The line graph compares the time four US-based car producers use to generate a product from 1998 to 2002.
It is clear that throughout the period, all producers spent less time on vehicle generation, except for a slight increase for Ford. Nissan recorded the most remarkable decline in manufacturing time.
In 1998, Nissan consumed the largest amount of time to assemble a product, which was 37 hours per vehicle. Following up were Daimler Chrysler and General Motors, which used 32 and 34 hours per vehicle, respectively. Only 25 hours were needed for Ford to manufacture a product.
After two years, Nissan’s production time per vehicle dropped dramatically to 24 hours, then gradually decreased by 3 hours, becoming the lowest figure at the end of the period. The figure for Daimler Chrysler witnessed a two-hour decline in 1999, and remained stable for three years before decreasing to about 26 hours in 2002. Similarly, the figure for General Motors gradually fell by 2 hours each year over the period, reaching about 24 hours by 2002. By contrast, the amount of one-product manufacturing time taken by Ford saw a minor rise to 26 hours after five years.
