4
36 IEE Manufacturing Engineer | December/January 2005/06 www.iee.org/manufacturing efficiently. And our supplier manufacturing campus supports our flexible manufacturing system with quick customer response time as well as lower inventory and shipping costs.” Plant manager Louis Bacigalupo explains that flexible manufacturing has been a goal of all automotive companies for a long time. “In the past we and other companies had to shut down for changeover, tear out the old body shop equipment that could only build the past car and replace it with new tooling,” he explains. “This caused downtime in the plant, lost production, and we could not change our models to produce what the market wanted as times changed. “Many of the components here are from past Ford systems. It was not a major philosophy change. We have not thrown out all of the tooling concepts this time, but have improved on our systems and tooling. The total system is new, but it is an evolution, not a reinvention.” WELDING One of the main innovations at CAP comes in the welding process where laser welding has replaced spot welding for roof-to-body weld joints, eliminating the need for access holes in the body side for spot welding. The traditional method was that after the vehicle had been framed, workers would load the roof in position with assist devices and the roof would then be secured in place by spot welding through the ditch that ran along the length of the roof. One U ntil last year, Ford’s Chicago assembly plant (CAP) had been churning out two of the company’s most successful mid-sized saloons, the Taurus and Sable, but after an $800m investment in renovation and retooling it reopened last August with a new flexible manufacturing system capable of producing three distinct models on one vehicle platform. Opened in 1924, CAP is Ford’s oldest operating plant and today it is producing three new models off the same basic platform: the Ford 500, the Mercury Montego sedans and the Ford Freestyle SUV.With its flexible body shop and final assembly area, the plant can employ the new flexible tooling to quickly change over and build up to eight different models on two vehicle platforms. “We have renovated the plant to enable us to produce multiple models, a common platform each with its own unique top hat on a common line,” Ken Covey, the plant launch manager, explains. “With the flexibility that we have introduced here we can run a 100% mix of any of our models down the main line.” It is Ford’s belief that the flexibility allows them to respond rapidly and efficiently to changing customer demand. “Chicago Assembly sets a new standard in today’s fiercely competitive market,” Greg Smith, executive vice president and president of the Americas, says. “The flexible manufacturing system installed here means we can respond quickly to changes in customer demand and do so Ford’s flexible future

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Page 1: Ford's flexible future [flexible manufacturing]

36 IEE Manufacturing Engineer | December/January 2005/06

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efficiently. Andsupports our flexcustomer responshipping costs.”

Plant managemanufacturing hafor a long time. “Ishut down for cequipment that cwith new toolingthe plant, lost prmodels to produchanged.

“Many of thesystems. It was nothrown out all ofimproved on ournew, but it is an e

WELDINGOne of the main process where lasroof-to-body weldholes in the bodymethod was that awould load the roroof would thenthrough the ditch

Until last year, Ford’s Chicago assemblyplant (CAP) had been churning out two ofthe company’s most successful mid-sizedsaloons, the Taurus and Sable, but after an$800m investment in renovation andretooling it reopened last August with a

new flexible manufacturing system capable of producingthree distinct models on one vehicle platform.

Opened in 1924, CAP is Ford’s oldest operating plant andtoday it is producing three new models off the same basicplatform: the Ford 500, the Mercury Montego sedans andthe Ford Freestyle SUV. With its flexible body shop and finalassembly area, the plant can employ the new flexible toolingto quickly change over and build up to eight differentmodels on two vehicle platforms.

“We have renovated the plant to enable us to producemultiple models, a common platform each with its ownunique top hat on a common line,” Ken Covey, the plantlaunch manager, explains. “With the flexibility that we haveintroduced here we can run a 100% mix of any of ourmodels down the main line.” It is Ford’s belief that theflexibility allows them to respond rapidly and efficiently tochanging customer demand.

“Chicago Assembly sets a new standard in today’sfiercely competitive market,” Greg Smith, executive vicepresident and president of the Americas, says. “The flexiblemanufacturing system installed here means we can respondquickly to changes in customer demand and do so

Ford’sflexible

future

IEE Manufacturing Engineer | December/January 2005/06 37

Special report: automotive

our supplier manufacturing campusible manufacturing system with quickse time as well as lower inventory and

r Louis Bacigalupo explains that flexibles been a goal of all automotive companiesn the past we and other companies had tohangeover, tear out the old body shopould only build the past car and replace it,” he explains. “This caused downtime inoduction, and we could not change ource what the market wanted as times

components here are from past Fordt a major philosophy change. We have notthe tooling concepts this time, but have

systems and tooling. The total system isvolution, not a reinvention.”

innovations at CAP comes in the weldinger welding has replaced spot welding for joints, eliminating the need for access side for spot welding. The traditionalfter the vehicle had been framed, workersof in position with assist devices and the be secured in place by spot welding

that ran along the length of the roof. One

By Mark Venables

ACCORDING TO FORD, FLEXIBLEMANUFACTURING ISTHE FUTURE, APHILOSOPHY THAT ITHAS PIONEERED AT ITSCHICAGO ASSEMBLYPLANT

of the desires of Ford’s design team was to reduce, or eveneliminate the ditch and that called for a whole newapproach.

The new process is now fully undertaken by robots that,assisted with vision devices, manoeuvre the roof intoposition. “Previously the roof would have been loaded byoperatives and held in position by manual clamps,” Coveyexplains. “Now the roof is positioned by robots. As thevehicle comes into position we locate the product and,utilising laser cameras, measure the roof opening and feedthat information to the robot that is holding the roof. Armedwith the knowledge, which is unique to the vehicle, itcentres the roof and holds it in position while it is tackwelded before being laser welded. This gives you the best fitof the roof to the vehicle that is on the line. Therefore eachroof is custom fitted, decreasing the lateral variation.

“Not only is the product more accurate and betterlooking but it is also structurally stronger. Previously wehad to use higher gauge material because of the weldingaccess holes. Without those holes that section of the bodyis stronger and has better quality welds which in turnmeans better safety.”

QUALITY CONTROLQuality control is another function that has received amajor facelift at CAP. During production of the Taurus andSable models, a car would be pulled off line and taken to aninspection room where all the vital dimensions were �

Page 2: Ford's flexible future [flexible manufacturing]

36 IEE Manufacturing Engineer | December/January 2005/06

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Special report: automotive

efficiently. And our supplier manufacturing campussupports our flexible manufacturing system with quickcustomer response time as well as lower inventory andshipping costs.”

Plant manager Louis Bacigalupo explains that flexiblemanufacturing has been a goal of all automotive companiesfor a long time. “In the past we and other companies had toshut down for changeover, tear out the old body shopequipment that could only build the past car and replace itwith new tooling,” he explains. “This caused downtime inthe plant, lost production, and we could not change ourmodels to produce what the market wanted as timeschanged.

“Many of the components here are from past Fordsystems. It was not a major philosophy change. We have notthrown out all of the tooling concepts this time, but haveimproved on our systems and tooling. The total system isnew, but it is an evolution, not a reinvention.”

WELDINGOne of the main innovations at CAP comes in the weldingprocess where laser welding has replaced spot welding forroof-to-body weld joints, eliminating the need for accessholes in the body side for spot welding. The traditionalmethod was that after the vehicle had been framed, workerswould load the roof in position with assist devices and theroof would then be secured in place by spot weldingthrough the ditch that ran along the length of the roof. One

By Mark Venables

ACCORDING TO FORD, FLEXIBLEMANUFACTURING ISTHE FUTURE, APHILOSOPHY THAT ITHAS PIONEERED AT ITSCHICAGO ASSEMBLYPLANT

Until last year, Ford’s Chicago assemblyplant (CAP) had been churning out two ofthe company’s most successful mid-sizedsaloons, the Taurus and Sable, but after an$800m investment in renovation andretooling it reopened last August with a

new flexible manufacturing system capable of producingthree distinct models on one vehicle platform.

Opened in 1924, CAP is Ford’s oldest operating plant andtoday it is producing three new models off the same basicplatform: the Ford 500, the Mercury Montego sedans andthe Ford Freestyle SUV. With its flexible body shop and finalassembly area, the plant can employ the new flexible toolingto quickly change over and build up to eight differentmodels on two vehicle platforms.

“We have renovated the plant to enable us to producemultiple models, a common platform each with its ownunique top hat on a common line,” Ken Covey, the plantlaunch manager, explains. “With the flexibility that we haveintroduced here we can run a 100% mix of any of ourmodels down the main line.” It is Ford’s belief that theflexibility allows them to respond rapidly and efficiently tochanging customer demand.

“Chicago Assembly sets a new standard in today’sfiercely competitive market,” Greg Smith, executive vicepresident and president of the Americas, says. “The flexiblemanufacturing system installed here means we can respondquickly to changes in customer demand and do so

of the desires of Ford’s design team was to reduce, or eveneliminate the ditch and that called for a whole newapproach.

The new process is now fully undertaken by robots that,assisted with vision devices, manoeuvre the roof intoposition. “Previously the roof would have been loaded byoperatives and held in position by manual clamps,” Coveyexplains. “Now the roof is positioned by robots. As thevehicle comes into position we locate the product and,utilising laser cameras, measure the roof opening and feedthat information to the robot that is holding the roof. Armedwith the knowledge, which is unique to the vehicle, itcentres the roof and holds it in position while it is tackweldof throof

“lookhadacceis stmea

QUQuamajSablinsp

Ford’sflexible

future

IEE Manufacturing Engineer | December/January 2005/06 37

ed before being laser welded. This gives you the best fite roof to the vehicle that is on the line. Therefore eachis custom fitted, decreasing the lateral variation.

Not only is the product more accurate and bettering but it is also structurally stronger. Previously we

to use higher gauge material because of the weldingss holes. Without those holes that section of the bodyronger and has better quality welds which in turnns better safety.”

ALITY CONTROLlity control is another function that has received a

or facelift at CAP. During production of the Taurus ande models, a car would be pulled off line and taken to anection room where all the vital dimensions were �

Page 3: Ford's flexible future [flexible manufacturing]

3

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IEE Manufacturing Engineer | December/January 2005/06 398 IEE Manufacturing Engineer | December/January 2005/06

Special report: automotive

checked using a co-ordinate measuring machine (CMM).Only two or three cars a day could be checked, which meantthat errors could travel along the line before beingdiscovered.

Now the assembly lines have in-line CMMs and lasercamera systems for real-time data collection. The camerasare either fixed, in cages where the vehicle moves past, orattached to robots. The machine inspects and recordsquality data on all critical body dimensions at a rate of oneper hour as the units move through the assembly processas opposed to the traditional three units per day with theold inspection method.

“With the in-line inspection we can now catch theseproblems in station and prevent the vehicle moving downthe line,” Covey explains. “When we took vehicles off linewe could only check one of every several hundred units,now we have 100% sampling.”

INVENTORY CONTROLWith the opening of the supplier park adjacent to the sitethe opportunities to improve just-in-time delivery andreduce line-side inventories were huge. “For mostcommodities the objective of one-hour stock on the line hasbeen met,” Covey says. “As part of our lean manufacturingstrategy, the Ford Production System, we have implementeda material flow system called Synchronous Material Flow(SMF). SMF is a disciplined approach to receiving, staging,and delivering materials to the production operator in themost efficient manner possible to assist the operator inbuilding a quality product in the workstation.

“The system not only reduces overall plant inventorylevels but also provides minimum stock levels at theworkstation so that material can be presented in a way thatminimises wasted effort by the production operator.Guidelines were established for determining which partsare delivered by large lot (fork truck) and which are handdelivered (hand delivered via buggy and cart). Productionoperators trigger replenishment of materials or, in somecases, material replenishment is automatically triggered.Replenishment calls are automatically displayed on the forktruck’s monitor or on the route driver’s pick sheet,depending on delivery method.”

To assist this rapid inventory movement, point-of-usedocks were installed throughout the facility and designedto receive truckloads of one commodity as close as possibleto the production workstation for that commodity. This wascritically important as modular components were designedin as part of the product development for the new carplatform. Railroad tracks were eliminated in the plant andreplaced by 15 new docks. Most of the material received atthe point of-use-docks are modular components from theChicago Manufacturing Campus and the Ford ChicagoHeights Stamping Plant.

“Cut-through aisles were designed to provide theshortest route possible from the receiving dock to theproduction workstation for the parts,” Covey explains. “Thisessentially amounts to cutting an aisle through the middleof the Final Assembly area, where most of the parts are puton the car. The shorter distance reduces labour and materialhandling equipment requirements for moving the materialand reduces traffic, therefore providing a safer workenvironment. Chicago Assembly previously had very longassembly lines good for mass manufacturing a high volumeof the same product, but fork trucks could only access thepoint of fit from one end or the other. The cut-through aislesallow access from both ends and the middle of theproduction areas.”

Ford has also utilised RFID technology to improveinventory management, which has given them the abilityto track truck deliveries more accurately than any otherfacility. “We use Radio Frequency tags that monitor themovement of every truck between the assembly plant, theCMC, and the stamping plant,” Covey explains. “We knowwhen and where the truck entered the facilities, how longthey were there, and where they went next. This has greatlyimproved our ability to address issues related to logistics ofhigh volume traffic movement and keep the docks onschedule for unloading and reloading the trucks.”

CLOSE AT HANDHaving the supplier park close at hand allows the plant toachieve Ford’s ‘Bull’s Eye’ sourcing strategy. “Bull’s Eyesourcing strategy is an approach to sourcing componentsto suppliers located as close as possible to the assemblyplant,” Covey says. “At Chicago Assembly, this strategy isvery much realised as 67% of all material is sourced to thesupplier campus, 75% including the Chicago StampingPlant, and about 80% within 50 miles of the facility. Thiseffort has resulted in significant reductions in inboundfreight costs and improved quality and control.”

The close proximity of the supplier park has deliveredother benefits aside from improved just-in-time deliveries,

some expected and some came as a pleasant surprise.“By reducing the supply chain to within a stone’s throw,

there is much more timely response to issues and bettercoordination of changes to the product,” Covey says. “Wehave also seen that communication is greatly improvedbecause of the ease of visiting each other’s facilities andimplementing process improvements.

“Probably the most surprising were the benefits ofimproved communications and the relationships that havedeveloped between the local suppliers and the assemblyplant personnel. In some cases, the work group leaders atthe different facilities contact each other directly to addressissues and improve the vehicle. Management from thedifferent groups meet regularly to discuss operational issuesand upcoming events. In more traditional OEM-suppliersourcing these relationships are difficult and oftencontentious. Overall, we have a better product because ofthe close working relationships developed here.”

True, there have been a couple of teething problems butthe early indications from CAP is that flexiblemanufacturing has been a resounding success. A keymeasurement of this is the 500 Sedan manufactured therethat was placed third in its market segment for initialvehicle quality by the influential JD Power & Associatessurvey. Ford plan to roll out the flexible manufacturingtechnology to its other North American facilities beginningwith the $1bn expansion of its Oakville, Ontario plant as itcontinues its efforts to transform itself from the traditionalmass producer into a leaner, more responsive car maker.The company has committed to transforming 75% of itsNorth American manufacturing plants into flexiblefacilities by the end of the decade. �

We know when and where thetruck entered the facilities,how long they were there, andwhere they went next

‘‘’’

Bulls-eye sourcingA major part of CAP’s flexible manufacturing philosophy isJust-in-Time delivery, which is aided by having 12 of thekey suppliers located on the Chicago ManufacturingCampus, which opened for business adjacent to the mainassembly plant last year.

The suppliers are Brose North America, DecomaInternational, Facil LLC, Flex-N-Gate, Lear Corp, PlastechEngineered Products, Summit Polymers, S-Y SystemsTechnologies America, TDS Automotive, TowerAutomotive, Visteon and ZF Lemforder.

Suppliers share four multi-tenant buildings with 1.5million square feet of manufacturing and office space ona 155-acre site and they employ approximately 1,400people.

Located one-half mile from the assembly plant, thesuppliers provide 60 percent of the plant’s inventory withjust-in-time deliveries, resulting in freight-related savingsfor Ford of $50 for each vehicle the plant builds.

“When we talk about ‘bull’s-eye sourcing,’ this isexactly what we mean,” Tony Brown, vice president, FordGlobal Purchasing, said. “Here at the ChicagoManufacturing Campus, the suppliers are hitting theirtarget – our plant – dead centre. They work in tandemwith our flexible manufacturing processes and everyonewins. Reduced inventory and transportation costs flowthrough to Ford and ultimately to our customers.

“Our supplier campus is not a typical sequencingcentre in which suppliers receive large shipments andsequence parts for just-in-time delivery to the assemblyline. Components are being manufactured here, and thatgives us tremendous quality control.”

The park also allows for easy cross-tier supplierrelationships. For example, S-Y Systems ships main-bodywire harnesses directly to the plant. At the same time, itdelivers wire harnesses to suppliers such as Lear, Visteonand Brose for use in their components that go into thenew models. These cross-tier relationships add value andcreate synergistic opportunities between suppliers.

Page 4: Ford's flexible future [flexible manufacturing]

3938 IEE Manufacturing Engineer | December/January 2005/06

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Special report: automotive

checked using a co-ordinate measuring machine (CMM).Only two or three cars a day could be checked, which meantthat errors could travel along the line before beingdiscovered.

Now the assembly lines have in-line CMMs and lasercamera systems for real-time data collection. The camerasare either fixed, in cages where the vehicle moves past, orattached to robots. The machine inspects and recordsquality data on all critical body dimensions at a rate of oneper hour as the units move through the assembly processas opposed to the traditional three units per day with theold inspection method.

“With the in-line inspection we can now catch theseproblems in station and prevent the vehicle moving downthe line,” Covey explains. “When we took vehicles off linewe could only check one of every several hundred units,now we have 100% sampling.”

INVENTORY CONTROLWith the opening of the supplier park adjacent to the sitethe opportunities to improve just-in-time delivery andreduce line-side inventories were huge. “For mostcommodities the objective of one-hour stock on the line hasbeen met,” Covey says. “As part of our lean manufacturingstrategy, the Ford Production System, we have implementeda material flow system called Synchronous Material Flow(SMF). SMF is a disciplined approach to receiving, staging,and delivering materials to the production operator in themost efficient manner possible to assist the operator inbuilding a quality product in the workstation.

“The system not only reduces overall plant inventorylevels but also provides minimum stock levels at theworkstation so that material can be presented in a way thatminimises wasted effort by the production operator.Guidelines were established for determining which partsare delivered by large lot (fork truck) and which are handdelivered (hand delivered via buggy and cart). Productionoperators trigger replenishment of materials or, in somecases, material replenishment is automatically triggered.Replenishment calls are automatically displayed on the forktruck’s monitor or on the route driver’s pick sheet,depending on delivery method.”

To assist this rapid inventory movement, point-of-usedocks were installed throughout the facility and designedto receive truckloads of one commodity as close as possibleto the production workstation for that commodity. This wascritically important as modular components were designedin as part of the product development for the new carplatform. Railroad tracks were eliminated in the plant andreplaced by 15 new docks. Most of the material received atthe point of-use-docks are modular components from theChicago Manufacturing Campus and the Ford ChicagoHeights Stamping Plant.

“Cut-through aisles were designed to provide theshortest route possible from the receiving dock to theproduction workstation for the parts,” Covey explains. “Thisessentially amounts to cutting an aisle through the middleof the Final Assembly area, where most of the parts are puton the car. The shorter distance reduces labour and materialhandling equipment requirements for moving the materialand reduces traffic, therefore providing a safer workenvironment. Chicago Assembly previously had very longassembly lines good for mass manufacturing a high volumeof the same product, but fork trucks could only access thepoint of fit from one end or the other. The cut-through aislesallow access from both ends and the middle of theproduction areas.”

Ford has also utilised RFID technology to improveinventory management, which has given them the abilityto track truck deliveries more accurately than any otherfacility. “We use Radio Frequency tags that monitor themovement of every truck between the assembly plant, theCMC, and the stamping plant,” Covey explains. “We knowwhen and where the truck entered the facilities, how longthey were there, and where they went next. This has greatlyimproved our ability to address issues related to logistics ofhigh volume traffic movement and keep the docks onschedule for unloading and reloading the trucks.”

CLHavachsouto splaversupPlaeffofrei

oth

some expected and some came as a pleasant surprise.“By reducing the supply chain to within a stone’s throw,

there is much more timely response to issues and bettercoordination of changes to the product,” Covey says. “Wehave also seen that communication is greatly improvedbecause of the ease of visiting each other’s facilities andimplementing process improvements.

“Probably the most surprising were the benefits ofimproved communications and the relationships that havedeveloped between the local suppliers and the assemblyplant personnel. In some cases, the work group leaders atthe different facilities contact each other directly to addressissues and improve the vehicle. Management from thedifferent groups meet regularly to discuss operational issuesand upcoming events. In more traditional OEM-suppliersourcing these relationships are difficult and oftencontentious. Overall, we have a better product because ofthe close working relationships developed here.”

We know when and where thetruck entered the facilities,how long they were there, andwhere they went next

‘‘’’

Bulls-eye sourcingA major part of CAP’s flexible manufacturing philosophy isJust-in-Time delivery, which is aided by having 12 of thekey suppliers located on the Chicago ManufacturingCampus, which opened for business adjacent to the mainassembly plant last year.

The suppliers are Brose North America, DecomaInternational, Facil LLC, Flex-N-Gate, Lear Corp, PlastechEngineered Products, Summit Polymers, S-Y SystemsTechnologies America, TDS Automotive, TowerAutomotive, Visteon and ZF Lemforder.

Suppliers share four multi-tenant buildings with 1.5million square feet of manufacturing and office space ona 155-acre site and they employ approximately 1,400people.

Located one-half mile from the assembly plant, thesuppliers provide 60 percent of the plant’s inventory withjust-in-time deliveries, resulting in freight-related savingsfor Ford of $50 for each vehicle the plant builds.

“When we talk about ‘bull’s-eye sourcing,’ this isexactly what we mean,” Tony Brown, vice president, FordGlobal Purchasing, said. “Here at the ChicagoManufacturing Campus, the suppliers are hitting theirtarget – our plant – dead centre. They work in tandemwith our flexible manufacturing processes and everyonewins. Reduced inventory and transportation costs flowthrough to Ford and ultimately to our customers.

“Our supplier campus is not a typical sequencingcentre in which suppliers receive large shipments andsequence parts for just-in-time delivery to the assemblyline. Components are being manufactured here, and thatgives us tremendous quality control.”

The park also allows for easy cross-tier supplierrelationships. For example, S-Y Systems ships main-bodywire harnesses directly to the plant. At the same time, itdelivers wire harnesses to suppliers such as Lear, Visteonand Brose for use in their components that go into thenew models. These cross-tier relationships add value andcreate synergistic opportunities between suppliers.

IEE Manufacturing Engineer | December/January 2005/06

OSE AT HANDing the supplier park close at hand allows the plant toieve Ford’s ‘Bull’s Eye’ sourcing strategy. “Bull’s Eyercing strategy is an approach to sourcing componentsuppliers located as close as possible to the assemblynt,” Covey says. “At Chicago Assembly, this strategy isy much realised as 67% of all material is sourced to theplier campus, 75% including the Chicago Stampingnt, and about 80% within 50 miles of the facility. Thisrt has resulted in significant reductions in inboundght costs and improved quality and control.”

The close proximity of the supplier park has delivereder benefits aside from improved just-in-time deliveries,

True, there have been a couple of teething problems butthe early indications from CAP is that flexiblemanufacturing has been a resounding success. A keymeasurement of this is the 500 Sedan manufactured therethat was placed third in its market segment for initialvehicle quality by the influential JD Power & Associatessurvey. Ford plan to roll out the flexible manufacturingtechnology to its other North American facilities beginningwith the $1bn expansion of its Oakville, Ontario plant as itcontinues its efforts to transform itself from the traditionalmass producer into a leaner, more responsive car maker.The company has committed to transforming 75% of itsNorth American manufacturing plants into flexiblefacilities by the end of the decade. �