Transformation to lean manufacturing by an automotive component supplier

Abstract

Delphi Chassis Systems established a Manufacturing Systems Core Team to develop a production system for automotive component applications. The production system will provide the foundation required for manufacturing to exceed any customer requirement. In order to accomplish the development of a production system, global best practices had to be benchmarked and implemented in a pilot manufacturing area. The Livonia Modular Strut Department was named the Manufacturing Systems Pilot Area in order to insource the production in one month. The production system concepts of Project Management, Process Flow, Layout, Material Flow, Ergonomics, Workplace Organization, People-focused Practices, and Supporting Software Development were all integrated as a whole system in the Livonia Modular Strut insourcing project. These techniques enabled the Core Team to implement a competitive manufacturing system, using the specified monorail delivery system, in an extremely short period of time. The new production system was 25% more productive than the original build cell production method. The proposed modifications will allow a 50 % production improvement to the current monorail system.