The diagram depicts how many hours were spent on average in the production of a car by four famous brands in USA from 1998 to 2002.
Overall, what stands out from the graph is that the production time of vehicles decreased considerably in General Motors and Ford companies, while Toyota and Honda shared the same levels at both ends. One interesting point is the margin between the two latter manufacturers’ trends and the former two car brands’ figures dwindled significantly.
In detail, the figure for General motors saw a gradual decrease from 32 hours per vehicle in 1998 and 22 hours of time at the end, apart from a levelling off between 2002 and 2004. By comparison, a partly similar pattern can be observed in that of Ford company. Despite witnessing a rise in the first three years from 28 to approximately 31 hours on average production time, the Ford’s trend declined sharply during a 4 year span from 2001 to 2005, plummeting to around 21 hours.
In contrast to the downward trend documented in first two manufacturers, Toyota’s and Ford’s trends exhibited no clear direction, with frequent fluctuations. Starting off at 22 hours per vehicle, which was the lowest level at the beginning, they fluctuated continuously, hitting a trough at 20 hours per vehicle in 2005.