Technological Determinism and Modularity: Lessons from a Comparison between Aircraft and Auto Industries in Europe

Abstract

Initial studies of modular manufacturing processes have shown that this dominant design required a fundamentally novel organisational structure of the industries. The underlying hypothesis of technological determinism merits a deeper exploration. The first part of the present paper aims at presenting the logic of this argument while making a distinction between the technological and organisational aspects of modularity. Based on this we then attempt a study of the manner in which the transition to modularity takes place in the aircraft and automobile industries. Our main conclusion is that while it may be possible to posit a convergence between these two industries, the paths followed are still quite clearly opposed.Modular production, supplier relationships, technological determinism, aircraft, automobile,

Towards an aerospace system of production in Mexico?

“…However, the fact that there is a dominant design at the level of the product does not impede that different modules exhibit ever-increasing technological change (Murmann and Frenken, 2006). The intense use of electronics and composites is a proof of this constant change (Esposito, 2004;Frigant and Talbot, 2005). Therefore, in the aerospace industry there are activities with a good deal of codification, but also activities at the cutting edge of technology.…”

“…Usually, when firms transfer complex activities overseas they experience certain level of uncertainty because they are not sure if the local medium will provide the resources needed to achieve those standards (Knickerbocker, 1973), this is more pronounced when the location is a newcomer as it is the case of Mexico in aerospace. It is important to note that aerospace is not a mass production industry (Hobday, 1998), and transport costs of parts represent a small fraction of the overall cost of an aircraft (Frigant and Talbot, 2005). This means that aerospace firms have relative freedom to seek for technical advice abroad, since there are lesser time and travel constraints compared to mass-production industries.…”

“…The aerospace industry's product, the aircraft, can be described as a modular product (Ulrich, 1995;Baldwin and Clark, 2000), in which different modules like engines, wings, and avionics, are connected through well defined interfaces to form the overall product or system (Frigant and Talbot, 2005;Niosi and Zhegu, 2005). This high degree of modularity implies some degree of standardisation.…”

Supplier integration for new product developments : antecedents for supplier integration in modular product designs

“…Accordingly, OEMs increasingly use suppliers to perform development activities of supplementary modules, so that they can focus on core activities (Helander & Möller, 2008;Langlois & Robertson, 1992;Sako & Murray, 1999), which results in generally improved NPD performance (Das & Teng, 2000). The automotive and aircraft industry can be seen as examples, where modularization of products has given buying firms the lead in product development, while a large share of the actual development work is delegated to suppliers (Frigant & Talbot, 2005;Gadde & Jellbo, 2002). Specialized technical knowledge, long-term experience and most of the time cross-industrial familiarity with technologies allow suppliers to leverage knowledge and to develop specific modules and sub-systems faster, cheaper and with better performance (Koufteros et al, 2007).…”

“…Thereby, companies use supplier knowledge for supplementary development activities allowing buying firms to assimilate internal resources to their core competences (Langlois & Robertson, 1992;Sako & Murray, 1999). The automotive and aircraft industry can be seen as examples, where modularization of products has given buying firms the lead in product development, while a large share of the actual development work is delegated to suppliers (Frigant & Talbot, 2005;Gadde & Jellbo, 2002).…”