The deverticalization of the production process in the automotive industry has resulted in a migration of part of the production of vehicles systems and subsystems to the autoparts industry. Such migration has brought not only new quality standards, but also innovations in the development of products and processes and the increase in the effectiveness and competition to the supply chain. Amongst the innovations in process, there is the industrial robotization, which has conquered increasingly more space in the production lines due to its benefits regarding quality and ergonomic aspects. The decisions related to robotization are of strategic importance and demand high investments, and thus they are taken only by the top management of the autoparts companies. This industry presents low profitability and attractiveness under the return of investment point of view, which means that those companies have great responsibility for their results which, in turn, are directly influenced by the degree of competitiveness derived from the adopted strategic options. This study aims at analyzing the methods adopted in Brazilian autoparts companies by the people those responsible for investments in robotization and the correlation with manufacturing and financial strategies. A quantitative exploratory research was carried out on a nonprobabilistic sample of autoparts companies indicating that the costs of investments are more important during the investment decision, and that the manufacturing strategy depends upon the financial strategy.
Robotics; Manufacturing strategy; Investments decision; Autoparts
