Assembly line design and optimization

1 Assembly line design and optimization Restructuring and balancing of the bus pre- Assembly line at MAN Nutzfahrzeuge AG Ankara factory Master of Science Thesis in the International Master s Programme Automotive Engineering ARTUN T RENL Department of Product and production Development Division of production Systems CHALMERS UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY G teborg, Sweden 2009 Assembly line design and optimization Restructuring and balancing of the bus pre- Assembly line at MAN Nutzfahrzeuge AG Ankara factory Master s Thesis in the International Master s programme Automotive Engineering ARTUN T RENL Department of Product and production Development Division of production Systems CHALMERS UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY G teborg, Sweden 2009 Assembly line design and optimization Restructuring and balancing of the bus pre- Assembly line at MAN Nutzfahrzeuge AG Ankara factory Master s Thesis in the International Master s programme Automotive Engineering ARTUN T RENL ARTUN T RENL.

2 2009 Master s Thesis 2009 Department of Product and production Development Division of production Systems Chalmers University of Technology SE-412 96 G teborg Sweden Telephone: + 46 (0)31-772 1000 Cover: Restructuring of stations for the single pre- Assembly line at MAN T rkiye Department of Product and production Development G teborg, Sweden 2009 Assembly line design and optimization Restructuring and balancing of the bus pre- Assembly line at MAN Nutzfahrzeuge AG Ankara factory Master s Thesis in the International Master s programme Automotive Engineering ARTUN T RENL Department of Product and production Development Division of production Systems Chalmers University of Technology ABSTRACT MAN T rkiye A.

3 Is one of the three bus production sites of MAN Nutzfahrzeuge AG with a yearly production of about 2000 vehicles. production of MAN and NEOPLAN branded vehicles is handled at the factory with a total of 16 models and more than 200 variants. The bus production system at MAN T rkiye is divided into five operational lines that are chassis welding, paintshop, pre- Assembly , Assembly and finish. production runs on a single line with 65 minutes of takt time with an exception in the pre- Assembly line of two parallel lines of 19 stations and 130 minutes of takt time. With this structure, the pre- Assembly line acts as a factory within a factory, bringing out its own problems of high operational and inventory costs.

4 In order to eliminate the complications of this structural difference, the company management aims to construct a single Assembly line by merging the pre- Assembly and Assembly lines at the same building, which requires the current pre- Assembly system to be switched to a single line of 65 minutes of takt time. This project analyses the operations and balance losses at the current pre- Assembly line , and intends to create a framework for the restructuring process that will optimize resource utilization. To conduct this study, the Assembly line is observed and analyzed in order to evaluate the balance losses and their reasons, and determine which operations are inappropriate for an Assembly line .

5 Eliminating the most evident wastes and building up a simplified pre- Assembly operations list, the pre- Assembly line is balanced for the desired number of stations in parallel with operator and line layout planning tasks. Considering the difficulty of the task of balancing a line that assembles 16 different models, the most complex model of each bus type - city, intercity and coach- is selected as base models. The simplified operation list provides an improvement of vehicle operation time of about 30%. The achieved results suggest that, in addition to according the whole production system with its line flow properties, the new line structure makes it possible to reduce inventory costs by 40%, operator demand by 17%, and idle time and takt overdue by about 80%.

6 With a new line layout, it is also possible to reduce total distance from the sub- Assembly stations to main assemblies by about 20%, which will improve material flow activities within the facility. Keywords: Bus Assembly , Assembly line design , Assembly line Balancing, Operator Planning, Waste Reduction, Resource Utilization CHALMERS, Product and production Development, Master s Thesis 2009 I II CHALMERS, Product and production Development, Master s Thesis 2009 PREFACE This report is the result of the Master s Thesis project carried out at MAN Nutzfahrzeuge AG bus factory in Turkey from February 2009 to July 2009 as part of the International Master of Science programme in Automotive Engineering at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden.

7 It was expected to be a challenging task to simultaneously assimilate and apply knowledge on a subject that hasn t been a part of Automotive Engineering education and yet it hasn t been less than what was predicted. This project, however, has proven that once the determination and dedication is possessed to reach a goal, lack of knowledge cannot last long. With the experienced engineers and crew, and high-level multi-disciplinary engineering applications, MAN T rkiye has been a crash-course laboratory in production Engineering; observing the real time applications of concepts instantly after learning from books has been an invaluable opportunity for me to gain the practical knowledge and experience I required to move the project forward.

8 I hope MAN T rkiye will benefit from the results of my study as much as I did from the study itself. I would like to thank Bar Arpac for his belief in my aptitude and recommendation, and Yenal G nd z for giving me the opportunity to do this project and the responsibility of such an assignment. Without their support I would not be able to initiate and carry out this project. Special thanks to H seyin zsert for his ideas and consistent patience in giving answers to my countless questions, Emrah Arslanta for helping me by-pass the bureaucracy within the company while trying to get things done, Galip Ba k pr for providing all required information about the factory that is unreachable for the most, and the team leaders for helping me figure out the dynamics at the shop floor by sharing their first hand experience.

9 I would also like to thank Bertil Gustafsson for accepting to be my examiner for this project and sa Fasth for her help with bringing this report to a conclusion. Gothenburg, September 2009 Artun T renli CHALMERS, Product and production Development, Master s Thesis 2009 III CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES .. V LIST OF TABLES .. VI 1 .. 1 .. 1 ABOUT MAN T RKIYE A.. 3 Products and .. 4 .. 5 Area of .. 6 .. 6 .. 6 .. 7 PROJECT .. 7 DISPOSITION2 .. 8 .. 8 .. 8 Common terminology and .. 12 Time .. 14 Assembly .. 14 line Assembly .. 15 .. 16 LEAN .. 17 Value added non-value added.

10 18 LAYOUT .. 18 Assembly line .. 21 .. 21 Operator job .. 22 .. 22 Joker worker (andon) SUSTAINABILITY .. 23 3 METHODOLOGY .. 24 .. 24 VERIFICATION OF operations .. 24 Data .. 25 Time Observations .. 25 Interviews .. 26 line BALANCING .. 26 .. 27 ProPlanner line .. 27 line LAYOUT STATEMENT OF APPROACH .. 29 4 .. 40 CURRENT STATE .. 40 production system and properties of the pre- Assembly .. 43 Analysis of Analysis of the production process .. 45 .. 47 Evaluation of the current line balanceIV CHALMERS, Product and production Development, Master s Thesis 2009 5 .. 50 FUTURE STATE .. 50 INVESTIGATION OF operations THAT REQUIRE.