Cadillac takes the lead
Using the best practices known to the GM worldwide, Cadillac's new Lansing Grand River plant sets a new standard.
Staff -- Modern Materials Handling, 2/1/2003
General Motor 's new Lansing Grand River facility is special.
To begin, it's the first U.S. facility the automaker has built from the ground up since the Tennessee Saturn plant in the late 1980s. Total cost of this new plant was $560 million.
Furthermore, the three buildings (body shop, paint shop, general assembly) where the revived Cadillac CTS model is now built sits where there was once a hodgepodge of 18 buildings. A space-saving design makes it possible to fit the facilities on just 83 acres when most plants of equal capacity require at least 115 acres.
In addition, the plant brings together team management concepts, just-in-time delivery of parts to the production line, reduced inventories and lean manufacturing. And it does it all with state-of-the-art materials handling automation, including skillet conveyors, automatic guided vehicles (AGVs), automated unloading and delivery systems, power-and-free conveyors and robotic manufacturing.
'We took everything available to GM in the world and ended up with Lansing Grand River,' says Patricia Groeneveld, material director.
Of particular note, she adds, 'the operator is the center of the universe.' The design of the facility focused first on the line workers. Then materials handling and other support systems were tailored to allow workers to do their jobs as efficiently and safely as possible.
The operators work in a pull system. Materials are brought to the line only as needed and called for by the workers. No inventory is stored in the facility. Staged materials are kept to a bare minimum.
The manufacturing process begins in the 487,000 square foot body shop. Most metal panels and parts are delivered to inbound docks from GM stamping plants in Parma, Ohio, and Pontiac, Mich. Docks are situated as closely to the line as possible, minimizing travel distances. Versatile dock levelers (Serco) adjust to allow lift trucks to drive directly into the trailers for most efficient pick up.
Receipts are charted when bar codes are scanned, and the manufacturing software directs lift truck drivers to specific drop off points along the line. Workers remove delivered parts from the racks and totes they arrived in, and place them onto specially designed in-feed conveyors for easy removal at workstations by robots at work cells. Other robots weld the parts into place on the car bodies. There are 340 robots in all.
An overhead monorail transports the bodies throughout the many stages of production including creation of the engine compartment, framing and underbody work, and attaching side panels, doors, trunks and hoods. Once bodywork is complete, the unit is transferred to a skid conveyor for transport through a connecting tunnel to the paint shop.
Monorails and power-and-free conveyors carry the car bodies through the various processes on the four floors there. A key innovation, which is from GM's partner company Saab, is an inverted monorail that raises the car bodies into the facility's ovens. The system reduces plant floor noise and keeps the cars cleaner than elevator systems typically used.
Painted car bodies are placed in an automated storage and retrieval system (AS/RS) until they are needed for sequencing in the assembly building. The AS/RS holds up to 250 bodies at a time.
Dynamic scheduling directs the next phase of assembly. 'This gives us flexibility and versatility,' explains Groeneveld. 'We broadcast to our subassemblers information about the car we are going to make, including its color, options and components. They then have to make their product, assemble it, load it on a truck, and have it to our dock within four hours.'
Car bodies are released in sequence to the 618,000 square foot general assembly building. As in the body shop, workers on the line signal when inventory is low.
Materials arrive in multiple ways. Tugger drivers are directed by on-board wireless terminals as to what items to deliver from receiving to specific line locations. Spiral conveyors deliver tires. Seats arrive by automatic guided carts.
Automatic guided vehicles (AGV) transport work-in-process for the powertrains. Engines, transmissions, exhaust systems and rear suspension parts are automatically delivered to assembly areas and hoisted onto the moving AGV for assembly.
An AGV with a completed powertrain next moves to the main assembly line where it steers in underneath a car body suspended overhead from a power-and-free conveyor. Lifters on the AGV raise the powertrain until it marries perfectly with the body. The two units are then secured by workers as the AGV slides out of the way to return to the powertrain line.
A range of parts from consoles to gas tanks are automatically moved by a vertical lift to the line. Ergonomic assist devices allow workers to easily and safely place the parts into the cars.
Eventually, the car is transferred from the power-and-free to a skillet conveyor. Skillets consist of ergonomic carriers that the car sits on. Along with the operator, the carrier and car ride on a moving platform as final assembly is performed. The carriers automatically rise and lower to the most ergonomic position for the worker to perform assembly.
Final inspection is conducted on each vehicle, prior to being driven into a storage yard for loading onto car carriers. At peak production, Lansing Grand River will produce 130,000 cars annually.
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