2012. USA. The PBS Newshour. During the European debt crisis. About two great German Mittelstand companies, small- to medium-sized companies.
MAN truck manufacturing
How MAN trucks are made. Production by robots and employees in Scania, Renault, DAF, MACK, Freightliner etc. Manufacturing video from start to finish.
YouTube comments:
“Convincing efficient precision machinery and correspondingly qualified personnel. My admiration.”
“Just as Tesla is revolutionary car assembly and dominate in BEVs with its Gigafactories and Gigacastings it will soon be revolutionizing in SemiTruck production and dominate in BE Trucks.”
BMW robotics
BMW Car Factory Robots- Fast Extreme Automatic Production Manufacturing: BMW X2, i8, new BMW X7 and 5- Series Production Assembly Line.
YouTube comments:
“I am an industrial engineer and there us much more behind this than just the robots. The system had to be designed perfectly to prevent bottleneck. Imagine step 1 took 2 hours, step 2 4 hours, and step 3 30 minutes. In you only had 8 hours a day the maximum amount of cars you could output would be 2. They had to time every one of those stations perfectly to prevent production build ups and so cars can flow from station to station preventing waiting and excess motion. Very well done with much less variability than human systems.”
“I have noticed from several videos that German manufactures use more robots in car making compared to Japan where there seems to be a fine balance btwn human craftsmanship and robotics….could that explain the difference in reliability btwn Japanese and German cars?”
“I can’t wait till they’re poppin out terminators with that kind of speed and efficiency. All joking aside, there is something slightly unsettling about these machines. Hopefully when AI becomes self aware they don’t resent us for making robots our slaves.”
Driving in Germany
“From the German Autobahn to the US Interstate System, der Führerschein or driver’s license – over the past few years we have done a LOT of driving in both Germany and the United States.
Although the US Highway System was modeled after the German Autobahn, you might find some surprising differences. Come ride along with us as we roam the roads of both countries!”
Very helpful, and funny, comments. From Germans. Explaining their logic:
“Germany: The problem that you cannot see the traffic light clearly when you are in the front row is resolved by the fact that the car behind you immediately honks when you are not driving when the traffic light changes to green :-)”
“The main reason why traffic lights in Germany are on your side of the crossing is clarity. Germany with its old town centers has many very irregularly shaped crossings, and a traffic light at the opposite side can not easily be attributed to a certain lane or even a road. When the first traffic lights were introduced in the 1920s, Germany experimented with the placement of the traffic lights on the opposite side or hanging down from cables spanned across the crossing. In the 1950s, all those installations were removed due to constant confusion of drivers.”
“Turning right on red lights is not often used in Germany due to pedestrian and bicycling traffic. When you are waiting on a crossing, chances are high that you not only have to watch out for car traffic, but also for pedestrians and other traffic you don’t regularly have in the U.S.. Thus in Germany, turning right on red lights is decided on a case-by-case base.”
“My instructor in Germany told me early on: “You are behind the wheel, you are handling a weapon.” This stuck with me.”
“About the driver’s license: there is a 40% fail rate on both the theoretical and practical exams here in Germany, which says a lot about the quality of the drivers the government is striving for. As I tell my kids: Driving is easy. Being a driver is not.”
Want to know the why for a culture’s behavior? Simply ask them.
VW advanced manufacturing
Richard Hammond visits the Wolfsburg Volkswagen Factory in Wolfsburg, Germany, and gets an exclusive inside look on their new robotic arm tech, and their unique chairs built to quickly get human workers in and out of a car.
Volkswagen is known for its emphasis on quality and precision in its production processes, which is a key factor in the company’s success as a leading global automotive manufacturer.
Deductive reasoning
In mathematics, if A = B and B = C, then A = C. Since all humans are mortal, and I am a human, then I am mortal. All dolphins are mammals, all mammals have kidneys, therefore all dolphins have kidneys.
Since all squares are rectangles, and all rectangles have four sides, so all squares have four sides. If Dennis misses work and at work there is a party, then Dennis will miss the party.
Bureaucracy
1. Non-elected government officials. Administrative policy-making group. 2. Specialization of functions, adherence to fixed rules, hierarchy of authority. 3.A system of administration marked by officialism, red-tape and proliferation. From French bureaucratie: bureau desk and –cratie a kind of government. (MerriamWebster)
Max Weber – Bureaucracy
Ever heard of Max Weber (1864-1920)? He was a German sociologist, historian, jurist and political economist. Weber is among the most important theorists on the development of modern Western society. He saw himself not as a sociologist, but as an historian. What did Weber write about bureaucracy:
That it constitutes the most efficient and rational way to organize human activity. Bureaucracy means systematic processes and organized hierarchies, which are necessary to: maintain order, maximize efficiency, and eliminate favoritism.
German artisans
Germans believe that processes — how the work is done — are the key to success. Americans, however, favor relationships, or how to gain and retain customers.
By tradition, Germany is more a culture of artisans (Handwerkerkultur) than of traders (Händlerkultur). The Germans have always made things. And they believe that process — how the work is done — is the key to success. Good processes lead to good products, bad processes to bad ones.
One well-known German manager, Klaus-Hardy Mühdeck, the CIO of ThyssenKrupp, is even nicknamed the Prozesspapst, the Process Pope, and has changed his title to Chief Process Officer. Because processes govern the internal workings of a company, whoever has the say over process has the say over how the work is done, and thus over the company. As the Germans see it process is power. And Germans want the power. Who doesn’t?
Processes and Communication
In the American business context the communication within and during a process is very important. In fact, the forward movement of a process is dependent on communication. Parties involved in the process must remove roadblocks, anticipate slow-downs. The process may not come to a halt.
Constant communication is the prerequisite for quick response time. Constant communication also secures a common understanding of the process’ goals. It motivates. Feedback within the process is given on a regular basis.
Not to be underestimated is also the value of communicating interim results upwards, to those on the next level of management who exert influence on the process in general, and who might also be the recipient of its ultimate results.