Developing a Novel Fully Automated Concept to Produce Bowden Cables for the Automotive Industry

Abstract

The automotive industry is one of the driving forces of the global industry; thus, it is a very competitive sector which creates a constant need for process improvement, regarding productivity, quality, and flexibility. Automation has proven to be a viable solution for these production problems, with the rising adoption of these automated system by companies that try to design and implement more flexible systems, while reducing costs and improving process quality. Furthermore, the use of automation reduces the manpower factor and its associated variability. In the present work, a new concept for a Bowden cable production process is presented by employing the design science research (DSR) methodology. The project starts with the analysis of the previous production concept, determining possible problems and improvements, as well as setting objectives/requirements for a possible new concept/equipment. This information was used to develop a new automated Bowden cable production equipment, implementing several changes to the old concept and filling a gap in the literature in this field. The developed system was implemented and tested. A considerable reduction in cycle time was registered by 25%, which resulted in an increase of 30% in process productivity.