Innovative logistics concepts for a versatile and flexible manufacturing of lot size one

Due to the high amount of car models and the increasing number of variations in the premium car segment, production logistics in the automobile industry will face new challenges. Conventional logistics concepts such as Henry Ford and Frederick Taylor’s conveyor technique will become rare. While conveyors are best-practice for high output and economical production, they are inflexible with high variations. Moreover, an assortment of different parts have to be provided at the line, which results in space constraints and inefficiency in increasing product variety. Hence, it is necessary to focus on contemporary logistics concepts and equipment in order to cope with customer demand when producing in lot size one. Therefore, various logistics concepts and components have been developed by the Institute of Mechanical Handling and Logistics (IFT) of the University of Stuttgart over recent years. The new logistics concepts are more versatile and enable a more flexible and changeable production logistics for a wide range of different products. The aim of this study is to provide an overview of the current situation of the innovative production logistics concepts and describe possibilities for further developments

Cost calculation model for reconfigurable, hybrid assembly systems

Reconfigurable assembly systems require new ways of economic decision making, as the static, long term purchasing rules, do not meet the requirements and constraints of modern reconfigurable production. The dedication of operating resources to one single assembly process is no longer feasible due to changing environments and fast innovation cycles. Hardware allocation and operation is intended to be a result of permanent re-evaluation and re-configuration doing different product and technology life cycles. The paper outlines an approach for cost calculation in hybrid assembly scenarios based on an activity-based resource leasing model, which can be benchmarked to human workforce costs in manual assembly for investment decision making