Toyota’s Goal
To improve product quality and increase efficiency, Toyota’s Motomachi Plant wanted to consider manufacturing/assembly process requirements during the design and development of the vehicle.
Manufacturing Process Planning
At Lattice, we believe overall quality can be increased by engaging key stakeholders in the design process—when key decisions are less costly and can be made more easily. Of course, it’s impossible for product designers to anticipate everything. Yet, by engaging the stakeholders who actually perform the assembly, you can virtually plan the assembly process during the design phase. This capability lets product designers discover modifications that can streamline and/or increase the quality of the manufacturing process. You may gain insights that eliminate manufacturing issues or identify product design changes that will speed manufacturing or even improve product quality.
As the General Manager for our Lattice Technology’s international operations and sales, I hear lots of stories where amazing results have been achieved using our solutions. At Toyota’s Motomachi Plant located in Japan, the car manufacturer uses XVL from Lattice technology to engage the manufacturing stakeholders early – during the actual design process. Designers at this Toyota plan can do the following:
- Verify assembly feasibility for each component in the assembly sequences
- Confirm the installation of large parts such as the engine
- Check the work space for tools and technician posture
- Ensure the completeness of the assembly line
- Capture the check results in reports.
Manufacturing Quality Planning
The potential quality of manufacturing is evaluated during the design phase using a variety of verifications to confirm processes that include:
- Reliability, such as abnormal noise and source of potential fire problems
- Manufacturability
- Visibility of vehicle frame number
- Dynamic movement of tools/operators to ensure quality
- Additional processes that continually capture and verify design intent
The success of Lattice Technology at this particular Toyota plant is a great example of how we can help manufacturers improve quality, speed time to market and increase technical communications to all stakeholders, including customers.
For a complete summary of the presentation given by Mr. Kazuhiro Sano, Director of General Assembly Department, Motomachi Plant, Toyota Motor Corporation, please visit: http://blog.lattice3d.com/blog/bid/43303/Automotive-Industry-3D-Digital-Manufacturing