Automotive manufacture contributed £82 billion to the UK Economy in 2017. In addition, the production of vehicles within the UK continues to rise, with 1.65 million vehicles produced in 2017. Lean production methods, compounded by synchronous delivery to an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), ensure membership of the automotive supply chain is challenging. To meet this challenge, participants in manufacturing operations within any business must operate both effectively and efficiently. Interestingly, despite the apparent success of the industry, research has revealed that disjointed maintenance practice within the supply chain is evident and augmenting a difficult production environment.
This research gathered empirical data from four case study partners who operate at Tier 1 within the automotive supply chain. The findings demonstrate the majority of research partici-pants operate with an underperforming maintenance department due to a number of barriers and constraints. A worrying consequence of poor maintenance execution and an unsupportive maintenance culture has also emerged. To mitigate the risk of poor maintenance performance, manufacturers are retaining excessive safety stock to ensure delivery targets are met.
As well as establishing constraints preventing maintenance performance, areas of best practice have been highlighted, with both characteristics integrated into a Gap Analysis Tool. This paper will discuss the development and subsequent testing of the Gap Analysis Tool with one case study participant and the potential impact for a manufacturer within the automotive supply chain.