Planning approach for a changeable multi model assembly system

Abstract

The overall market trend depicts an increasing demand for electric or hybrid vehicles. This demand cannot be predicted precisely because of volatile influencing factors. Automotive companies are therefore confronted with the challenge of rapidly adapting their production systems accordingly. An approach to handle the variety of models within final assembly is to establish mixed model assembly lines. The subsequent integration of vehicles using alternative propulsion concepts into single model assembly lines stands as a great challenge in final assembly. Within this paper, an approach for the greenfield planning of assembly lines using the concept of changeability is presented. The approach focusses on the integration of a new propulsion concept in an existing assembly line. Hereto, the line allocation problem is solved for a fixed production volume ratio using an optimization algorithm. Thereafter, the production volume ratios are varied in order to identify an optimal solution for line balancing and assembly equipment.