All Article articles – Page 96
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ArticleBigger not always better
The largest automotive manufacturing complex in the world boasts five high-tech plants, but sales slumps and strikes have affected output at Hyundai Ulsan. AMS paid a visit to Fifth Plant to see Genesis productionThere is no place in the automotive world like Hyundai Ulsan. With five vehicle plants spread over ...
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ArticleEditor's note: The politics of production
I hate to give more attention to an egotist, but when the leader of the most powerful nation on earth threatens to start trade wars with other global big-hitters you have to at least allow for the possibility that he might do what he says. Among others, the key countries ...
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ArticleSsangYong: SUV-iving
Korea’s smallest carmaker has recently reported record sales, but its only vehicle plant is still underutilisedSales of 12,697 in a month may not seem like much for a mainstream vehicle-maker – and this figure is certainly dwarfed by the 376,109 units reported for June by Korean giant Hyundai – but ...
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ArticleNissan Tochigi's human touch
Automotive manufacturing is known for its robotics, but Nissan’s ‘master craftsmen’ show that there is still a place for human skill. AMS went to see them at work on the GTR and Infiniti models made at Tochigi, JapanMost countries value luxury products, but few cherish the beauty of production quite ...
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ArticleAutomated CNC turning centres
DMG MORI says it has introduced a mobile robotic cell, Called Robo2Go, to automate its CNC turning centres. The company says it will load raw billets from a tray and unload machined components automatically. The unit can be relocated by pallet truck to serve up to four different lathes sequentially ...
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ArticleWorkholding equipment
The Deuce range of vices from 5th Axis’ feature dovetail technology, says supplier YMT Technologies, which it’s claimed offers secure and reliable workholding. The new Deuce vice comes in two sizes, the DV56 which clamps parts up to 152mm and the DV510 which clamps parts up to 254mm. Both vices ...
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Article
创造未来的奇迹
虽然缺乏基础设施阻碍了生产，但是公司制造的替代能源动力汽车却是手工劳动创造的奇迹。AMS参观丰田Motomachi工厂生产燃料电池车的状况丰田的这家工厂看上去就像是20世纪50年代生产第一批乘用车的样子，现在的画面却是下一阶段汽车生产：燃料电池车（FCV）。当Motomachi工厂（在爱知县）生产第一款Mirai轿车时，丰田董事长Akio Toyoda说，用了20年的努力开发生产燃料电池车，“这一路走得并不平坦”。但2015年2月24日这天却值得纪念，因为“我们这一天是我们走向氢气社会的第一步。”然而Toyoda意识到，燃料电池车面临的挑战与传统车型在拥有全部基础设施支持下遇到的规模是一样的，也就是说氢气的未来“并不是一路顺风的”，丰田汽车需要“确保Mirai尽可能成为很多用户实用性的选择。”他还说，生产开始“进展缓慢”，每天手工制造3辆汽车，并没有使用先进的制造技术，貌似与这样未来型的汽车预期不符。但Toyoda说，“你可以发现，这与丰田最开始的发展有异曲同工之妙。”然而，自丰田“开始生产”以来已经有80年了 — 2017年时公司建立80周年了。而全燃料汽车制造发展看上去也会是一个漫长的过程。Toyoda演讲两年多之后，生产仍然处于低水平，接近100%的手工制造，每天仅能生产13辆汽车。到今年2月为止，日本、美国和欧洲生产了大约3,000辆Mirai汽车。与丰田数据相比，不包括分公司，光2017年2月份（日本售出136,738辆汽车，其中的127,618辆出口，而全球的生产量达到744,670辆）的数据就显示，Mirai的生产量有多么少。鼓励生产，培养人才Mirai的装配是在占地2,400平方米的前LFA Works工厂进行的，这个工厂曾经制造Lexus LFA超级跑车，直到2012年12月，第500辆出产之后就停止了。这两款车型被誉为专家。在AMS于5月末参观的时候，项目经理Akifumi Karasawa证实，Mirai正在遵循LFA超级跑车的“发展轨迹”，它的制造基本上靠一小队员工的手工制造。工厂的生产有两班，从2016年1月开始，一周5天，产量从每年3至9辆，增长到9至13辆。“我们制造汽车；我们不断迎接挑战，并利用这些经验走向未来”– Akio Toyoda, Toyota 两个氢气罐装在手推车里进行手动安装在缺乏主流生产常用的传送带的情况下，汽车车体被推着送到不同的工作站。这里有13个工作站，代表13个程序。每个工作站通常有一两个工人，但是所有人都受到培训，能够适用于开始到最后的所有Mirai装配程序，组成了一个全能灵活的团队。Karasawa认为，这种方式强调的是劳动力技能 — 适用于少量生产，从劳动力发展角度来看非常有利，并称除非工人用双手学习，否则不可能全部掌握制造诀窍。他说，“我们是在树人，不仅仅是制造汽车。”在获得Mirai制造经验之后，人才通常会送到丰田生产网络中的其他地方；即其他Motomachi工厂，或者是日本的其他工厂，或者是海外。装配需要3个阶段：修饰阶段，这里完成比如仪表板，以及电线的安装；底盘阶段，综合了燃料电池技术；最后的装配，即安装座椅、车窗、地板和内饰。每个阶段都有种类繁多的组件。丰田的经营以零库存策略著称，也就是零部件的现场存储非常有限，大部分的零部件（对其他车型而言）来自日本成熟的汽车供应基地。然而在2016年4月，丰田和其他日本制造商却在大部分国内供应链中尝到最小供应的苦头；Kumamoto地震毁掉了供应，大量的工厂被迫停工。Motomachi也是受害者之一，而Mirai的生产只停止了1周，因为零部件可以从丰田自己在Kyushu的一家工厂那里获得。没有机器人也精确Motomachi的生产线上，Mirai的车身在完成焊接和喷漆之后进入装配大厅。从动力系统方面来看，汽车非常未来化。但是Mirai车身也是与传统汽车一样，用钢铁制造。因为轻质材料（比如碳纤维）成本过高，Karasawa说丰田可能在未来使用替代材料。然而，氢罐是由碳纤维增强塑料（CFRP）制成，因为这种材料更加耐用。在Honsha工厂，还有Aichi，都使用手推车将少量燃料送进前LFA Works车间。燃料电池堆能产生动力，可以替代汽油发动机，在Motomachi是用碳纤维增强塑料制造而成。 手动涂抹挡风玻璃粘合剂除了氢罐和电池堆，还需要安装其他燃料电池系统组件：发动机，它需要的电动力是由电池堆产生；升压变换器；空气压缩机；电池。发电机是最后安装的，与传动轴、前轴、换流器、热水系统、高压电缆、前悬架、后轴、前保险杠和车轮一起安装。在安装到车身的时候，车身是悬架在上空的。电池堆和两个氢罐用手推车装着，然后工人会在一侧拧紧螺丝，固定位置。手推车降低，工人用QE扳手调整扭矩，然后用蓝牙把数据传送到平板电脑上；生产或许是人工的，但并不意味着不精细。绿色表明扭矩在可接受参数范围内，而红色代表必须调整，才能进行车身下一步流程。Motomachi也使用Lexus的生产线，平板电脑是在生产开始大约1年之后，用于Mirai的制造商，代替了纸质笔记，改进了质量监控。工人们也采纳了这种方法，日常工作中会在触摸屏上添加铝条，从而避免在操作室脱掉手套。及时在不需要传送数据的情况下，平板电脑也可以在不同的工作站中展示工作任务，比如在最后的装配程序里安装挡风玻璃。这里，工人熟练地将粘合剂涂抹在挡风玻璃边缘，达到每秒6.5cm的精确率，然后两个操作员使用吸尘装置在车体上走过；第三个人打开气缸盖，穿过缝隙完成安装。通常来讲，Mirai的生产中，还会有各种测量的步骤，确保精确度。在这个阶段会安装玻璃、外部电源系统、汽车内饰和引擎室。最后的内饰安装包括座椅、车门、方向盘和变频器罩。之后进行点火装置检测，然后汽车被送去进行最后的检验。更大的版图: TNGA极具模仿力的“丰田生产系统”引领了半个多世纪的精益制造路线，现在又迸发出新的生机，专注于和谐规划与设计，提高效率。“丰田新式全球架构（TNGA）”涉及到广泛的组件标准，能够使汽车而开发和生产更加简单，而且能够降低成本。TNGA产于2008年全球经济危机，当时丰田审查自身的经营方式，采用新的路线，之后获得稳定增长。该制造商对每个新车型都任命首席工程师，并努力制造能够满足当地需求的汽车，此举取得了产品的百花齐放 — 公司共有100个平台和子平台，以及大约800种动力系统。在TNGA路线下，没有几个平台能够适用从紧凑型跑车到SUV的整个生产线，而且还会符合尺寸和位置等关键组件标准。丰田公司相信，这么做能够给予客户广泛的选择权，而标准化因素会最大程度上内化。这种新的架构将会改变丰田汽车和工厂，公司称构架会变得越来越小，越来越廉价，设备的安装和维护不再那么昂贵。工厂内部，地板上传统的传送带将被替换成一个能够表面上坐人，然后分段建造的设备。这可以根据需求降低或扩大。此外，机械将被放在滚轴车上，而不是固定在地板上，这可以在生产线长度发生变化的时候轻松移动。其他改进还包括：更小、更洁净的的喷漆隔间；激光螺旋焊接代替电焊，快速接合不仅用于钢铁，还用于铝材；仪表盘制模机变得更加便宜、更加紧凑；保险杠机械变更工具非常快；镁基热量回收系统可以减少热量排放；混合太阳能板可以提高可持续性发展；回收混合车辆电池用于电力存储。为制造TNGA而特别涉及的第一个丰田工厂将建在墨西哥塞拉亚，工厂定于2019年开放，制造Corolla汽车。但是在日本，只有少范围在建造新工厂。该制造商不得改在原有工厂，来接纳TNGA模型。已经有5中车型进入生产 — Prius, Prius PHV, C-HR, Camry and Lexus LC500 — 但是到目前为止，还没有关于制造新方法的细节。释放氢气潜力据Karasawa称，以目前的人工操作，每天可以制造50辆Mirai汽车，尽管用于燃料电池技术的组件生产也需要跟进。在成本效益的基础上，他预测自动化临界点将实现每天约100辆的产量。然而，丰田量产专家（公司一直是世界上最大的汽车制造商）面临的问题不是产量或需求量。和其他替代能源汽车在未来发展中遇到的问题一样，Mirai的需求因为严重缺乏基础设施而受到限制，对消费者而言，购买并不现实。 丰田要在中国常熟建立一个氢气站或许可以说，已经取得了一些进步。今年5月，丰田原来的基础设施合作商，Iwatani和JXTG Nippon等11家公司 — 包括对手公司Nissan和Honda — 联合建立大规模氢气加油站项目。这个“全日本”计划已经出现在政府的“氢气及燃料电池战略路标（Strategic Roadmap for Hydrogen and Fuel Cells）”上，2016年3月修订，目标是建立160个操作站，到2020财政年度为止，会有40,000个FCV在使用。丰田公司在5月份的声明中公布，他们的合作会考虑建立一个新的公司来支持完成目标，并暗示，这会在“2017年以内”发生。此外，丰田公司在4月份公布，要在中国常熟的研发基地建立一个氢气站，并在10月份送两辆Mirai汽车，进行示范试验（一直到2020年）。这是联合国基金项目— “加速中国燃料电池汽车的发展和商业化（Accelerating the Development and Commercialisation of Fuel Cell Vehicles ...
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ArticleMaking a Mirai-cle
A lack of infrastructure is holding back the take up of alternatively powered vehicles, but the manufacturing process can be a wonder of manual labour. AMS went to Motomachi to see Toyota making its fuel-cell modelIt seems fitting that the factory where Toyota made its first passenger cars, in the ...
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ArticleSteel in demand
VAMA’s Jochen Grünewald and Jurgen Cobbaut discuss the steel technologies that are helping China’s car makers meet stringent new regulations and prepare for the EV generation The global automotive manufacturing industry operates within a busy regulatory environment. This is certainly the case here in China. Things are moving very ...
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ArticleShining example
As China seeks to lead the electric vehicle revolution, lighter body materials and energy efficient forming processes can further enhance an OEMs green credentials Since 2012, concerns about worsening air pollution in China has led its government to enact a series of new laws and business action plans to ...
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ArticleDaqing connection
The story of how ABB Robotics helps the export of the new Volvo S90 from China to the USThis summer, Volvo began exporting its new S90 long-wheelbase sedan from the Daqing manufacturing facility across the Pacific Ocean. The first 400 vehicles were transported to Tianjin for shipment, ready for a ...
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ArticleAll the right tools
Supplying the Asia Pacific region ASSAB not only offers a wide range of premium quality tool steels, but also innovative metallurgical and tooling servicesHeadquartered in Singapore the company has its sales companies and service centres in all of the key industrial markets in Asia Pacific. ASSAB says it is able ...
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ArticleHonda India two-wheeler production boost
India – The addition of a fourth assembly line at Honda’s Narsapura plant will add another 600,000 units capacity, increasing the facility’s annual production capacity to 2.4m units. This latest expansion increases Honda 2Wheelers India’s total annual production capacity to 6.4 million units from its four plants.With this capacity expansion ...
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ArticleSmart manufacturing for green mobility
BAIC, China’s largest electric vehicle manufacturer, is working together with Siemens to create a brand-new digital factory at its plant in ChangzhouFor over a year Wang Hongwei, the person-in-charge of production technologies at BAIC’s plant in Changzhou, has been putting all his energies into supervising the building of a new ...
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ArticleDown to earth
Validation tests of PROFIL’s earthing studs by OEMs operating in China have shown improved conductivity compared to the classical welding solutionsOne of the clearest advantages of grounding studs is they are self-piercing. This means that each stud makes a neat hole through the sheet metal component. This technique provides a ...
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ArticleA precision touch
Renishaw discusses the benefits of using machine tool probes for precision metrology in the manufacturing of forged wheels and car chassis The automotive industry is fiercely competitive. Tier-one automotive manufacturers are constantly looking for breakthroughs in areas such as performance, safety and innovative design, all of which places increasingly ...
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ArticleHyundai’s power share
Its plant at Cangzhou is the latest example of how Hyundai sees clear advantages in implementing Inductive Power Transfer technologyInductively powered conveyors have been successfully implemented across automotive manufacturing facilities for many years. Among the users and supporters of this technology, the Hyundai Motor Group is probably the largest user ...
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ArticleTVR celebrates 70th anniversary
UK – The OEM will mark its 70 years with the release of a new, handbuilt sports car which will be unveiled at the Goodwood Revival Earls Court Motor Show in September. TVR has worked with the specialist engineering team at Gordon Murray Design to create a car which is ...
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ArticleO uso de robôs colaborativos em operações de montagem automotivas está ganhando ritmo. A AMS informa sobre as aplicações, a tecnologia e por que esta é uma tendência crescente
O uso de robôs colaborativos em operações de montagem automotivas está ganhando ritmo. A AMS informa sobre as aplicações, a tecnologia e por que esta é uma tendência crescenteUm novo robô entrou em operação há apenas um ano na fábrica da BMW em Dingolfing, na Alemanha. Mas esta máquina não ...
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ArticleMudanças à frente
Os fabricantes que operam na Europa continuam a impulsionar o menor custo para o leste, já que os volumes globais de vendas na região se aproximam dos níveis anteriores à criseFabricantes como a Jaguar Land Rover, a Volkswagen, a Ford e a Daimler estão entre as que criam novas fábricas ...