New products

1995/03/01 Rodriguez Ibabe, Jose Maria Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Teknologia

It is very difficult that when reading the press or watching television the word competitiveness does not appear. It seems that the future of many jobs is closely linked to this term or concept. Therefore, no one questions the need to improve competitiveness. However, how to approach it is a complex problem where economic powers often disagree.

Improving competitiveness depends on the diversity of factors involved in the workshop. Among these factors, some are related to technology and in this work these factors will be analyzed. This does not mean that all other approaches are secondary, but in everyday news they are frequently mentioned and those related to technology are excluded.

Currently, when making a product in any workshop, three factors can be considered: the repeatability of its characteristics, the level of properties and the price. In these three sections technology is of great importance.

In all workshops a percentage of production presents failures. The reduction of the percentage value is usually the objective of all the workshops (remember the campaign titled “Zero defects” that the Basque Government opened a few months ago). To do this, it is necessary to better control the production, measuring and subsequently controlling the most relevant variables involved throughout the process. Sometimes the work and efforts of staff and technology managers are not enough and the renewal of equipment (technological improvement) is an essential requirement.

These innovations in the industry of our environment have been remarkable in almost every sector in the last five years. However, sometimes this has not been enough to leave the future of the fully consolidated plant.

Improving product properties also has a great competitive importance. Often this approach is related to the design of the product or its procurement process. Design improvement tools have increased considerably. Computer-aided design is an example of this. This technique allows to improve geometry, dimensions, properties, etc. of a product. Automotive is an example of this. Maintaining virtually unaltered the exterior dimensions of the car, the trunk and interior volumes have increased in most models.

Finally, in addition to the properties, we must take into account the selling price of a product. Without forgetting the cost of labor, the level of production, etc., reducing the cost of a product (but at the same time maintaining its properties), at this time there are many factories in the Basque Country that aim. This requires changing certain phases of production, which means mastering the latest technological innovations in each area.

Some examples are in metal parts for cars. The elimination of costly thermal treatments, as well as the adaptation of material and process, are reducing the costs of numerous steel parts. These new technologies are currently being applied to the medium-sized metal sector in the Basque Country.

In short, in competitiveness we must improve labor, organization of work, sales networks, marketing, etc. but we can certainly not forget that technology also has much to say.