Analysis of affecting factors in business process reengineering in Chinese automotive industry

Summary form only given. This paper begins with looking at the content and context of business process reengineering (BPR). We examine the situation and development stage of the Chinese automotive industry. Three major advancements are discussed: the application of computers developed from production management to synthesized information systems; CAD/CAM techniques were applied to envigorate the development of new vehicles; and old equipment was improved by using IT. But the Chinese automotive industry is still at the primary stage of automation and facing many crises. We identify the most outstanding affecting factors of BPR of the Chinese automotive industry as follows: the restraint of traditional mode of thinking; inferior quality of personnel; and the form of organization is out-of-date. The hierarchy, over staffed, power concentrated function management is not designed to focus on process. It carries historical inertia and will deter the BPR. As our conclusion, we hold that BPR is an integrating process of “hardware” (equipment) and “software” (made of thinking, quality of personnel and organization structure). The construction of “software” consumes much cost and time. Therefore, we suggest that the first step in carrying out BPR should be the transformation of these “software” affecting factors