Sustainability in Automobile Production

The business environment of automobile manufacturers has been increasing in complexity. The common call for sustainable development from a growing share of consumers and political authorities alike has become a crucial business driver for automotive companies and an essential prerequisite for corporate competitiveness. Therefore, it is only consequent that business mission statements on sustainability can be found in nearly every larger manufacturer’s public appearance. However, in order to walk the talk, characteristics of sustainability must be an inherent trait of an organization. For production to adopt normative management decisions, the production strategies are to be aligned with the superior business mission. Hence, sustainability-oriented measures should be expected to exist in any larger automobile manufacturer’s strategic-tactical production planning. This is where this paper sets in. In chapter 2, a framework for strategic-tactical production planning is derived from literature and serves as center of reference for the entire work. In this part, the importance of an integrated and sustainabilityoriented production management is pointed out. Sustainable automobile production links the two major chapters of this work. In chapter 3, the framework of strategic-tactical production planning is applied on the specific case of automobile production. This approach is made in two ways. On the one hand, available literature which directly addresses automobile production strategies and tools to foster sustainability is evaluated. On the other hand, relevant industrial publications such as sustainability reports are investigated to verify theoretical findings and visualize corporate approaches towards sustainable automobile production. In conclusion, no definite recommendation for a sustainability-oriented concept of strategic-tactical production planning can be derived from the literature used. However, single and partly combined solutions according to the framework strategies are presented. Nevertheless, it can be concluded that automobile companies have been making huge efforts towards the enhancement of sustainable production and set themselves high goals in order to pursue more ambitious aims in this field. While corporate sustainability reports of automobile manufacturers show similar tendencies, individual centers of attention vary.