PRODUCTS & SERVICES
Streamlining operations
Flexible manufacturing helps manage the complexity in the automotive industry by
reducing the time-to-market as well as keeping the high cost of downtime to a minimum
Connected, electric and selfdriving
cars are revolutionizing
the automotive industry, with
suppliers and manufacturers under
increasing pressure to streamline
operations while boosting flexibility.
Today’s automakers are embracing
flexible solutions to meet new needs
for connectivity, regulatory
compliance, automated driving
assistance systems and more.
The ultimate goal of flexibility is
to lower the time-to-market while
staying agile enough to respond
quickly to variations in demand.
Flexible manufacturing can be cost
e ective by dramatically reducing
the likelihood of producing
unsellable vehicles or preventing
entire lines remain idle for long
periods of time.
Strategies that automotive
companies are using to increase
the flexibility of their operations
include employing adaptable robotic
solutions. Minimizing the
changeover of production line
equipment is a basic necessity
for reducing the cost of downtime
in manufacturing systems.
Robotics is one of the most
e ective solutions for speeding
up production line changeovers.
Robots are very easy to re-task,
and collaborative robots in
particularly are designed to be
highly adaptable to ever-changing
requirements. All robotic
mechanisms can be paired with
vision systems to automatically
locate parts and respond quickly
to new works-in-progress.
The mobile robot, also known
as an autonomous intelligent vehicle
(AIV) can also support a flexible
system as, unlike autonomously
guided vehicles (AGVs), this
technology requires no factory
modifications because its navigation
and mapping is processed
on-board. Mobile robots are an
adaptable technology solution
for large-scale rearrangements
of existing equipment.
As in-car technology complexity
increases, a single car platform
could have hundreds of di erent
versions. A fully automated,
real-time, traceability system helps
ensure the correct parts get
incorporated into each version.
Traceability is the practice of
marking individual parts with
machine-readable codes to
174 // July 2019 // www.electrichybridvehicletechnology.com
automatically track their progress
throughout production. In addition
to providing easy look-up for
individual parts, traceability makes
it much easier to follow specific
instructions and alert operators of
any mismatches between expected
and actual production.
With today’s vehicles, it’s possible
that as many as 20,000 di erent
parts will need to be marked for a
single vehicle, and barcode readers
must be installed in a variety of
locations throughout the production
line, however it’s important to
choose barcode readers that can
tolerate the environment of an
automotive facility.
The combination of more complex
vehicles and the types of tooling
needed for flexible stations requires
a team with advanced skills. Flexible
manufacturing requires employee
knowledge of networking and IT to
setup machines that can intelligently
share information.
Because it can be a challenge to
find employees with these skill sets,
Omron strives to make its
technologies as accessible as
possible. The NJ-SQL
programmable logic controller (PLC)
contains client software for SQL
databases so the average
programmer can easily understand
the software and reconfigure the
database, as is often necessary for
flexible lines.
For automotive manufacturers
to successfully implement flexible
systems, they need to embrace
these solutions, strategies and
technologies to keep the high cost
of downtime to a minimum.
Mobile robots like
Omron’s LD Series
make it easy for
manufacturers to
connect different
parts of fl exible lines
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Barcode readers track works-inprogress
throughout production
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