Convergence and diversity of the adoption of modular production in aircraft and automobile industries in Europe (In French)

The first studies on the modular production support that this dominant design led to a structure of industries deeply original. The assumption of technological determinism subjacent with these works need to be explored. The first part of the article aims at presenting the logic of this argumentation by distinguishing technological and organisational dimensions of modularity. With this framework, we study the way in which the passage to the modularity in the aircraft and automobile industries en Europe is carried out. Our principal conclusion is: if it is possible to support the hypothesis of a convergence between two industries, their trajectories are nevertheless rather clearly opposite: technological vs. organizational push.