Fixed path: Car seat maker finds comfort with automation

Lear Corporation is a leading global supplier of automotive seating systems, electrical distribution systems and electronics. After updating its conveyors, mezzanine and automated storage and retrieval system (AS/RS) the company has been able to maintain its 100% on-time delivery record.

At peak production, the company’s 94,000-square-foot, four assembly line seating plant in Montgomery, Ala., produces 1,000 seat sets per day or 73 sets per hour in 56 distinct combinations of colors and options for the Hyundai Sonata sedan and Santa Fe SUV built at Hyundai’s Alabama plant. The assembly lines use a non-synchronous looping conveyor system, with an automated, timed release at each workstation that can be overridden by the operator when necessary.

The entire assembly process is managed by a PC-based quality assurance system that improves overall seat quality by monitoring the seat assembly and sequencing process. The quality assurance system is interlocked to the conveyor system to prevent seat movement before each assembly and inspection step is properly completed at a particular workstation.

Read-only RFID tags index the conveyor system’s product tracking. The quality assurance system electronically displays instructions at critical workstations working in conjunction with an RFID system to provide positive seat identification and data tracking. The system allows Lear operators to simultaneously assemble several different types of seats on the same production line.

After a set of seats is assembled and placed on a pallet, they’re wrapped in a plastic bag and bar code labeled. The seats are transferred to the shipping area and prepared for delivery to the customer. A mid-load AS/RS determines where to store the seats based on the bar code. The system also selects and retrieves seats in the order they’re to be shipped and in the sequence needed at the Hyundai plant, where the RFID tags are again scanned to verify accuracy.

Integrated Systems Design
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