Automotive History:
The history of automobile is not very old, it begins with the technological breakthroughs that took place in Europe in the early eighties and continues a century later with the pioneering efforts of American manufactures to begin mass-producing cars. The Automobile Revolution began with the appearance of automobile manufacturing, about the year 1890. At that time only Europe and North America possessed the technology to produce and successfully operate a mechanically powered road vehicle.
In the initial stage of automobile production and its sale did not need huge investment or marketing knowledge. Manufacturing of automobiles could be started with little men power, but with the passage of time and as the industry grew, things started to change. The period 1895 to 1908 marked the first automobile boom. During these years, France dominated the young industry.
The automobile, while providing greater personal freedom and economic growth, also served as the basis for questioning the value of technological progress. Industry mergers, the ongoing threat of oil crises and environmental degradation continues to affect the automobile industry today.
Stat-of-the-Art-Technology:
Now, automobile is widely and frequently used product, but it is still a very complex and technologically sophisticated one. Manufacturing new cars requires state-of-the-art technological methods and processes.
Over the last 25 years, automation technology has become an essential part of automobile assembly plants. A typical assembly plant uses several hundred robots to build and paint the vehicle frame. While robotic technology continues to grow in assembly plants. The technology does have limitations, especially in performing more delicate tasks. Cobots (Collaboratiave robots), developed by Northwestern University and General Motors Corporation, are designed to work in collaboration with human operators to move objects and perform physically demanding tasks on vehicle assembly lines.
Automobile manufacturing firms compete based on a set of established commercial practices which are conveyed in business and industrial engineering literature. These practices make up the process of automobile manufacturing.
Quality Management System: ISO 9001:2000 Now Quality Management System is one of the basic requirements in manufacturing. The International Organization of Standardization, (ISO) is a worldwide organization that develops many different kinds of Standards. Quality Management System is requirement for registration. In order to be a reliable manufacturer you have to ISO 9001:2000 registered. The same applies to automobile manufacturing.
Early Manufacturers:
In early days of automobile manufacturing those manufacturers who wagered on gasoline as an energy source would win out over those who favored steam or electricity. The French were the first to develop this industry, and they set the pattern.
In the 1890s, France became the center of automobile production, and it retained its dominance in Europe until the 1930s. The earliest French firms in the business, Panhard et Levassor (P & L) and Peugeot, represent one type of company that entered the industry: established metalworking concerns looking for a new product line. P & L gained much prestige from its early racing victories, and built powerful and expensive cars. It offered a wide range of models, using engines of its own design, from 1899 on. Another early automobiles manufacturer was Peugeot. The company began to use its own engines in the mid- 1890s and produced 500 cars in 1900.
Here are few leading automobile manufacturers:
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Automotive Industry- History and Manufacturers
