Title:
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Deriving benefits from the automotive industry for the rail vehicle industry
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Whenever problems arise in the rail vehicle industry, a comparison to other industry
sectors is drawn. Thus it is also required, that methods and processes of the assumed
superior performing industry should be transferred into the rail vehicle industry. Quite
often the automotive industry is defined as the bench mark. These partially unilateral
discussions are also consistently guided without being aware of the markets, structures,
environments and products etc. of the industries being compared, highlighting only
particular topics.
To counteract this discussion this research compared the rail vehicle industry with the
automotive industry in different criteria with the target o f deriving and transferring
benefits from the automotive to the rail vehicle industry with regards to a holistic
approach under the consideration o f different markets, environments, histories and
respective products. The idea presented in this thesis arose as a result of the author's
work for six years in the automotive industry and then fourteen years in the Voith
company as a designer of final drives for rail applications, project manager, head of
production control and project management in the new build and service business.
Investigations have been performed at the level of OEMs, who are positioned at the top
of the value-added pyramid.
The investigations concerning the existing work illustrated that a sparse amount of
research had been carried out, meaning a small amount of knowledge was available as
a basis for the investigation of the research question. Therefore the research question
could be regarded as an exploratory one, which meant in consequence the application
of a qualitative approach.
The research process started with an extensive literature review including the history,
the markets, the products and challenges of the automotive and the rail vehicle industry.
Comparison criteria were developed on the basis of several different templates. A
questionnaire answered by nineteen senior people with amounts of experience in both
sectors was carried out. The results offered first findings of the industry practice as well
as the significance and the potential of the research question were confirmed. On the
basis of the acquired knowledge, sixteen expert interviews were conducted with experts
out of the automotive and rail vehicle industry in order to ensure an accurate reflection
o f the industry practices.
In total twenty-four hypotheses for possible benefits were constructed and finally
assessed. For fifteen hypotheses or benefits the significance o f a transfer from the
automotive to the rail vehicle industry was assessed as fulfilled without any restrictions,
fo r seven hypotheses or benefits with restrictions and for two hypotheses or benefits the
significance o f a transfer was assessed as not fulfilled. The potentials for the twenty-two
hypotheses, which are defined as significant to transfer, were investigated nineteen
times as “high” and three times as “middle”. “Low” potentials could not be
recognised. Finally a model Rail Company with automotive benefits was designed.
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