Quality problems in materials kit preparation

Increasing customisation, together with a focus on assemblers’ value added time, inflates the number of component variants required in assembly, and drives implementation of kitting processes. Practice indicates that current kitting process designs exhibit quality problems, but research is scarce concerning which problems arise and why. Therefore, this paper provides a decomposition of quality in kitting processes by establishing a framework consisting of types, causes and determinants of quality problems in kitting processes. Through a multiple case study, several underlying mechanisms of quality problems and why they arise were revealed, thereby extending the current frame of knowledge

Process Oriented Ergonomics - The Ergonomics of the Future? A Case Study of Integrated Ergonomics at an Engine Assembly Plant

Ergonomics are, in most cases, focusing on the human being when evaluating assembly system designs. This results in the human performance being expressed isolated from the technical environment. On the other hand, technicians are prone to concentrate on the hardware. These conditions underline the need to pursue a more integrated evaluation and design procedure in order to avoid the drawbacks of these traditional approaches. In this paper, the authors propose an alternative approach, i.e. process oriented ergonomics, which might be a constructive way of tackling some of the more complex aspects of the man-machine interaction in industrial environments such as assembly of engines

Links between kit quality and kit preparation design

Kitting is a materials-feeding principle commonly used with mixed-model assembly, but literature is lacking with respect to how kit quality can be supported. The purpose of this paper is to create an understanding of the links between kit preparation design aspects and kit preparation error types, that can be useful to support kit quality. The paper draws on empirical data from a multiple case study in the automotive industry to study how typical kit errors are linked to eight kit preparation design aspects: location, work organisation, storage policy, batching policy, storage packaging, kit carrier and container, picking information system, and error communication. The findings suggest several opportunities related to kit preparation design aspects for preventing kit errors and facilitating kit error corrections. The paper extends earlier knowledge and can support kit quality of industrial kit preparation

Digital Tools and Information Needs Assessment for Efficient Deviation Handling in SMEs

A shift to digitalization implies a high emphasis on both management and creation of data. In a time of change, when high emphasis is put on the application of technology, there is a high risk that too little is said about the compliance of internal needs. Companies and practitioners risk to not prioritizing the assessment and questioning the adoption of digital ways of working. The present paper intends to discuss the impact that digital tools may have on deviation management in Small to Medium Size Enterprises (SMEs) and under which circumstances digital tools will improve deviation management in SME context. The research study employs a qualitative approach using the case study methodology. The source of data comes from five different manufacturing companies categorized as SMEs, mainly doing business in the automotive and maritime industry. A multidisciplinary team performed semi-structured interviews and fieldwork at each site, along with regular online meetings with all the partners. The study employs five dimensions from the information quality perspective to assess information utilized to support deviation handling and then connects the information quality deficiencies to the digital tools impact. The empirical data indicate the need for the companies to perform a requirement analysis, as a prerequisite for them to assess their current state in terms of data and information, before the adoption of digital systems or digital tools. The research demonstrates the value for SMEs to understand their information needs and usage, in order to better determine their data needs and how to translate data into information. Lastly, this paper intends to provide a better foundation for SMEs prior to investments on automation and digitalization in the area of disturbance handling on the production shop floor

Performance Characteristics of Robotic Mobile Fulfilment Systems in Order Picking Applications

This paper addresses the application of automation in warehouse order picking. Specifically, the paper deals with Robotic Mobile Fulfilment Systems (RMFSs). Existing literature has indicated that RMFSs can bring benefits in several performance areas, but research that deals with these benefits in detail is scarce. The purpose of the paper is to identify the performance characteristics of RMFSs and the relations between these performance characteristics and the design of the RMFSs as well as the context in which they are applied. The paper includes a review of existing literature on RMFSs and presents a case study from an application of an RMFS in the order picking of consumer goods in an e-commerce setting

Materials Supply and Product Descriptions for Assembly Systems - Design and Operation

This thesis discusses and reports on assembly systems design, concerning manual assembly of complex products involving production with requirement for flexibility in production volumes and product variants. The research is based on more than a decade of work within the Swedish automotive industry focusing on parallel product flows and long cycle time assembly work. The work has been accomplished in close co-operation with the industry based on both theoretical and practical frames of reference dating back to the 1970s. The work has resulted in implemented assembly systems organised in work groups and materials supply by means of materials kitting. Product descriptions have been found to be crucial regarding design of assembly systems including materials supply. An assembly oriented product structure has proved to be a significant key factor in this context. To achieve such a structure is a matter of reforming the traditional (abstract) product descriptions, which are based on and include the general design oriented product structure. Materials kits have proved to be a feasible way to accomplish the materials supply, since the materials kit functions as a work instruction and both materials supply and operator learning are enabled. Thus, materials kits bridge two inter-linked restrictions, for full-scale parallel flow, long cycle time assembly systems. The thesis explains how to reform traditional product descriptions by, for example, introducing a method for assembly systems design. The method is principally based on the information available in the design oriented product structure and utilises the physical components of the product to design intra-group work patterns and materials kits to achieve so-called structural congruence. This congruence is one key factor for the so-called materials kit configuration, which in turns leads to high materials kits functionality and reformed product descriptions. It is also shown that available product variant specifications and product variant identification procedures, applied in line assembly, lead to complex descriptions. Methods that reduce this complexity due to applications in long cycle time assembly are reported. Observed effects of applying such descriptions and methods are foremost described through case studies, which report on observed work pace in long cycle time assembly work and as well as how parallel work groups performed their assembly work. These results illustrate that there does not need to be a contradiction between humanisation of work and efficiency, or between efficiency and flexibility. The use and need of appropriate abstract product descriptions are especially demonstrated through the possibility to utilise assembly oriented product structures as the fundament in design of assembly systems, work instructions and product variant descriptions