Product category:
Chains and belts
News Release from: Renold Chain | Subject: Up and over carousel
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 12 November 2004
Carousel improves lineside space and
efficiency
Operating at 98 per cent efficiency, it might be the most efficient car manufacturing plant in Europe but Kaizen engineers at Nissan in Sunderland are not complacent.
Operating at 98 per cent efficiency, it might be the most efficient car manufacturing plant in Europe but Kaizen engineers at Nissan in Sunderland are not complacent In keeping with the eastern philosophy behind their job titles they are looking for continuous improvements on a daily basis
This article was originally published on Engineeringtalk on 22 Feb 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
Related stories
Chain order from de Havilland for Dash aircraft
Canadian aircraft manufacturer, de Havilland, has named British firm, Renold Chain, as the sole supplier of chain products for the critical control elements in the Dash generation of aircraft worldwid
Chain selector live on the web
Intelligent software for accurately determining the correct size of transmission-chain has been developed by Renold Chain and is now freely available on the company's web site
On trim and chassis production line one a team of four Kaizen engineers, lead by Colin Carr, has increased productivity by 0.16 minutes per vehicle and reduced line-side space by 70 per cent after designing a computerised up-and-over carousel that automatically delivers vehicle parts to the production operator working on the line.
Previously the operator would have had to step over to a racking system containing a variety of components and manually select the right one for the next vehicle.
The process of an operator leaving the production line to step over to a racking system was viewed by the Kaizen team as inefficient.
Carr explained: "We measure human operations in hundredths of a second and we could see that the current system was not only inefficient but it also involved unnecessary stresses for the operator involved.
Imagine saving an operator from having to take three or four steps per car and then extrapolate that small saving over thousands of vehicles." Working in partnership with Renold Chain's regional sales engineer, Mike Nicholson, Carr and his team designed an up-and-over carousel that automatically delivers the right part to the operator working on the line.
The carousel consists of a computerised drive system that moves a box of components, over the shortest distance, to the operator on the assembly line.
Each box is suspended in-between two strands of a specially designed hollow-pin conveyor chain, and is monitored by sensors so that the correct box of parts can be quickly brought to the front when required.
The carousel is positioned directly behind the operator who simply presses a foot pedal when the next part is required.
The previous racking system took up 16 square metres of line-side floor space and the new system has reduced this by over 70 per cent.
As Nissan cost out floor space at over ?400 per square metre, the savings, particularly when combined with the efficiency gains, are obvious said Renold.
• Renold Chain: contact details and other news
• Email this article to a colleague
• Register for the free Engineeringtalk email newsletter
• Engineeringtalk Home Page
