automation
Automating The Process
With a Lean Mentality
W
hen Ford Motor Company needed a redesigned body shop to make the planet’s first full-size, aluminum-body pickup, the F-150, it partnered with a global leader in automated manufacturing innovation—Comau SpA. Comau’s (Turin, Italy; www.comau.com) ComauFlex modular modular assembly line, with its separate but interconnected supply and work areas, offered the vehicle manufacturer the flexibility and efficiency it needed to work with advanced processes and materials, like the aluminum alloy in the F-150. During the development of ComauFlex over the last 15 years, the Italian company threw out traditional plant layouts—where components were typically assembled in different areas requiring complex logistics, and with multiple standards—and adopted a more logical
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Engineers have been working on ensuring that manufacturing with Italian machines incorporates the processes of Industry 4.0, including connectivity, remote monitoring and more.
strategy for material flow, with uniform standards. “Our systems are very flexible and very efficient,” said Brent Kelso, director of business development for Comau LLC (Southfield, MI; www. comau.com), the company’s 32-year-old North American offshoot. Other automotive companies have incorporated ComauFlex into their operations, including Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (Comau’s parent company), General Motors Company, Volvo and Tesla, among others. That widespread adoption contributed to robust growth for Comau, although the increase was mainly attributable to its body assembly, powertrain and robotics businesses, according to the FCA 2015 annual report. The company’s year-over-year increase in net revenues from 2014 ($1.7 million) to 2015 ($2.2 million) was 26%. Activity in North America accounts for about 25% of those net revenues, said Kelso.
Volume XI | www.machinesitalia.org
