Monthly Archives: June 2014

Jaguar Land Rover goes from strength to strength #innovation

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evoque2This week Jaguar Land Rover released the following press statement:-

‘JLR creates 250 new jobs as Halewood is confirmed as the home of the new Discovery Sport
The Land Rover Discovery Sport has been confirmed as the latest model to be produced at Jaguar Land Rover’s Halewood plant. The additional jobs announced to support Jaguar Land Rover’s newest model will see the Halewood workforce reach 4,750 – more than treble the number employed there in 2010. The Halewood plant has benefited from a £200 million investment to support introduction of the first member of the all-new Land Rover Discovery family, taking the total amount invested in Halewood over the last four years to almost £500 million.’
 
So why are JLR doing so well when volume manufacturers like General Motors Vauxhall and other Marques are struggling:-
 
1) JLR are taking advantage of a global rise in premium SUV’s driven, to a large extent, by the Chinese market.
 
2) Their customers are relatively well off & have higher disposable income.
 
3) They have targeted the export market, with over 80% of sales destined for overseas.
 
4) Their Quality standards are superior, the attention to detail is exceptional .
 
5) They have an excellent engineering pedigree with a stable workforce with many, many years experience. There is no other company in the World knows as much about four wheel drive systems as Land Rover.
 
6) Jaguar Land Rover has a flexible business model & employs many talented & experienced engineering contractors. 
 
7) They use a proven stage gate development process (described in an earlier post)
 
8) They have enjoyed massive Capital Investment from Tata investing over 2.75 billion pounds in 2014. Not bad for an organisation which was on its knees before the Tata takeover.
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Rage against the machine…………………………#AI #Innovation

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AIThere is much speculation in the sphere of Artificial Intelligence as to when we will arrive at a point in time when machines develop ‘intelligence’ which is beyond that of a human being. This event is often referred to as ‘The Singularity’ as it is difficult to see how human society will evolve after this point as Machine intelligence surpasses our own then grows exponentially..
 
These ideas are explored by Ray Kurzweil in his 2005 book ‘The Singularity is Near’ which discusses the impact of this collossal technological advance & its impact on individuals & society.
 
Of course there are many examples of the use of robots in industry, including the automotive industry where they are ’employed’ where precision & repeatability is essential. In contrast there are plenty assembly lines still employing thousands of human beings because they are more flexible & cost a lot less.
 
There are also may examples in society where A.I is ‘helping’ us including Apples ‘Siri’ which executes voice commands & learns our speech. Sometimes it is easy to forget the iPhone has only been around since 2007  such is the speed of technological innovation.
 
Of course Intelligence is no guarantee of a better society. There are millions of human geniuses now but we still suffer from war, mass starvation, wealth disparity, poverty & numerous other adverse conditions which are a result of the way we organize society rather than the intelligence of the population. Intelligence does not equal wisdom.
 
Predictions vary as to the date of the ‘Singularity’ but general consensus puts it around 2040. If you live that long you may live forever, alternatively you may live to regret it.
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