Indira Management Review

Sanjay Ahire ¹

Affiliations
1 Ford Motor Company, Westland, Michigan, US

Abstract

The pace, at which digital innovations have expanded, has put established organizations at jeopardy. In the automobile industry, digitalization brings new players, shifting the technological spotlight from traditional to IT, enabling consumers to educate themselves in connectivity, mobility, and converting them to ever more valuable source of information. The intent is to expand the knowledge about the rise of the latest technologies that are proving to disrupt the market how to react successfully to these disruptions. In this perspective, it would be prudent to look at how car OEMs can assimilate into newer digital business models and connectivity themes of the future.

Full Text

   

Sanjay Ahire ¹

Affiliations
1 Ford Motor Company, Westland, Michigan, US

Abstract

Our civilization is at a juncture in the history where the latest engineering and the cutting edge technologies are pushing the development of the products and the allied services that a human being could only dream of, or saw it in the Sci-Fi movies. This paper looks at the viability, feasibility and the reality behind the tipping point in the transportation industry which is being touted as the major disruption or a game changer—named Autonomous Vehicles (AV) or driverless cars. Many experts have predicted the year 2025 as the key milestone year that will see the demand touching a trillion US dollars and with that market potential, there is a gold rush to grab that pie of the market. Another aspect that the paper explores is the allied and affiliated markets such as manufacturing in the automotive, transport or mobility services by the service providers and the freight transporters that goes with this. Going the high tech route, questions are being raised how real is the dream, if that is a dream at all. Are we, in fact, okay to delegate the activity of driving to a certain Artificial intelligence (AI), or, are we ready to repose that much faith in the hands of the machine and be safe? One thing is for sure, the race is ON.

Full Text

   

Sanjay Ahire ¹

Affiliations
1 Ford Motor Company, Westland, Michigan Owner Finite 4 LLC, US

Abstract

This paper holds that, as the ‘digital’ wave of ‘disruption’ has changed the global ‘engineering’ and ‘manufacturing’ landscape, radical impact is seen in the overall business scenario. There are opportunities to be grabbed as the old guard gives way to the new guard, cracks developed in the traditional channels paving ways to the smart players to make their footprint. Need is to evolve with the changed strategies to ride the wave in search of transformation and opportunities with it based on the backbone of a strong strategy backing the technologies to make this happen. There will be a need of trained manpower along the way, inquisitive minds, good mentors to meet the challenges. Collaborative partnerships, sharing of data, data lakes and bridges of connectivity, mobility, Internet of Things and Big Data Analytics will be the terms seen floating around. Agile methods will be used to farm this data with the cloud security and ethical behaviour as a social norm personifying a global citizen. Digital Design Houses, Digital Manufacturing, Digital Services and Digital Distributions are the newer pastures for the business houses in the near future. Robots and automation obeying the masters sitting in different continent driving the man-less factories, employees riding in their self-contained driverless automobiles would soon be a reality. Digital Twins--the continuing convergence of the real and the virtual worlds will be the main driver of innovation and change in all sectors of our economy. This article discusses the impact, challenges and opportunities of digitization and concludes with examples of recommended actions to meet the objectives.

Keywords

Digitalization, Disruption, Engineering and Manufacturing Industry.

Full Text