This Masters Thesis has been performed at Futuris Automotive in Adelaide,
Australia. Futuris Automotive designs and manufactures automotive interior
solutions. The purpose of this project is to make a recommendation to
Futuris Automotive of how the tracks should be assembled at the plant in
Edinburgh Park. The track is the steel frame that the front seat cushion
rests on and that allows the seat to go back and forth. The aim of the
project is to design a Track Assembly area with high labour efficiency,
minimum storages and without need of forklifts. The work environment must
be safe and ergonomic.
The current way of assembling tracks at the plant in Edinburgh Park requires
large storages because of the batch building manufacturing principle. This
leads to high stockholding costs and long lead times and requires a lot of
floor space. The production does not run in a smooth continuos flow because
of all the out-of-cycle work that the operators need to do, including
running three different sub-assembly stations and change over material
racks.
The result of the project is that the tracks should be produced in sequence,
in the same order that they are used. This solution gives the smallest
buffers, shortest lead times and needs no additional equipment. It requires
little floor space and allows for good material handling. The weaknesses of
the solution, quality and reliability, are handled with quality assurances
and a buffer of finished tracks. No forklift is needed, the material is
transported with tuggers from the Distribution Centre in sequence. The floor
space needed is decreased with 250 square metres compared to the present
situation. 1.5 operator less is needed per shift, the stockholding cost is
reduced with 22,500 Australian dollars yearly and the lead time through the
system is lowered from todays 18-45 hours, depending on track type, to about
six hours.
A trial of producing tracks in sequence was conducted which did not show any
unexpected pro...
