Assembly Planbook - March 2009 - (Page 31) Manufacturing and Lean Systems at the University of Texas at San Antonio. “It is how a manufacturing system can cope with rapid changes of customer demands in both product styling and quantities, and how easily the system can be reconfigured to have higher automation or higher labor content. “Productivity cannot be gained via implementing flexible manufacturing,” notes Chen, who has been studying flexible manufacturing systems since the 1980s. “Rapid customer response and shorter time to market are the real incentives for implementing flexible [assembly lines].” Mark Dinges, product marketing manager for linear motion and assembly technologies at Bosch Rexroth Corp. (Buchanan, MI), agrees with Chen. “Manufacturers are constantly pressed with supplying smaller and more complex products,” he points out. “However, the greatest pressure actually comes from reducing time to market. As product life cycles continue to shrink, successful manufacturers must utilize a flexible production system to get their products to market faster and to stay competitive. “The ultimate goal of flexible manufacturing is to provide the right product to the right customer at the right time,” adds Dinges. “Lean thinking is involved here, because supplying the right product at the right time includes the concept of manufacturing to customer takt time, and the ability to ramp up or scale back production to meet the level of customer demand.” Flexible Champions When it comes to building complex products and meeting customer needs, it’s impossible to overlook the auto industry, which has been implementing various forms of flexible assembly lines for the past decade. Today, automakers must assemble a greater mix of vehicles in a shrinking number of plants. More types of vehicles are available than ever and new products proliferate every year to address diverse consumer tastes. Indeed, there are more niche segments, platforms and nameplates on the market today than 20 years ago. As markets become less predictable, flexibility will become more critical to manufacturers. Photo courtesy Toyota Motor Corp. According to J.D. Power and Associates (Westlake Village, CA), more than 300 different models were available in the United States in 2008 vs. 216 in 1993. Between 1985 and 2004, average annual sales per vehicle nameplate dropped from 106,819 to 48,626. By 2010, that number is expected to drop to 40,000. “The goal of flexible production is to balance capacity with demand to meet market fluctuations,” says John Lucci, a partner at Oliver Wyman Inc. (Troy, MI), a consulting firm that conducts the annual Harbour Report on manufacturing efficiency. “Flexibility is more important than ever, as witnessed by the recent spike and drop in gas prices. As multiple propulsion systems, ranging from gas and hybrid to electric and diesel, proliferate in the industry, flexible assembly lines will become even more essential to automakers and suppliers.” In a flexible environment, vehicles are put together the same way, with shared components and standardized assembly equipment. Multiple vehicle segments—cars, sport-utility vehicles (SUVs), minivans, pickup trucks and crossover vehicles—can be built off the same architecture. Variability in body styles and sizes, chassis sizes, interiors and other differences are easily accommodated. That flexibility translates into tremendous cost savings and reduced downtime during product changeover. However, flexible assembly has been easier said than done in the auto industry. The Big Three have been talking about their flexible factories for years. Indeed, back in 2002, a senior executive at Ford Motor Co. (Dearborn, MI) told ASSEMBLY that “achieving genuine flexibility is vital to any future scenario. And we’re committed to getting there in the shortest possible time.” During the last seven years, Ford has spent millions of dollars retooling its assembly plants and body shops. But, last year, when the market suddenly shifted from large pickups and SUVs to small cars, the automaker wasn’t flexible enough to immediately shift production like some of its Japanese competitors. Ford is currently investing $75 million to retool a truck plant in Wayne, MI, for small-car production. It’s one of three Ford plants in North America that are being converted to build fuel-efficient cars. “At the heart of this manufacturing transformation is a flexible operation,” claims Joe Hinrichs, group vice president of global www.assemblymag.com March 2009 / ASSE M B LY 31 http://www.assemblymag.com
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