Lighthouse MES Driving Quality And Efficiency In The Automotive Industry

The automotive industry faces a period of dynamic change. Design challenges driven by society, world events and concern about the environment make passenger car manufacturing in particular an increasingly fast-paced and competitive arena.

This is a massive global market. The top 10 auto manufacturers produce over 40 million new cars annually. Some 17 million of these are sold in the EU. Global sales exceed $750 billion.

Three key challenges face manufacturers in the automotive sector: cost reduction, including design for manufacture; brand values and identity, including customer perception; achieving the delivery of economic volumes to their target markets.

In such an integrated business, supply chains often span the globe. The need to collect and collate data across the business and from the key suppliers is paramount to support everything from new model introduction to on-going mainstream delivery. Lighthouse Systems lead the field in delivering this.

Data Management Issues

As with manufacturers in other industries, Coordinate Measuring Machines (CMMs) are increasingly used for monitoring production processes.

However, because they are sited away from the line (typically in special areas) and the measurements take longer, the data is less accessible. Getting the data to those who need it in a manageable form is a major requirement.

CMMs generate huge amounts of data; being able quickly to sort the wood from the trees is crucial. Characteristics are typically graded in terms of importance e.g. safety critical, critical, major and minor. To facilitate speedy response, systems must flag up issues appropriate with their grade.

The Shopfloor-Online Solution

Shopfloor-Online MES is designed to support those tasked with maintaining performance and conformance by automatically collecting data and making operational sense of it all.

Lighthouse lead the market in addressing these key issues with Shopfloor-Online MES - an innovative off-the-shelf Factory Information System unequalled in its ability to serve the modern manufacturing environment. It provides real-time data, reports and analyses that are ready to use in improving performance.

The analysis tools and clear focus Shopfloor-Online MES gives a business helps ensure the maximum utility is achieved from its people, processes and tooling. It contributes significantly to the performance of automotive businesses, making it easy to share information at a mainstream operational level and at a new product introduction level.

Major benefits from deploying Shopfloor-Online MES

Being browser based, data can be accessed by everyone including maintenance, engineering and quality. Information is no longer confined to the lab, where CMMs are typically housed, but can be shared by everyone for the benefit of the whole organisation.

The reports and analyses are straightforward and easy to understand.

At the shop floor level information is displayed on screens in clear, colourful graphics alerting people to process issues as they arise. At an operational level, managers can be alerted to issues by exception via email. All of this goes to make all levels of people effective.

How Shopfloor-Online Is Helping The Automotive Industry

Car Engine Manufacture And Assembly

Automotive companies such as Nissan employ the Lighthouse Shopfloor-Online MES in their manufacturing and assembly facilities for:

• Collecting dimensional, attribute, torque and final check data from all sources, from CMMs to specialist gauging to manual checks.
• Measuring and monitoring performance, both on-going and after process improvements.
• Supporting initiatives to improve customer satisfaction and to reduce customer warranty claims.
• Ensuring their assembly torque processes perform and work 24/7 regardless of operators and torque tooling used. One of the top-10 global automotive manufacturers achieved a payback period of less than two months.

They also rely on Shopfloor-Online MES to:

• Provide better process management e.g. when to intervene (and when not to)
• Track process capability
• Provide engineering data to support cost reduction programs and design for manufacture
• Support new model introduction from production trials right through to full production by consolidating data from suppliers and the various shops to identify areas of concern that need managing.

Shopfloor-Online also provides the data necessary for production engineers to establish the underlying causes of process variations and by quantifying the severity and depth of a problem. It allows concerns to be identified and actions taken to address them recorded.

The Statistical Process Control (SPC) element makes it possible to predict trends e.g. tool wear, to ensure that planned maintenance is not scheduled unnecessarily - and wastefully - early but occurs just in time to avoid a breakdown.

How Shopfloor-Online Is Helping The Automotive Industry

Car Chassis And Press-Part Manufacturing

Hydro Automotive and Thyssen Krupp have led the way with new manufacturing processes which need new levels of data analysis only possible through the use of systems such as Shopfloor-Online.

The complexity levels that design engineers demand in their three-dimensional frames has brought about new techniques including the use of hydroforming, giving frame-forming capabilities previously only dreamt of with plastics and machining from solid. Cycle-times are slow by press-tool standards, but much more efficient when the reduced component count and weld operations are factored in.

Process problems

Measuring the latest frame components has become so complex that establishing origins and reference points is only feasible with a programmable coordinate measuring machine (CMM). Press-tool wear is accepted as normal and a progressive issue to be managed.

With scheduling duty often aimed above 80 per cent, there is little opportunity to halt production for setting and maintenance before schedules slip and customer promises are broken.

Challenges

It is necessary to be able to demonstrate process capabilities quickly and easily to customers.

Mounting cost pressures mean that it is increasingly important to get the maximum cycles from tooling before resetting or replacing. It is also vital to select the best tool suppliers and establish their conformance to the company's acceptance criteria.

The need to keep to production schedules while maintaining conformance on all key characteristics is a critical issue, as is improving process capability to help keep customer issues to a minimum.