Study On Improving Continuous Flow Line For Automotive Audio Infotainment Product

The company Y is a world famous automotive electronics provider, its main products covers whole car cockpit electronics, such as driver information, audio infotainment and control system. To satisfy market demand and profits gain, the company managements always find high-efficiently manufacturing ways to decrease these contradictions on product space saving, shorten manufacture lead times, labor costs and other manufacturing bottleneck- resource.In this paper, according analyzing manufacture process, Y plant showed some problems with more pieces of process and separating job station layout, which caused much manufacturing waste, like large WIPs and extending manufacturing cycle time. With lean theory, one piece flow was the core to continuous optimizing method, after process improving with value stream mapping technology, the whole process of R projects was summarized to two continuous processes from several divide-processes: PCB assembly process(PCB is assembly carrier in the process) and final assembly process. Firstly, in order to balance cycle time of PCB assembly stations, the key points of optimizing was studying SMT mount machine’ cycle time, we could calculate how many SMT mount machines were needed by using the way of empirical method or using the method of product data regression equation, then we could create PCB assembly continuous flow lines after optimizing facility layout of main board PCB line and front board PCB line. Secondly, after optimizing operating time for final assembly line, some waste in operating movement and manpower unbalance were reduced, then final assembly continuous line was successfully builded. The next, setting a WIP supermarket before final assembly, adopting pull system from PCB assembly to final assembly and adopting push system during PCB assembly processes, so it was sure that the whole producting information flow was stable and continuous by both pull and push ways. Base on building continous product system, those important product indexes, including operating efficiency, manufaturing cycle time and capacity ouputs. To make sure customer capacity request was achieved, all of product indexes could be verified with eM-Plant simulation software.Finally benefit analysis shows, the number of product process flow had been shorted from 6 to 3. The achievement includes 83% reduction in manufacturing cycle time, 26% reduction in human resource, 14% reduction in product area which achieves continuous production flow target. After implementation of the real case on automotive electric product, this article summarized several lean applications such as estimation model of SMT machine needed, line balance and continuous layout design, which could play a role of reference value in manufacturing optimizing for other product lines in future.