Optimization of flexible body shop system

Abstract

Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMS) have been utilized in order to allow manufacturers to react with speed and efficiency to market demand fluctuations. However, the ability to implement FMS can be limited by several constraints such as: substantial capital investment, facility space, labor issues, and material transportation. As one of the main automotive competitors, the sponsoring company has been looking for ways to improve the manufacturing flexibility of its body shop and maximize its return on investment. This research was performed to investigate several flexible body shop designs and find the optimal design that maximizes the return on investment. The current design at the sponsoring company, the Global Body Line (GBL), the combination of GBL and layered build, and the parallel system design concepts were analyzed, modeled, and simulated. The simulation results show that the GBL design concept coupled with the layered build process has superior performance in terms of throughput and overall system efficiency. In addition, it provides the highest flexibility, quality, cost savings, and return on investment. Therefore, it was proven to be the optimal flexible body shop design.