basic components with comparative advantages, relevant parts and components companies should strengthen research and development in this area.
Li Shengqi, secretary-general of the China Gear Professional Association, believes that the development of modern manufacturing technology has created unprecedented conditions for the innovative design of parts and components, and has also created conditions for the parts and components industry to implement product platformization and generalization strategies. The key to the future competition of parts and components companies is the creative product structure design and industrial core technology. If the parts and components companies with innovative products and industrial core technologies actively promote the construction of platformization and generalization, the overall competitiveness of China's parts and components industry can be rapidly increased.
Li Shengqi said that key enterprises in the parts and components industry should promote the modularization and modular design concept of products (eg, shift actuators, synchronizers, planetary rows, gear pumps, etc. of automatic transmissions for automobiles), and industry associations should actively promote among key enterprises. The joint design will build a common and shared platform for parts and components, reduce the variety of parts and components, increase the concentration of production, create economies of scale, and increase the competitiveness of enterprises. At the same time, based on the generalization of parts and components, the parts and components industry should solidify mature non-standard parts and formulate corresponding industry standards, and then define non-standard parts in the traditional sense as standard parts, thereby improving competitiveness.
The industry believes that the generalization of parts and components is a choice for vehicle companies and parts companies to jointly meet market challenges. The generalization of parts and components will help the entire vehicle company and parts and components companies to achieve mutual benefits and provide enterprises with better development opportunities. To speed up the process of auto parts generalization, the domestic auto industry must establish a more stringent product quality assurance system, improve product traceability, and increase product structure innovation to overcome the industry's core technical difficulties. At the same time, relevant departments should formulate more scientific and implementable strategic measures in the development strategy of the parts and components industry.
Shenyang Zhongda Huanxin Refrigeration Technology Co., Ltd.
