Present Situation Of Car Manufacturing

Present situation of car menuCar frames move along a conveyor. There are several workstations along the conveyor. At each workstation, the conveyor halts, while workers add or modify the frame and add! fix components into it.

Once the activity is over, the conveyor moves again, bringing the next car frame to the workstation. Similarly, workstations which are downstream add their own components to it.How are the components correctly installed Each car frame has a bar code stuck or embossed on it. The bar code reader at each workstation reads the bar code and assigns components which are to be installed to this car. The workstation has a barcode scanner on it, The workers use a handheld scanner to identify the correct parts that would be fixed into this particular car. For example, a green colored car would have green or other matching colored door handles to be fitted on it. This whole information is captured by the central computer system and material parts are allotted to various workstations based on this data.

The problems with these kinds of systems are:

  1. One at a time reading. The worker’s handheld barcode reader has to scan one component at a time, to make sure it matches with the required type.
     
  2. Dirty, faded or torn barcode tags make the readings impossible.
     
  3. Incorrect or no readings on some workstations mean that wrong data is being stored and collected. This could lead to parts not being made available in time at a particular   workstation.

There have been several pilot implementations, but not widespread use till now. The reason is definitely not ROl as the ROl for these systems is said to be in the region of 1400%, which is really good for any capital investment.The real reasons for slower adoption of this technology in the global auto industry may be that the present shaky financials of most of the auto majors.