Reducing the Defects of A-Pillar Stamping Part in the Automotive Assembly Process

Abstract

This research aims to reduce defect in the automotive assembly process. Considering the defect and cost that occurred during one year; the highest defect cost came from the A-Pillar stamping part. Therefore, we analyzed production process as well as finding out the cause of the problems that occur in the stamping process by using Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) to analyze it and conduct experiments by Design of Experiment (DOE) method. The results found that the problem came from the design of metal stamping die are not good enough to produce large parts, which are the risk of spring back problems of parts. After improving the stamping process by adding re-strike die; it is expected to reduce the number of defect from 492 cases to be zero and save the defect cost amount of 27 million Thai Baht per year.