Innovation in the automotive sector of the Philippines
The performance of the Philippine automotive industry has steadily improved following the Asian financial crisis. However, relative to the performance of the automotive industry in other countries, the sector has languished. To understand the challenges being faced by the automotive assemblers, as well as parts and components manufacturers, the innovation capability and activities of selected establishments are analysed following the framework developed by J. Bessant. This paper finds that despite having an awareness of the importance of technology and upgrading, some of the automotive firms are not able to translate this awareness into other technology activities.
Innovation in Philippine transnational corporations: case studies
Although Philippine FDI outflows still lag behind some of its ASEAN neighbours, there are an increasing number of Philippine transnational corporations successfully investing abroad. This study focusing on four large indigenous firms provides insights on their international knowledge flows and the factors contributing to their technology strategies and innovation activities. This paper finds that market expansion activities increase learning in firms that extend knowledge and technical assistance from the home office to affiliates in host countries. Firms augment their capabilities and experience through long-term relationships with partners in production networks, in particular with suppliers who provide support for in-house innovation.
The Automotive Industry
It has been the automotive industry which has fostered robotic technologies in the United States and worldwide. Within U.S. automotive plants, Unimate robots had been used in conjunction with metal stamping operations in the late 1950’s at Ford. Robotics in the United States took its first major step in 1970 at the GM assembly plant in Lordstown, Ohio with the introduction of 26 welding robots. Recently the $100 million conversion of the Detroit Jefferson Street Plant of Chrysler Corporation involved the extensive use of industrial robots. The renovation “…literally stripped the existing machinery and equipment… and replaced it with the most advanced technology known in the industry: and resulted in practically doubling production on subassembly operation. The robot population in U.S. automotive manufacturing plants now exceeds 1,000. Robot use in the total automotive industry is probably over 50% of the U.S. total if robots used by light manufacturing plants and foundries which supply automotive parts are included in the count. The 1981 robot population in the automotive industry worldwide suggested a total of 5,000. Robots are now used in come aspect of production by virtually every auto maker in the world: Rolls Royce, BMW, Saab, Renault, Nissan, Toyota, Volvo, Volkswagen, Honda, and Mercedes Benz.