KEEPING UP WITH THE MANUFACTURING CHANGES

STAFFAN LUNDSTRÖM EXPLAINS HOW MANUFACTURERS CAN STAY AHEAD OF THE COMPETITION WHILE OVERCOMING CHALLENGES.

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THE RISE OF ELECTRIFICATION IS HAPPENING more widely and suddenly than anyone expected, both for automobiles but also other types of electric vehicle (EV). The global EV landscape is also more competitive than the automotive markets of previous decades, as more manufacturers — large and small — compete for space. How can manufacturers stay ahead of the competition while also overcoming the increasing challenges posed by difficult-to-machine materials, like high strength steels? Here, Staff an Lundström, product manager at the metal cutting specialist Sandvik Coromant, explains why a new all-directional tooling method, combined with the next generation CoroTurn® Prime B-type insert, holds the answer.

From the mid-1930s, the “Big Three” manufacturers dominated the US automotive market: General Motors, Ford and Daimler Chrysler. This continued for the next 70-plus years. But, competition among carmakers is changing — both within the US and in the current world-leading markets for EVs: AsiaPacific, followed by Europe.

As written by Matthias Holweg in The Evolution of Competition in the Automotive Industry, a chapter from the book Build To Order: The Road to the 5-Day Car: “Competition has shifted from cost-leadership during the heyday of Ford’s original mass production, to variety and choice [and then] to diversification through leadership in design, technology or manufacturing excellence.”