How to Become a Manufacturing Cell Fully-Automated Without Robots: Case-Study in the Automotive Components Industry
Journal Title: Advances in Robotics & Mechanical Engineering - Year 2018, Vol 1, Issue 1
Abstract
Productivity is a key factor for companies manufacturing parts and sets to the automotive industry. Automation plays an important role in this matter, allowing development of entire manufacturing cells without the direct need of workers. Even in countries where the labour cost is relatively low, it becomes necessary to improve the level of automation applied to manufacture cells and reduce the dependence of the human labour unpredictability, also increasing the quality and reducing the costs. This case study was developed based on an industrial request in order to improve a semi-automatic cell devoted to seat suspension mat manufacturing. The original cell allows several automatic operations but it needs two workers for two specific operations not considered in the initial design. Thus, new concepts of wire feeding and manipulation were developed in order to allow a better material flow throughout the cell. The new cell was designed and built with success, allowing obtain a fully-automated system, which leads to a better productivity and reliability of the manufacturing process. The competitiveness that is inherent in the automotive industry has and always had a dynamic behaviour. However, there has been, over the last century, the adoption of different strategies, from craft production to mass production of Henry Ford, through the brand policy and the variety of Sloan products, the lean production (lean manufacturing) and more recently to build-to-order initiatives. These changes are not only common to the major producers of vehicles, but were also observed in luxury car producers, seen as artisan producers [1].
Authors and Affiliations
F J G Silva, W Araujo, R D S G Campilho, A Baptista, G Pinto
Keywords
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- EP ID EP578753
- DOI 10.32474/ARME.2018.01.000102
- Views 103
- Downloads 0
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