DATA VISUALIZATION IN MANUFACTURING DECISION MAKING

Abstract

Adherence to planned sequence is critical in Just-In-Time Lean Manufacturing (JITLM) environments such as that of the high volume automotive industry. The production efficiencies that Just-In-Time Lean Manufacturing provides are maximized where delivery of components and assemblies to production is matched by assembly of those components to a finished product in a planned order. Deviation from the planned balanced production sequence reduces manufacturing efficiency and may impact product quality where the product mix places a sustained or high demand on certain production resources. This paper addresses how to process and display manufacturing sequence data for high volume variant manufacture in such a way that an accurate impression of the production status can be readily communicated to manufacturing management, supervision and operations personnel. The authors review current practice in the field of sequencing for high volume manufacture and the available information presentation technologies. The realization and application of a novel prototype visualization, developed within a leading international automotive company, is described. The system incorporates both graphical and numeric representations of the manufacturing data. The representations clearly illustrate historical performance, indicate trends in performance and in the case of sequence adherence, provide a prediction of the process performance. These outputs are designed to be used locally in the plant and in the context of the global enterprise supply chain.