The customer is producing Cabin Latch units for different OEMs at global locations. There are different variants of latches that need to be produced specific to customer requirement. The core function of the product remains same but there are dimensional variances in the component across variants. The Requirement floated to us for the project was to provide an assembly and testing solution for the latch meeting the quality and productivity requirements.
An in-depth study of the component (all 13 variants) was undertaken to understand the assembly requirements. In order to completely assemble a single latch unit, 8 individual semi-automatic stations had to be designed. Multiple solutions were tried and process failure mode analysis, cycle time analysis, risk analysis, man machine movement analysis was performed. Based on the data, final solution was accepted.
Major improvement in terms of tool life increase, reduced changeover time, elimination of WIP and scrap & resource utilization reduction, to name a few, were observed after implementation of the line. Within month 8, the customer broke even on his investment, and started seeing profits from month 9. A total of 4 lines were built for the customer and was commissioned in France. Visit our YouTube channel to watch the video of the line.
