Simulation Study of a Power and Free Conveyor System for a Leading Vehicle Manufacturer

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Introduction

Automative manufacturing is a rapidly evolving industry, wherein having systems optimized to respond to new model vehicles helps to ensure efficiency and competitiveness. It was this challenge that one of the world's top automobile manufacturers recently encountered. With a new lineup of cars ready to go on the production line, the company wanted to check if its current power and free conveyor system could keep pace with the added complexity and volume and highlight major areas for improvement.

The power and free conveyor system, integral to vehicle body movement between the production lines, are key to workflow management between different shops, from the body-in-white to paint and final assembly. With the new model mix introduction, the customer was not sure if the existing arrangement would provide the necessary throughput without major bottlenecks or delays.

Client Objectives

The objectives of the automotive manufacturer were as follows:

• Validate the system throughput to ensure the conveyor system can meet the new production targets.
• Identify bottlenecks that could hinder smooth material flow.
• Assess the system’s responsiveness to different vehicle loading percentages, ranging from partial to full capacity.
• Recommend modifications to layout or logic to ensure efficient performance with the new model mix.

This study was crucial to the client to prevent unexpected downtimes, control buffer utilization, and maintain paint shop readiness to support production needs.

Challenges Encountered

New vehicle variants introduced vast variability in body types, handling demands, and cycle times. The client required a simulation-based analysis to verify the power and free conveyor would be able to handle these variations effectively. The major challenges were:

  • Verifying the feasibility of the existing system under varied loading conditions.
  • Determining bottlenecks, particularly in buffer management and hanger availability.
  • Evaluating interdependencies between conveyor loading and downstream shops like painting.
  • Ensuring seamless transition between conveyors and process stations, especially at critical junctions such as loading and unloading stations.

Simulation Study of a Power and Free Conveyor System for a Leading Vehicle Manufacturer

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PMI’s Simulation Approach

To properly evaluate and maximize the system, PMI created an intricate 3D simulation analysis with Tecnomatix Plant Simulation. The process was systematic in approach:

Modeling the Conveyor System

All of the power and free conveyor system was modeled in a virtual 3D space, including every path, buffer, and loading/unloading point. The system flexibility, such as carrier routing and branching logics, was built into the simulation.

Defining Operating Rules

Simulation scenarios were established with specified loading rules, hanger assignment logic, and carrier routing strategies. These were then tested iteratively to determine their effect on flow and system throughput.

Data Monitoring and Performance Analysis

Major indicators like system throughput, time-in-state charts, buffer levels, and percentage of vehicle loading were tracked and analyzed between scenarios, 20% to 100% vehicle loading.

Simulation Study of a Power and Free Conveyor System for a Leading Vehicle Manufacturer

Download Case Study PDF

Findings & Recommendations

The simulation yielded some key findings that assisted in reconfiguring the client's strategy for the use of conveyor systems:

When the loading was at 20% of vehicles, the system did not achieve the desired throughput. The problem was tracked back to a hanger deficit at one of the primary loading points. This filled the upstream buffer and resulted in a bottleneck that flowed back into the manufacturing line.

A section of another underutilized buffer was also recognized, and PMI suggested shifting hanger availability from this buffer to the troublesome loading station. This change, when deployed in simulation, enabled the system to realize throughput requirements successfully during 40–80% vehicle loading.

When the vehicle loading was at 100%, the downstream bottleneck changed. The paint shop, where vehicles were being unloaded from the conveyor, was at full capacity. Any increase in productivity upstream would overburden the paint shop and result in increased delays.

PMI suggested adding an additional unloading station or increasing the existing paint shop capacity to maximize the potential of the conveyor system to operate at 100% vehicle load.

Conclusion

With this simulation study, PMI helped the client confirm the feasibility of the conveyor system under actual production scenarios and changing model mixes. More critically, it exposed the underlying bottlenecks not reflected in conventional planning and presented data-driven recommendations that transformed the system's resilience and throughput to a considerable extent.

With the knowledge they had gained, the automobile company was better able to make room for its new model range without altering production timetables or affecting quality, showing how simulation remains an industry-changing resource in the modern manufacturing age.

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