“The economic downturn has been tough on automakers and has highlighted the need to be more adaptive to the demands of the market,” says Yuan HengXin, Manfacturing Engineering Manager for Changan Ford. “This is especially true when it comes to being able to respond quicker to changes in customer preference, as well as remain competitive in a fierce industry.”
Ford Motor Company, along with its business partners around the world, has been on a multi-year quest to change its global operations to address this rapidly changing industry. The company’s strategies, spearheaded by its CEO Alan Mulally, represent one of the clearest solutions in the automotive arena as to what it takes to remain competitive as a global carmaker in the modern world.
By introducing more than a dozen completely new or entirely revamped car models in the last several years, the company has been aggressively clear in its goals of delivering the highest quality, safest and greenest cars to the market—no matter where those consumers may be located. In China, the Changan-Ford Joint Venture continues to work to provide consumers with the kinds of cars they love, and manufacturing quality is at the core of this promise.
In a word, the solution is automation
“With this increasing prosperity the market will continue to grow, meaning high volume production—which can only be accomplished with full automation,” says Yuan. “In order to remain ahead of the competition, we need to bring new products to the market faster.”
ABB Robotics and Ford Motor Company have had an intimate relationship in creating innovative automation solutions for many years. This collaboration continues in Chongqing, China, where the Changan-Ford joint venture is using flexible production lines to produce some of its newest models—including the very popular Ford Fusion/Mondeo.
As with most things in life, working from a solid foundation ensures a good final product. In the process of building a car that foundation is what’s called body-in-white. Body-in-white refers to the act of assembling raw stamped metal body panels into a welded frame. It is in this stage of assembly that all the geometries are set and stiffness is created. As might be expected, these are the features of the vehicle that greatly affect improved safety, better handling, responsive ride, a quality finish and reduced noise. To consumers, those features are some of the most important buying considerations.
“ABB has responded to the needs of body-in-white customers with a technology principle called ‘FlexLean’,” says Alan Stapelberg, ABB Robotics Body-in-White Product Manager. “This philosophy uses robotics technology to replace traditional custom made machinery with standardized solutions. These products are modular in design and flexible—allowing multiple car models to be produced on the same line and new models to be added easily.”
Flexibility, standardization and integration
The new ABB FlexLean body-in-white line at the Chongqing factory has permitted Changan-Ford to accomplish two fundamental tasks in modernizing their global production techniques.
“By standardizing our production globally and communizing the platforms across factories, we can reuse the investment over several models and produce the same model in different plants around the world,” says Yuan. “At the same time, we are employing flexible production technologies that allow us to build different car models with the same machinery, thus sharing the investment over the models and shortening the lead time to launch new models.”
By standardizing in this way, Changan-Ford can ramp up production of successful models faster by using the capacity of all the production lines in a given region, rather than being restricted by the fixed capacity of a model specific to a given production line. For Changan-Ford, this means higher utilization of their investment and faster response times to fluctuating market demands.
“FlexLean” philosophy in action
The technologies that allow for these modern production principles include the entire suite of ABB FlexLean products; the center stage held by the new GateFramer and supported by the FlexTrack, FlexPLP and Roller Hemming. The body-in-white line at the Chongqing factory also includes robotic laser brazing, welding and cutting cells, an impressive grinding cell and a seam sealing cell.
The GateFramer is one of ABB’s newest products and takes an innovative approach to meeting the dual challenges of flexibility and adaptability. “Framing is the heart of the production line where the geometry of the car is set,” says Stapelberg. “ABB's GateFramer allows for framing of up to six different models on the same line with less than eighteen second changeover time and completely random model production. It also allows for rapid introduction of new models to the line in just a few hours.”
The car skeleton is transported along the production line as it is assembled into a complete car body. Throughout this process, ABB’s FlexTrack ensures smooth and programmable transitions between work stations and offers high reliability. Each station is also equipped with a flexible tooling system, the FlexPLP. These small robots are located underneath the car allowing for cars of different lengths and widths to be held in the station during the assembly. Both products are designed to endure harsh welding environments, and provide precise repeatability—ensuring that car geometry remains constant over time.
