The MATIC Working Group 1, or WG1 for short, is dedicated to serve
R&D endeavors among MATIC member countries in the area of automotive
industry. Periodically, members meet to exchange ideas and share
lessons learned from their experience, findings, and developed products
and services that are conducive toward the goals of WG1.
The following paragraphs describe the principles and relevant activities
undertaken by MATIC and Thai MATIC:
Philosophy of R&D
- R&D will seek to clarify the final version and ask
requirements in a step by step fashion obtaining cooperation
from shop floors
- R&D will be undertaken as an experimental arena
and come up with new ideas
- Research partners will be looked into, up to
approximately two countries
- R&D will be attempted using existing devices in
a piloting fashion
- Existing tools such as STEP, EDI, PDM, etc., will
be applied to the operations.
R&D Theme
In the production-setup-operations of overseas factories,
shortened periods, reductions in expenses and improvements
in quality will be sought through cooperative ownership of
information by the head office and the shop floors.
- Engineering Department: design, part shape, and
part list
- Production Engineering Department: supply type,
assembly sequence, equipment requirements, quality standards,
and preparation of shop drawing
- Overseas Factory Production Setup: equipment/jig
design, placing of orders for equipment/parts, and preparation
of instructions.
- Data gathering
- Manual creation
- Management/retrieval/distribution
- Coping with engineering changes
- Other.
- Integrated information management system
- Technical manual creation system
- Part list data/CAD data exchange system
- Automobile industry internation EDI system.
- Manuals can be prepared in Japan and locally
through a concurrent division of labor
- Interference can be checked at the desk using
the equipment and jig on site
- Each layout for manuals (parts indication,
product shape indication field, etc.) is something like a
reference window for comparison with the latest data
- Engineering changes are reflected in manuals
automatically or semi-automatically.
A pilot project is under way
in Thailand and Indonesia aiming to accomplish the aforementioned
philosophy. Sponsored by Toyota
Motors Corporation, the project was officially launched on
January 31, 1997 at Toyota Motors (Thailand). It is hoped that
the MATIC operation will expand to incorporate all manufacturing
processes. Both domestic and international operations will
benefit from the MATIC endeavor with highest efficiency and
productivity.
Excerpt from "The Project Proposals" by Japanese
MATIC Examination Committee, June 2, 1995.
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Last update: March 6, 1997