Outside the Box Thinking: The Future of Automotive Manufacturing

Automobiles have been manufactured on assembly lines since the days of the Model T in the early years of the twentieth century. The following four minute video shows how Henry Ford’s workers put the innovation to use to support the mass production of autos:

Since then, auto manufacturers have had over a 100 years to advance assembly line technology. With that being the case, you might think there’s not much more room for improvement left in this now very well established technology.

Unless you think outside of the box. Check out the following five and half minute video for a glimpse of the potential improvements that might yet be made for how automotive vehicles will be produced in the future:

If successful, the first manufacturers who can pull the “unboxed” parallel manufacturing concept off will cut their production costs by up to half, while taking up substantially less space than vehicle manufacturers consume today. Those potential advantages mean legacy manufacturers who are late to adapt to the new production methods will be at an extreme disadvantage in the market. We may be on the cusp of the equivalent of a space race for carmakers.