Technological resources and innovation
(1/16/2002)


How does one reconcile innovation with a reduction in waiting time ?

Summary

What are the effects of current changes in car development with regard to a particularly innovative project which is subject to risks ? For eighteen months, Blanche Segrestin and Franck Aggeri, two researchers at the École des mines de Paris, studied the Renault Laguna II project, led by Yves Dubreil. Their objective was to describe this project, in the framework of a study concentrating particularly on the industrialisation phase and the unit specialising in the painted, assembled shell of the car. They set out to understand the weaknesses in areas of group work, notably in the manufacture of the opening panels of the car. Thanks to a typology of different ways of treating problems, they were able to update the logical limits for individual commitment in project management and the importance of training as a means of supporting innovation. Their analysis of the strategic and organisational choices which governed the project concluded that an early detection of the risks and permanent, group information sessions were necessary.

Summary translated from French by Rachel MARLIN.

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