Modeling and analyzing sequence stability in flexible automotive production systems

Abstract

We consider the question whether or not high volume automotive production sites can be transformed to the basic concept of stabilized production. The problem is motivated by the necessity of car producers to transform their existing plants to this production system in order to deal with the increasing complexity of the manufacturing process. To successfully answer this question the long term stability level needs to be determined. Since these facilities are currently working under completely different production premises the stability level is not measurable. To overcome this obstacle the estimation of possible stability levels is crucial. Therefore, we propose a discrete event based simulation model to provide the necessary information in order to answer the question formulated. To verify the proposed method, an empirical study is conducted. Besides the stability levels different influence factors and recommendations could be derived from the present study. The transparency provided by this approach fosters the understanding of the stabilized production and reveals several gaps in the literature, which provide new fields of research.