An approach to design a semi-automated assembly line for the automotive industry implementing the Lean 4.0 concept

Abstract

The production efficiency is among the most important for the success of the companies. The more efficient production lines are in the companies, the more products with higher quantity and quality would come out of them. When Lean approach is applied even during the design and development phase of the assembly line, this will lead to less need for subsequent optimizations of this line when it is in serial production. And in this way time and money will be saved, i.e. cost will be minimized. The combination of Lean practices and Industry 4.0 technologies could be called Lean 4.0. The productivity would be even higher when using Lean 4.0. The main goal of this paper is to analyze how semi-automated automotive industry assembly line to be designed implementing Lean 4.0 approach. In order to achieve it, Lean analysis was performed for the elements of the most important KPI of the assembly lines-the overall equipment effectiveness. Based on it, Lean 4.0 technologies which would eliminate the negative impact over each element were selected. In the conclusion, few assembly line design recommendations for the automotive industry were given, such as incorporating smart sensors, adjustable actuators, internet connection, Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence.