Assumptions and Scope

Assumptions

• Faurecia is a world leader in car seating that is experiencing challenges of cost competitiveness, quality, technology, and logistics capabilities, as the auto manufactures impose strict expectations on performance and delivery as a supplier.
• Faurecia strength is with several components within the seat design itself but the logistical JIT operational design has set them up as a strong leader in the automotive car seat supplier globally.  
• design for assembly (DFA), is a program that is used to develop a goal of Optimizing product design, development and manufacturing. This design also includes employee safety, comfort and overall health of everyone. The Health and safety does affect the productivity which affects the cost competitiveness in the global market. 

Scope

• The information and recommendations are based on the automotive industry in the global market that has been provided in the report by Francis Bidault. 
• Within the analysis and recommendations, we look at some challenges that Faurecia are facing to stay competitive in the car seating industry. This includes quality, logistics, costs, and employee effectiveness. 

Major Issues

• Cost increases; new design of seat frames, transportation costs, assembly costs and tooling costs. 
• JIT expectations by customers have created assembly and delivery challenges. 
• Resources to design and develop the more complex seats continue to require a larger number of technologies. With increased demand and expectations, the engineering resources are strained and are effecting workmanship and delays. 

Objectives

• Identify cost saving measures from the R&D to the final delivery of the finished product to the customer. 
• Understand the JIT expectations from the automakers and develop a cost-effective solution to provide this service and plan for variables that may negatively affect this critical service. 
• Provide a solution to the increased engineering resource demand and how to provide higher quality of support. 

Analysis

Recommendations and Plan of Actions